Board of Commissioners of Cook County - File #: 16-5102

• File #: 16-5102
• Version: 2
• Name: AN AMENDMENT TO THE COOK COUNTY AMUSEMENT TAX
• Type: Ordinance Amendment
• Status: Approved
• File created: 8/30/2016
• In control: Finance Committee
• On agenda: 9/14/2016
• Final action: 10/26/2016
• Title: Proposed Substitute to Item 16-5102 (Finance Committee 10-26-16) PROPOSED ORDINANCE AMENDMENT AN AMENDMENT TO THE COOK COUNTY AMUSEMENT TAX WHEREAS, it is the intent of the County Board to recognize and encourage both the artists who add to our cultural identity as well as the venues that allow them to display their talents to crowds from around the County and around the world by exempting them from the City and County's amusement tax for live performances; and WHEREAS, it is not the role of government to restrictively decide and define what is and is not 'music'; and WHEREAS, to single out one or any type of music genre performed at these types of venues as not applicable to the small venue exemption clause is not in the spirit or purpose of the exemption clause nor the expansive definition of music; WHEREAS, as the recording industry and music genres have evolved, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has recognized, although sometimes more slowly than society at...
• Sponsors: JOHN A. FRITCHEY, SEAN M. MORRISON, TONI PRECKWINKLE (President)

Date	Ver.	Action By	Motion	Result
10/26/2016	2	Board of Commissioners	approve as substituted	Pass
10/26/2016	1	Finance Committee	accept as substituted	Pass
10/26/2016	1	Finance Committee	recommend for approval as substituted	Pass
10/5/2016	1	Finance Committee	recommend for deferral	Pass
9/14/2016	1	Board of Commissioners	refer	Pass

title
Proposed Substitute to Item 16-5102
(Finance Committee 10-26-16)

PROPOSED ORDINANCE AMENDMENT

AN AMENDMENT TO THE COOK COUNTY AMUSEMENT TAX

WHEREAS, it is the intent of the County Board to recognize and encourage both the artists who add to our cultural identity as well as the venues that allow them to display their talents to crowds from around the County and around the world by exempting them from the City and County's amusement tax for live performances; and

WHEREAS, it is not the role of government to restrictively decide and define what is and is not 'music'; and

WHEREAS, to single out one or any type of music genre performed at these types of venues as not applicable to the small venue exemption clause is not in the spirit or purpose of the exemption clause nor the expansive definition of music;

WHEREAS, as the recording industry and music genres have evolved, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has recognized, although sometimes more slowly than society at large, that new music genres evolve and form, such as Rock, Rap, Reggae, Metal, Roots, Electronica, New Age etc.; and

WHEREAS, DJ's have been considered an art form for many years now and in fact the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences' Grammy Awards created the Grammy Award for Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical at the 40th Grammy Awards in 1998 to recognize an individual(s) who takes previously recorded material and adds or alters it in such a way as to create a new and unique performance; and

WHEREAS, the first Grammy Award for such category was presented to Chicago's very own Frankie Knuckles whose key role in developing and popularizing House music into an internationally recognized musical genre during the 1980s led to him being referred to as the "The Godfather of House Music."; and

WHEREAS, in 1998, the Cook County Board created an exemption to the Amusement Tax for small venues with a maximum capacity of not more than 750 persons, and in 1999 the County...