Aldermen and advocates behind two proposals that would formalize civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department are hoping the most recent versions of their plans will finally make it to a City Council vote early this year.

The City Council Committee on Public Safety during its Tuesday meeting accepted modifications to proposals for a Chicago Police Accountability Council (CPAC) and another from Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA), with committee hearings on each proposal expected later this month, according to Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29), chair of the committee.

Related: Aldermen expected to consider police oversight proposals this month: ‘I’d like to see it done as soon as possible’

Substantial modifications to the proposals include allowing CPAC to negotiate police department collective bargaining agreements, and allowing the commission under the GAPA proposal to create an interim board this year to serve until members can be elected.

During an unrelated news conference on Tuesday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot  said her “focus” is on getting community police oversight “right,” but she did not set a deadline for when a proposal should get a vote. When she took office in May 2019, the mayor vowed to establish civilian oversight of the police within 100 days.

“There's a lot of different perspectives on that issue and what getting it right means,” Lightfoot said. “We've engaged in conversation with members of the City Council over the break about what that looks like, but what's most important is getting a structure that makes sense [and] that is reflective of true community oversight.”

The final result will have to reflect the  federal consent decree the city entered into in 2019 to mandate judicial oversight of the department, Lightfoot said. 

“This is not easy work. If it were easy, we would have done it already,” she said. “But I'm personally involved, and I'm confident we will get to the right place and be able to present something to the City Council for a vote as soon as we are able.”

Lightfoot had previously said she intended to file her own separate ordinance for a community oversight commission, but a spokesperson for the mayor on Tuesday declined to answer whether that was still in the works. 

Related: Aldermen probe languishing police oversight plans as Lightfoot’s ‘alternative’ proposal lies in wait

Lead sponsors of each of the oversight proposals gave brief overviews of changes made to their plans, which will undergo a series of briefings and hearings in the coming weeks.

A statement from GAPA organizers said they “look forward to a vote in the committee later this month, followed by a vote in City Council on January 27.”

“It is past time for Chicago’s elected officials to deliver on their promises to implement meaningful civilian oversight of policing,” the statement continued. “As we look back on yet another year of failed promises and failures to keep Chicagoans safe — most recently with the botched raid on Anjanette Young and ensuing cover up — we ask that aldermen deliver the systemic changes to policing that communities have been demanding for many years.”

CPAC

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) told aldermen on Tuesday the substitute CPAC ordinance “addresses legal concerns and other concerns raised by some members of the City Council while staying true to CPAC’s core tenants.” 

“Very importantly I believe, this substitute ordinance repeals the quote-unquote ‘sworn member Bill of Rights,’” Ramirez-Rosa said. “Such laws have been found to be detrimental to accountability and give police special rights not available to other city employees.”

CPAC would include 11 elected members, each of whom would represent two police districts. CPAC members would work in their positions full-time and would receive full-time salaries.

Under the proposal, CPAC would negotiate police union contracts on behalf of the city, though the lead sponsors have also added an “alternative provision” should a court not validate CPAC’s power to negotiate contracts, Ramirez-Rosa said. Under the “alternative” collective bargaining provision, CPAC would have authority to monitor negotiations and make public recommendations on the agreements. 

Under the substitute ordinance, the Chicago Police Department would send its proposed budget to CPAC, which would amend and approve the proposal before sending its recommendations publicly to the City Council to go through the regular appropriations process. 

The CPAC proposal puts a ceiling on the police department’s budget, which "shall not exceed 25% of all appropriated monies from the Corporate Fund for the preceding year,” according to the ordinance. Ramirez-Rosa noted that Los Angeles dedicates about 25.5 percent of its corporate budget to policing, and New York City’s police budget comprises 7.7 percent of its corporate fund.

The proposal would require CPAC to spend 20 percent of its budget on “studying and piloting non-policing alternatives to policing” like “violence interruption,” Ramirez-Rosa said.

Under the modified proposal, CPAC would have a central role in appointing the police superintendent, chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) and police board members “with advice and consent of the City Council,” Ramirez-Rosa explained. 

Firing the police superintendent, COPA chief administrator and police board members when cause exists would require a majority vote from the City Council, according to the substitute ordinance.

The latest version of the proposal also removes CPAC’s power to draw its own districts. Instead, the districts would be recommended by the police department and approved by the police board.

The substitute ordinance also creates an Immigrant Advisory Council for CPAC that would include non-citizens and undocumented Chicagoans.

“A lot of work has gone into this substitute ordinance to ensure that they’re addressing concerns raised by members of this committee, by this Council and to ensure that CPAC can withstand a legal court challenge, while at the same time, ensuring that we have an all-civilian, all democratically elected police commission to really ensure that we have true accountability and that we really have the ability to ensure the people of the city of Chicago have the justice and safety that they deserve,” Ramirez-Rosa said.

“This has been six years in the making,” said Ald. Leslie Hairston (5), also a lead sponsor of the CPAC ordinance. “I think it’s time that we have to take measures that have never been taken before because we keep finding ourselves in the same position over and over again.”

GAPA

Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6), a lead sponsor of the GAPA ordinance, told aldermen on Tuesday that the latest changes to the ordinance are meant to "beef up the original GAPA ordinance that we introduced some years ago."

Sawyer explained the GAPA proposal as a “two-tiered structure” with a citywide community commission comprising seven members with “relevant qualifications” who would be nominated by an elected district council, chosen by the mayor and confirmed by City Council. The commissionwould include two spots for youth between the ages of 18 and 24 years old. 

The citywide commission would play a “key role” in choosing “the police commander, COPA and the public safety inspector general,” Sawyer said.

The district councils in each of Chicago’s 22 police districts would include three members elected by the local community to help set the community commission’s priorities. The 66 total district council members would be tasked with engaging residents and the police department on “local safety initiatives rooted in community concerns and priority,” Sawyer said. 

Ald. Harry Osterman (48), also a lead sponsor for the GAPA proposal, said one “substantive change” made since an October subject matter hearing on the proposals is a provision to create an interim board that City Council would establish by July 15 until the first election for district council and the establishment of the commission in November 2022. 

Additional changes from previous proposals include a provision allowing for a “vote of no confidence” on the police superintendent, chief administrator for the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) and members of the police board. The proposal would also allow the commission to “set priorities annually and review each of the agencies” and for the commission to “comment” to aldermen on the police department’s budget. 

Additionally, the commission would have the ability to initiate COPA investigations and would allow “citizens to call for a meeting of the commission,” Osterman said. 

“The GAPA ordinance represents a fundamental change that puts civilians in Chicago in [an] oversight and accountability role for CPD, COPA and the police board,” Osterman said. “It’s needed to establish and build and rebuild our trust, and it will create better policing in the city of Chicago that I believe strongly will lead to a safer Chicago.”