City Council approves police settlements, voting protections, delayed phaseout of tipped wage

It was a busy day for the City Council on Wednesday, from massive settlements in lawsuits accusing police of misconduct to a measure aimed at protecting voting rights to a deal to delay the end of the tipped minimum wage in Chicago.

By a 42-8 vote, alders approved a scaled-back ordinance to protect voting rights in Chicago, in honor of the legacy of the late Rev. Jesse Jackson.

The so-called "Reverend Jesse L. Jackson Sr. Fair Access to Democracy Ordinance" would effectively ban the "doxing" of government employees, in particular election workers. The ordinance would make it a crime to "publish any personally identifiable information of a government worker without the consent of the government worker, knowing that such information could be used to locate, contact, or target the government worker, if the person acts with the intent to cause death, bodily injury, stalking, harassment, or intimidation."

The measure would also strengthen requirements for landlords to provide tenants with secure mailboxes in an effort to protect mail voting in Chicago.

The original ordinance also would have prohibited federal immigration agents from entering so-called "democracy zones" outside polling places, but that provision was removed from the measure that passed on Wednesday.

Instead, the ordinance now creates an advisory panel tasked with recommending new policies to "promote safe, fair, and accessible participation in elections within the jurisdiction of the City of Chicago.

Among other potential policies, the advisory council would be asked to look into "the potential impacts of federal law enforcement activities or other governmental actions occurring near polling places that could interfere with or intimidate voters."

Debate over the ordinance grew heated, as some alders expressed fears about potential voter suppression in the upcoming November elections, while others said it's already the role of the Chicago Board of Elections to make sure polling places are secure from voter interference.

"This federal government is going to rig the elections this November. Make no mistake about it. So, choose a side. You're on the side of history, when Reverend Jackson was fighting to encourage voting rights and protect them, or you are on the side of the fascists taking those rights away," said Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th).

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), who argued the ordinance was not yet ready for a vote by the full City Council, and said it's already the job of the Chicago Board of Elections to secure polling places and protect voter privacy, said the threatening tone some of his colleagues used to pass the measure 

"It's not about creating this situation here where dissent over a poorly drafted ordinance is something that should equate to divisive language that should be halted on the opinion of one person in this council," he said. "One of the other comments yesterday, probably by one of the drafters, was if you don't pass this, we will have a knife to your throat, and that kind of set me back a little bit when I was sitting in that committee meeting, because I heard that and I thought the same people who want me to vote on something recognizing the achievements of what is hopeful to be the long-lasting legacy of Jesse Jackson said, 'IIf you don't pass this we will have a knife to your throat.'"

In other business, the City Council also approved a measure pausing city-required raises for tipped workers like bartenders and restaurant wait staff for at least two years.

Tipped workers in Chicago currently make 76% of the full minimum wage, or $12.62 an hour, with employers required to make up the difference if their tips don't bring them up to the full minimum wage.

Originally, tipped workers were scheduled to see their minimum pay go up to 84% of the full minimum wage on July 1, 2026. Under the compromise brokered by Ald. Walter "Red" Burnett (27th), that scheduled pay raise will be pushed back to July 1, 2028.

Tipped workers will then get annual raises in their pay until they reach the full minimum wage on July 1, 2030.

Small businesses – defined as those with up to 21 employees – would get even more time to pay their tipped workers the full minimum wage. Tipped workers at those small businesses would not get their next city-mandated pay raise until July 1, 2030, and would not reach the full minimum wage until July 1, 2033.

The delay in raising wages for tipped workers comes after Mayor Brandon Johnson successfully vetoed an ordinance that would have indefinitely frozen tipped workers' wages at their current rate. Despite being able to overturn Johnson's veto, several alders continued to negotiate a compromise that would give the city's bar and restaurant industry – in particular smaller mom-and-pop businesses – more time to increase the base pay for tipped workers.

Ald. Walter "Red" Burnett (27th) led the effort to reach Wednesday's compromise, and thanked his colleagues on the City Council for spending the past month coming up with an alternative that both Johnson and his critics could agree to, even though both sides made it clear they don't like it.

Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th), who led the original push to phase out the tipped wage in Chicago, said she was "heartbroken" by the deal to delay required raises for tipped workers for two years, but acknowledged in voting for the measure that "it brings two sides to the table to meet in the middle."

"When compromise is reached, people don't leave happy," she said. 

Fuentes also urged her colleagues on the City Council not to try to further delay raises for tipped workers after the ordinance goes into effect.

"Allow this to be the last time that we litigate this. Let us take the pause, let businesses have the beat, and then let's give our workers the raises that they deserve," she said.

Also on Wednesday, the City Council approved a pair of multimillion-dollar settlements in lawsuits accusing police officers of misconduct.

A $13 million settlement would be paid to Arnold Day, who spent 26 years in prison before he was cleared of the 1991 murder and attempted armed robbery of Jerrod Irving. Day has long contended that detectives tortured him into a false confession, and coerced witnesses into falsely identifying him as the gunman. His conviction was vacated in 2018 and he was granted a certificate of innocence one year later.

A $3.5 million settlement would go to the family of Jose Almanza-Martinez, was killed by a driver being chased by police in the Little Village neighborhood in 2020. The family's lawsuit accused officers of violating police protocols by engaging in a high-speed chase of a car that fled a stop for a minor traffic violation.

Alders also approved the appointments of David Glockner as the city's new inspector general, William Cheaks as the new commissioner of the Department of Transportation, and social worker Anjanette Young, who was handcuffed while naked during a botched police raid of her home in 2019, as a member of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability.

At the start of Wednesday's meeting, Republican nominee for governor Darren Bailey spoke to alders during the public comment period, apologizing for disparaging remarks he made about the city in the past.

"To this city, I owe you something. I owe you an apology. I said some things about Chicago that were wrong. What I meant was that the political class is failing us, and I should have been more clear, and I wasn't, so I apologize," he said.

While Bailey did not address any specific criticisms he has made of Chicago during his previous campaign for governor, he has repeatedly called Chicago a "hellhole." On Wednesday, Bailey said he recently moved to Chicago "because this is where I want to be."