Find out the latest legislative updates from this month’s meeting, as well as what’s coming up in City Council below!
Legislative Updates
Welcoming City Ordinance Investigations
On January 27th, we hosted a Joint Meeting of the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights and the Committee on Police and Fire to discuss legislation to strengthen and clarify the investigation process for Welcoming City Ordinance violations. Over 300 people who submitted public comment, and the many people who showed up in person to show their support at the committee meeting! After the ordinance (O2025-0020004)—was passed out of Committee, several City Council members deferred and published it in last month’s City Council meeting.
This, we brought it back up for a vote this month, and it passed after a full City Council vote! The passing of this ordinance empowers COPA to live up to its mandate to strengthen civilian oversight of CPD, by codifying their ability to investigate reports of CPD officers collaborating with ICE in violation of our Welcoming City Ordinance.
It’s pretty simple: we can’t call ourselves a Welcoming City if we have no process for investigating and holding accountable the people who violate our Welcoming City laws. Chicagoans should be able to trust that our local law enforcement aren’t helping the federal agents that have terrorized our neighborhoods for the past year, and they can’t trust that if we don’t have a clear process for accountability. This is one small but meaningful step toward achieving that goal.
We’re grateful to Ald. Fuentes for her advocacy and look forward to working with COPA to make sure that investigation happen thoroughly and in a timely manner, and that the findings from those investigations are easily accessible to the public. We are also deeply grateful to the hundreds of neighbors who showed up to CCPSA meetings and gave public comment at our Committee meeting to call for transparent accountability mechanisms for Welcoming City Ordinance violations. Your voices matter, and we will continue to work together to build a stronger accountability process that lives up to our values as a Welcoming City.
Tipped Minimum Wage Freeze
Several City Council members also brought up O2025-0017549 for a vote, which would repeal the One Fair Wage Ordinance.
We appreciated hearing feedback this week from both small businesses and food service workers on this issue. Ultimately, Ald. Vasquez did not vote to pause the ordinance, because City Council hasn’t done it’s due diligence by holding a full hearing to assess how this ordinance is affecting restaurants––especially in light of all of the many economic pressures that have impacted them this year, with tariffs and other increasing costs. At the same time, restaurant workers are also struggling under the same financial pressures, and we have to balance the concerns of restaurant owners with the workers. While the pause did ultimately pass, I anticipate that Mayor Johnson will veto. Our hope is that this will lead to a more in-depth assessment about the measure itself, and allow for more conversation with all of those who are affected, so we can land on the right solution.
Introductions
Alderperson Vasquez introduced R2026-0023893, a resolution calling on the Trump Administration to end aggression towards Iran. While the resolution was sent to Rules, we hope to call it for a full vote in the future.
Committee Meetings
Next Wednesday, the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights will host a hearing on barriers to housing faced by immigrant, migrant and refugee communities in Chicago.
We invite you to join us on Wednesday, March 25th at 10:30AM at City Hall (121 N LaSalle, 2nd Floor City Council Chambers). You can learn how to give in-person, virtual, or written public comment at 40thward.org/CIRR.