REPORT OF THE HEALTH AND HOSPITALS PUBLIC HEALTH SUBCOMMITTEE

 

Public Hearing

 

February 7, 2007

 

The Honorable,

The Board of Commissioners of Cook County

 

ATTENDANCE

 

Present:

Chairman Gorman, Vice Chairman Beavers, Commissioners Butler, Goslin, Silvestri and Steele (6)

 

Absent:

Commissioners Maldonado (1)

 

Also Present:

 

Commissioners Murphy, Quigley and Schneider; Stephen A. Martin, Jr., Ph.D., M.P.H., Chief Operating Officer, Department of Public Health.

 

Court Reporter:     Anthony Lisanti, C.P.R.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

        Your Health and Hospitals Public Health Subcommittee of the Board of Commissioners of Cook County met pursuant to a public hearing notice on Wednesday, February 7, 2007 at the hour of 1:00 PM in the Board Room, Room 569, County Building, 118 North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois.

 

        Your Subcommittee has considered the following items and upon adoption of this report, the recommendations are as follows:

 

 

284417

URGING THE ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO PASS REASONABLE LEGISLATION ESTABLISHING A STATEWIDE BAN ON SMOKING IN PUBLIC PLACES (PROPOSED RESOLUTION).  Submitting a Proposed Resolution sponsored by Elizabeth Ann Doody Gorman, County Commissioner.

 

PROPOSED RESOLUTION

 

A RESOLUTION URGING THE ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO PASS REASONABLE LEGISLATION ESTABLISHING A STATEWIDE BAN ON SMOKING IN PUBLIC PLACES

 

WHEREAS, there is dramatic evidence that tobacco smoke is a harmful and dangerous carcinogen to human beings and a hazard to public health; and

 

WHEREAS, many communities in Cook County have passed no smoking ordinances in an effort to protect their constituents and employees; and

 

 

WHEREAS, not all communities have passed such bans on smoking in public places creating an environment that is detrimentally affecting certain businesses; and

 

WHEREAS, this detrimental environment is causing Cook County businesses to suffer losses to collar counties where smoking is permitted; and

 

WHEREAS, when Cook County businesses fail, local property tax payers are adversely impacted by an increased share of the cost of government operations; and

 

WHEREAS, the only way to protect the public health and local businesses is to “level the playing field” by creating a uniform ban; and

 

WHEREAS, it is clear that the best solution to this public health hazard is for the Illinois General Assembly to pass a reasonable, uniform statewide ban on smoking; and

 

WHEREAS, legislation has been introduced in both the houses of the Illinois General Assembly that would create such a uniform ban on smoking in public places.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Cook County Board of Commissioners urges the Illinois General Assembly to pass a fair and equitable ban on smoking in public places; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a suitable copy of this Resolution be forwarded to the Governor and the leadership of both houses of the Illinois General Assembly.

 

*Referred to the Committee on Public Health Subcommittee on 01/23/07.

 

Vice Chairman Beavers, seconded by Commissioner Goslin, moved the approval of Communication No. 284417. The motion carried.

 

284418

AN ORDINANCE AMENDMENT TO THE COOK COUNTY CODE, SECTION 30-926 CLEAN AIR INDOOR ORDINANCE (PROPOSED ORDINANCE AMENDMENT).  Submitting a Proposed Ordinance Amendment sponsored by Elizabeth Ann Doody Gorman, County Commissioner.

 

PROPOSED ORDINANCE AMENDMENT

 

BE IT ORDAINED, by the Cook County Board of Commissioners that Chapter 30, Sec. 30-926, of the Cook County Code is hereby amended as follows:

 

Division 2.  County Clean Indoor Air Ordinance

 

Sec. 30-926. Effective date.

 

This division shall take effect 365 days from its passage July 1, 2008.

 

(Ord. No. 06-O-12, § 16, 3-15-2006.)

 

*Referred to the Committee on Public Health Subcommittee on 01/23/07.

 

Chairman Gorman stated that Dr. Stephen Martin, Chief Operating Officer, Cook County Department of Public Health will address the Committee by reading an opening statement in reference to the item on the agenda.  (See attachment #1)

 

Vice Chairman Beavers stated that he had an Amendment to the Proposed Amendment that he would like to introduce to the Committee.  The amendment extends the effective date to July, 2008 for restaurants and bars to comply.  Further, Commissioner Beavers stated that this will give the businesses an opportunity to make changes in their smoking areas so that it would be safe for everyone.

 

AMENDMENT TO PROPOSED AMENDMENT – COMMUNICATION NO. 284418

 

AMENDMENT TO PROPOSEDAMENDMENT

BY WILLIAM BEAVERS, COOK COUNTY COMMISSIONER

 

BE IT ORDAINED, by the Cook County Board of Commissioners that Chapter 30, Sections 913, 914, 916 AND 926 of the Cook County Code is hereby amended as follows:

 

DIVISION 2. COUNTY CLEAN INDOOR AIR ORDINANCE


Section 30-913:         Definitions

 

The following words and phrases, wherein used in this Ordinance, shall have the following meanings:

 

Arcade” means a place of amusement, which contains four or more automatic amusement devices and is not licensed to serve alcoholic liquor.

 

“Bar/Tavern” means an establishment that is devoted to the serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption by guests and patrons on the premises and does not have an on-site kitchen to prepare food.  Food service is limited to providing snack items or commercially prepared or wrapped foods that require no preparation.  and that derives 65% or more of its gross proceeds from the sale of alcoholic liquor.  Each bar/tavern shall provide such documentations as may be requested by appropriate departments of Cook County Government to enable those departments to determine whether the establishment meets the percentage requirements of this definition.

 

“Business” means any sole proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, corporation, limited liability company or other business entity formed for profit-making purposes, including without limitation retail establishments where goods or services are sold as well as professional corporations and other entities where legal, medical, dental, engineering, architectural, or other professional services are delivered.

 

“Employee” means any person who is employed by an employer in consideration for direct or indirect monetary wages or profit and a person who volunteers his or her services for a non-profit entity.

 

“Employer” means any person, business, partnership, association, corporation, including without limitation a municipal corporation, trust, or non-profit entity that employs the services of one or more individual persons.

 

“Enclosed Area” means all space between a floor and ceiling that is enclosed or semi-enclosed with (i) solid walls or windows (exclusive of doorways), which extend from the floor to the ceiling, or (ii) solid walls with half wall petitions and no windows (exclusive of doorways)  without limitation to lobbies and corridors.

 

“Health-Care Facility” means any office or institution providing medical care or treatment of diseases, whether physical, mental, or emotional, or other medical, physiological, or psychological conditions, including without limitation hospitals, clinics, homes for the aging or chronically ill, laboratories, and offices of surgeons, chiropractors, physical therapists, physicians, dentists and all specialists within these professions.  The definition shall include all waiting rooms, hallways, private rooms, semiprivate rooms, and wards within health care facilities.

 

“Place of Employment” means any enclosed area under the control of a public or private employer that employees frequent during the course of employment, including without limitation work areas, employee lounges, restrooms, conference rooms, classrooms, employee cafeterias, hallways and vehicles.  A private residence is not a “Place of Employment” unless it is used as a childcare, adult day care, health care facility, or home-based business of any kind open to the public.

 

“Public Place” means any enclosed area to which the public is invited or in which the public is permitted, including without limitation banks, educational facilities, government buildings, health care facilities, laundromats, museums, public transportation facilities, reception areas, restaurants, bars/taverns, retail food production and marketing establishments, retail service establishments, retail stores, shopping malls, sports arenas, theaters, and waiting rooms.  A private residence is not a “Public Place” unless it is used as a childcare, adult daycare, health care facility, or home-based business of any kind open to the public.

 

“Private Function” means a gathering of persons for the purpose of deliberation, education, instruction, entertainment, amusement or dining where membership or specific invitation is a prerequisite to entry and where the event is not intended to be open to the public.

 

“Restaurant” means an eating establishment, including without limitation coffee shops, cafeterias, sandwich shops, and private and public school cafeterias that gives or offers for sale, food to the public, guests or employees, as well as kitchens and catering facilities in which food is prepared on the premises for serving elsewhere, and that derives less than 65% of its gross proceeds from the sale of alcoholic liquor..  The term “Restaurant” shall include, if applicable, a restaurant bar area.  Each restaurant shall provide such documentation as may be requested by appropriate departments of Cook County Government to enable those departments to determine when the establishment meets the percentage requirement of this definition.

 

“Restaurant bar area” means an area of a restaurant that is primarily devoted to the serving of alcoholic liquor.

 

“Retail Tobacco Store” means any retail store utilized primarily for the sale of tobacco products and accessories and in which the sale of other products is merely incidental and where no one under 18 is permitted.

 

“Secondhand smoke” or “Involuntary smoking” is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning ends of a cigarette, pipe, cigar, bidis, and kreteks (sidestream smoke) and the smoke emitted at the mouthpiece and exhaled from the lungs of smokers (mainstream smoke).

 

“Service Line” means any indoor line at which one (1) or more persons are waiting for or receiving services of any kind, whether or not the service involves the exchange of money.

 

“Shopping Mall” means any enclosed walkway or hall area that serves to connect retail or professional establishments.

 

“Smoking” means inhaling, exhaling, burning, or carrying any lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe, weed, hookah, or other lighted tobacco product in any manner or in any form.

 

“Enclosed or Semi-Enclosed” “Sports Arena” or “Recreational Area” means any sports pavilion, stadium, gymnasium, health spa, boxing arena, swimming pool, roller and ice rink, bowling alley and other similar places where members of the general public assemble either to engage in physical exercise, or participate in athletic competition or recreational activity, to witness sports, cultural, recreational or other events.

 

Section 30-914:         Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places

 

Smoking shall be prohibited in all enclosed public places and places of employment within the County of Cook, including without limitation the following places:

 

1.      Arcades.

 

2.      Aquariums, galleries, libraries, and museums.

 

3.      Bars/taverns, subject to Section 916 of this Ordinance.

 

4.      Bingo facilities.

 

5.      Bowling Alleys.

 

6.      Convention facilities.

 

7.      Facilities primarily used for exhibiting a motion picture, stage, drama, lecture, musical recital, or other similar performance.

 

8.      Health care facilities, adult day care facilities.

 

9.      Day care centers, nursery schools, elementary schools, high schools, community colleges, technical training establishments, specialty schools, colleges, and universities.

 

10.  Lobbies, hallways and other common areas in apartment buildings, condominiums and enclosed common areas in trailer parks.

 

11.  Polling places.

 

12.  Public Transportation under the authority of government agencies, including without limitation buses, trains, taxicabs, and limousines, and ticket boarding and waiting areas of public transit stations.

 

13.  Restaurants, including if applicable, a Restaurant bar area. subject to Section 916 of this Ordinance.

 

14.  Restrooms, lobbies, reception areas, hallways, and other enclosed common-use areas.

 

15.  Public elevators and all retail stores where merchandise is displayed and offered for sale. 

 

16.  Rooms, chambers, places of meeting or public assembly, including without limitation school buildings, under the control of an agency, board, commission, committee or council or a political subdivision of the State, to the extent the place is subject to the jurisdiction of the County.

 

17.  Service lines.

 

18.  Shopping malls.

 

19.  Sports arenas or recreational areas, including without limitation, enclosed places in outdoor areas.

 

20.  Grocery stores.

 

21.  Public meetings.

 

22.  Gymnasiums.

 

23.  Gaming facilities.

 

24.  Public and private school buildings.

 

Section 30-916:         Where Smoking is not Regulated.

 

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Article to the contrary, the following areas shall be exempt from the provisions this Ordinance, provided smoking is not limited in such areas under the Illinois Clean Indoor Air Act.

 

1.      Private residences, except when used as a licensed childcare, adult care facility, health care facility, or a home-based business of any kind open to the public.

 

2.      Hotel and motel sleeping rooms that are rented to guests and are designated as smoking rooms provided, however, that not more than twenty-five percent (25%) of the rooms rented to guests in a hotel or motel may be so designated.

 

3.      Private and semi-private rooms in nursing homes and long-term care facilities that are occupied by one or more persons, all of whom are smokers and have requested in writing to be placed or to remain, as the case may be, in a room where smoking is permitted.

 

4.      Private clubs or lodges.

 

5.      Retail tobacco stores, provided that smoke from these places does not infiltrate into areas where smoking is prohibited under the provisions on any section of this Ordinance.

 

6.      Until July 1, 2008, any bar/tavern.  On and after July 1, 2008, all bars/taverns shall be subject to the provisions of this Ordinance.

 

7.      Until July 1, 2008, any restaurant bar area; provided, however, that smoking in a restaurant bar area shall only be permitted within fifteen feet of the bar.  On and after July 1, 2008, all restaurant bar areas shall be subject to the provisions of this Ordinance.

 

8.      Any public place or place of employment otherwise subject to this Ordinance whose owner or operator can demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the departments of Cook County Government that such area has been equipped with air filtration or purification devises or similar technologies as to render the exposure to secondhand smoke in such area, notwithstanding the fact that smoking may be occurring in such area, equivalent to such exposure to secondhand smoke in the ambient outdoor air surrounding the establishment.  The appropriate departments of Cook County Government  will be authorized to promulgate regulations specifying what types of technologies, when and if available, and taking into account any applicable Federal and/or State standards, satisfy the requirements of this paragraph.

 

Section 30-926 :        Effective Date          

 

This ordinance shall take effect July 1, 2008 365 days from its passage.

 

Chairman Gorman asked the Secretary to the Board to call on the following registered public speakers:

 

1.         Glen Keefer                                         Owner, Keefers Restaurant

2.         Mark Peysakhovich                             Senior Director of Advocacy, American Heart Association
                                                                        Metropolitan
Chicago

3.         Joel Africk                                            President & CEO, American Lung Association Metropolitan

                                                                        Chicago

4.         Janet Williams                                                Concerned Citizen

5.         David Baldwin                                     Regional Vice President

6.         Diana Hackbaryth                               President – Illinois Coalition Against Tobacco

7.         George Blakemore                              Concerned Citizen

8.         Marybeth McDonald                            Manager - Traverso Restaurant

9.         Jim Hepson                                         Owner – Hackney’s Restaurant

10.       Brian Wojak                                        Owner – Koppermill Bar & Grill

11.       Tom Booth                                          Owner – Sam McGuires Irish Pub

12.       Steve LaRocco                                   Vice President – Fat Sams Pub

13.       Thomas H. Trauscht                           Concerned Citizen

 

Chairman Gorman stated that the reason for introducing the Amendment to the Proposed Ordinance was to open up a dialogue.  Further, Chairman Gorman stated that when the Cook County Clean Indoor Ordinance was originally introduced, it was introduced as an Ordinance that mirrored the City of Chicago’s Ordinance.

 

Chairman Gorman thanked everyone who testified.

 

Commissioner Butler stated that he will be voting “No” on the Amendment introduced by Vice Chairman Beavers.

 

Vice Chairman Beavers, seconded by Commissioner Goslin moved Approval of the Amendment to the Proposed Amendment.  The motion carried.

 

Vice Chairman Beavers, seconded by Commissioner Steele moved to Approve the Amendment to the Proposed Ordinance Communication No. 284418 as amended.  The motion carried.

 

Vice Chairman Beavers, seconded by Commissioner Goslin, moved the approval of Communication No. 284418 as amended. The motion carried.

 

Chairman Gorman and Commissioner Silvestri voted “Present”, and Commissioner Butler voted “No” on Communication No. 284418.

 

Commissioner Goslin moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Butler.  The motion carried and the meeting was adjourned.

 

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Health and Hospitals Public Health Subcommittee

 

 

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Elizabeth Ann Doody Gorman, Chairman

 

 

Attest:

 

 

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Matthew B. DeLeon, Secretary

 

 

 

 

 

 

The transcript for this meeting is available in the Office of the Secretary to the Board, 118 North Clark Street, Room 567, Chicago, IL  60602