Where legislation goes to die: more than 400 Chicago City Council items have waited in committee over a year
By committee and chair: how many items introduced this term have sat in Chicago City Council committees for more than a year, and which ones.
More than 400 pieces of legislation introduced in the Chicago City Council since May 2023 have been waiting in committee for more than a year, according to the City Clerk's records as of Oct. 17, 2026. The committees' own counts add up to 467. We found three items listed twice in the Clerk's feed, and our item-by-item lists show at least 413 distinct ones, so the true number is between 413 and 464. That is about six in 10 of the 784 items the committees currently hold.
Most ordinances and resolutions are referred to a committee when they are introduced. An item stays "in committee" until the committee reports it out, so one that is never taken up is still waiting when the term ends.
Which committees hold the most?
By count of items more than a year old, as of Oct. 17:
| Committee | Chair | Waiting over a year | All waiting | |---|---|---|---| | Committees and Rules | Ald. Michelle Harris (8th Ward) | 84 | 135 | | Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards | Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward), chair since April 15, 2026 | 47 | 80 | | Transportation and Public Way | Ald. Gregory Mitchell (7th Ward) | 39 | 62 | | Finance | Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward) | 37 | 79 | | License and Consumer Protection | Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th Ward) | 36 | 62 | | Pedestrian and Traffic Safety | Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st Ward) | 33 | 37 | | Public Safety | Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward) | 27 | 43 | | Budget and Government Operations | Ald. Jason Ervin (28th Ward) | 26 | 50 | | Contracting Oversight and Equity | Ald. Emma Mitts (37th Ward) | 24 | 27 | | Economic, Capital and Technology Development | Ald. Derrick Curtis (18th Ward), chair since April 15, 2026 | 20 | 73 | | Health and Human Relations | Ald. Rossana Rodríguez Sánchez (33rd Ward) | 20 | 27 |
Eight more committees hold between 3 and 17 items each that are more than a year old; the Committee on Aviation holds none. Two chairs, Villegas and Curtis, took over in April 2026, so most of the older items in their committees arrived under their predecessors.
Some committees hold few items but have let almost all of them age. The Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety has 33 of its 37 waiting more than a year (89%), and its median item has waited 997 days. The Committee on Contracting Oversight and Equity has 24 of 27 (89%) and met 10 times this term, with eight meetings cancelled. The Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy has 17 of 20 (85%), the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights 13 of 15 (87%), and the Committee on Education and Child Development 4 of 6, with 16 meetings held and 12 cancelled.
Legislation waiting in committee, by committee
Nothing to chart yet.
Source: City Clerk · as of Oct 21, 2026
Non-routine matters introduced since May 15, 2023 whose status is In Committee, of any age, as of the page view. Source: City Clerk.
What's waiting the longest?
The oldest items were introduced at the term's first meetings, on May 24 and May 31, 2023, and had waited 1,242 and 1,235 days as of Oct. 17. They include:
- in the Committee on Contracting Oversight and Equity, an ordinance by Ald. Jason Ervin setting work-percentage requirements for City construction projects performed by residents of socio-economically disadvantaged areas, and one creating a Community Oriented Media Program;
- in the Committee on License and Consumer Protection, two nuisance-business ordinances by Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward);
- in the Committee on Committees and Rules, a change by Reilly to the Council rule on introducing documents;
- in the Committee on Public Safety, Reilly's ordinance on street harassment.
Of the items on our lists more than a year old, 256 are ordinances, 120 resolutions, 31 orders and 6 appointments. Half of those resolutions, 60 of 120, ask for a hearing, typically a request that a committee bring in a City department to answer questions.
Whose items wait?
Every kind of sponsor has items in the backlog. The Mayor filed 26 of the items on our lists. Among alderpersons, items by Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward), Ald. Gilbert Villegas and Ald. Brendan Reilly turn up across many committees; Villegas has 14 waiting more than a year in the Committee on Contracting Oversight and Equity alone, and Lopez has 8 in License and Consumer Protection and 7 in Committees and Rules.
Committee chairs can have their own items waiting, too. In the Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety, 10 of the items more than a year old were filed by its chair, La Spata. In the Committee on Workforce Development, three of the six were filed by its chair, Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22nd Ward).
How we counted
"Waiting" means a non-routine item introduced since May 15, 2023 whose Clerk status is In Committee and whose committee is still in charge of it. Days are counted from the day the item was introduced, not from its last hearing, so an item that had a hearing and was held still counts. The committees' counts come from `site/data/committees.json`; our item lists keep only each committee's 40 oldest, so for Committees and Rules, Zoning, Transportation and Public Way, Finance, License and Consumer Protection, Public Safety, Budget and Economic Development, some items over a year old are counted but not listed. The site's earlier figure of 416 was built from those lists and undercounts for that reason; we use the committees' counts. The script is `tools/on-my-block/stories/s3_committees.py`.
What it means on your block
If your alderperson has filed something for your block, a parking change, a hearing request, a code change, and it hasn't come up, it may be one of these. Each committee's page lists its oldest items: start from the committees list. To ask about an item, contact the committee chair's office and your own alderperson; committee meetings also take public comment.