title
PROPOSED ORDINANCE AMENDMENT
COUNTY ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
BE IT ORDAINED, by the Cook County Board of Commissioners, that Chapter 42, Human Relations, Article II, Human Rights, Section 42-42 of the Cook County Code is hereby amended as Follows:
Section 42-42. County economic incentives.
(a) Prohibition. No person or entity who is the beneficiary of an economic incentive provided by Cook County ("County") shall engage in unlawful discrimination or sexual harassment against any individual in the terms or conditions of employment, credit, public accommodations, housing, or provision of facilities, services or programs. "Sexual harassment" has such meaning as is ascribed to it in other sections of this article.
(b) Provisions of County Economic Incentive Agreements. The Cook County Bureau of Economic Development, and all other department heads, as necessary and authorized, shall include a provision in all County economic incentive agreements that details the County's policies with respect to unlawful discrimination and sexual harassment, as embodied in this article, and that requires every recipient of a County-provided economic incentive to certify its compliance with these policies and its agreement to abide by such policies as a part of the recipient’s obligations under the incentive agreement. All County economic incentive agreements shall further provide that if any recipient of an economic development incentive from County is found to have violated any provision of this article, or furnished false or misleading information in any investigation, hearing, or inquiry held pursuant to this article, that incentive will as a result be subject to immediate termination.
(c) Disclosure and Disqualification. Any person or entity applying to receive an economic incentive from or otherwise benefit from an economic incentive provided by Cook County shall be required to disclose whether that person or entity has been found guilty of or liable for, or settled a claim related to a charge of unlawful discrimination or sexual harassment. If, as a result of the applicant’s compliance with the disclosure requirement, it is shown that the applicant has been found guilty of or liable for, or settled a claim related to a charge of unlawful discrimination or sexual harassment, both the applicant and the application shall be disqualified, and the applicant shall be prospectively barred from receiving or benefitting from an economic incentive provided by Cook County.
(d) Post-Award Disclosure. If the recipient or beneficiary of an economic incentive provided by Cook County fails to properly comply with the disclosure requirement set forth in Section 42-42(c), and is subsequently learned to have been found guilty of or liable for, or settled a claim related to a charge of unlawful discrimination or sexual harassment, the economic incentive to which that person or entity is a party shall be immediately terminated, and the recipient or beneficiary of that economic incentive shall be required to repay the sum total of incentive proceeds and / or benefits received to date.
Sec. 42-42 43. - Effective date. This article shall take effect 60 days after becoming law.
Effective date: This ordinance shall be in effect immediately upon passage.
end