Office of the City Clerk - Record #: R2018-1144

• Record #: R2018-1144
• Type: Resolution
• Status: Failed to Pass
• Intro date: 10/31/2018
• Current Controlling Legislative Body: Committee on Committees, Rules and Ethics
• Title: Submission of public question by referendum to Chicago voters at February 26, 2019 election seeking to impose increase in Chicago's portion of real estate transfer tax for purpose of retrofitting and remediating Chicago's water delivery pipes and infrastructure to eliminate lead and other harmful contaminants
• Sponsors: Villegas, Gilbert, Waguespack, Scott, Taliaferro, Chris
• Topic: CITY COUNCIL - Miscellaneous
• Related files: R2019-362

Date	Journal Page Number	Action By	Action	Result
5/29/2019		City Council	Failed to Pass
11/14/2018	91273	City Council	Deferred and Published
10/31/2018	88708	City Council	Referred

RECEIVED Committee on Finance
October 31, 2018
T8 OCT 30 PM U'> 21 n m ?¦
.us cm City Council Meeting
OFFICE Or THE CITY CLERK


RESOLUTION


WHEREAS, Chicago currently has 360,000 lead service lines, the largest number of lead service lines in the country; and

WHEREAS, EPA standards for drinking water mandate that maximum allowable levels of lead in drinking water are 15 parts per billion, and;

WHEREAS, it is reported that over the last two years, elevated levels of lead have presented in approximately 70% ofthe almost 2,800 homes that undertook lead tests; and

WHEREAS, tap water in 3 out of 10 homes tested contained lead concentration above the maximum legally permitted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; and

WHEREAS, historically lead poisoning disproportionately impacts low-income - neighborhoods; and

WHEREAS, the EPA and the U.S. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention states that it is hazardous to consume any amount of lead; and

WHEREAS, the EPA further states that, "[i]n children, low levels of exposure have been linked to damage to the central and peripheral nervous system, learning disabilities, shorter stature, impaired hearing, and impaired formation and function of blood cells...[b]ehavior and learning problems...lower IQ and hyperactivity, slowed growth, anemia...[and]...ingestion of lead can cause seizures, coma and even death"; and

WHEREAS, infants and young children "are particularly vulnerable to lead because the physical and behavioral effects of lead occur at lower exposure levels in children than in adults...dose[s] of lead that would have little effect on an adult can have a significant effect on a child..." and;

WHEREAS, the indirect cost of lead poisoning nationally is documented, with experts estimating that elimination of lead nationally has the potential to save $200 billion per year; and

WHEREAS, the Illinois General Assembly, in 65 ILCS 5/8-3-19, allows a home rule municipality to increase its Real Estate Tr...