The City Council meets on April 15, 2026. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The City Council on Wednesday will consider ordinances to require data centers to report energy use, require a higher vote threshold for the approval of new city debt and to update the city’s campaign finance and ethics rules. 

Alderpeople are also expected to revisit a stalled measure to protect workers from extreme heat. The council will meet at 10 a.m.

The council will consider an ordinance (O2026-0026270) from Ald. Marty Quinn (13) bumping the threshold for the City Council to approve new debt and borrowing up to a three-fifths or 30-member margin from a simple 26-vote majority. The finance committee approved the measure at a meeting earlier this month.

Related: Finance committee OKs Guevara-related wrongful conviction settlements, proposal to require ⅗ majority to approve debt issuance

Alderpeople will also consider an ordinance to include data centers in the city’s energy benchmarking program for large buildings, which was advanced by the Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy earlier this month.

Related: Environment committee advances ordinance to opt data centers into city energy benchmarking program 

Under the city’s benchmarking program, established in 2013 but now under the purview of the Department of Environment, buildings with a floor area greater than 50,000 square feet must report their energy use to the city annually, with some exceptions, and the city in turn analyses and publishes that data for the public to view.     

Data centers are one of the types of buildings currently exempt from the benchmarking program. 

The ordinance (SO2026-0027165) from Ald. Maria Hadden (49) would remove that exemption and subject data centers to benchmarking reporting requirements, mandating that they report their energy use annually alongside all over covered properties. The measure would also require water usage by data centers and other covered buildings to be reported to the Department of Environment by the Department of Water Management. 

The council will also consider an ordinance (SO2024-0007359) updating several provisions of the city ethics code, including requirements that candidates for city office state that they approve of campaign ads, the requirement that independent contractors doing research and policy work for an alderperson or City Council committee follow the same ethics rules as city employees and a prohibition on the use of city insignias for campaigning.

The ordinance would also close a loophole and ban political fundraising committees from coercing city employees and officials to make or solicit political contributions, as well as allow successor political fundraising committees to be held liable for outstanding fines and penalties incurred by closed or dissolved committees.

The Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight approved of the ordinance, which stemmed from recommendations from the Chicago Board of Ethics, earlier this month. 

Related: Ethics committee advances ordinance to subject Council contractors to ethical rules, prohibit use of city insignias and uniforms for political activity 

The council will also consider the appointment of Elbert Reniva, a longtime real estate attorney, to serve on the Board of Directors for the Illinois International Port District. Reniva’s appointment received the approval of the council transportation committee two weeks ago.

Related: Transportation committee approves appointment of real estate attorney to Illinois International Port District board 

The council will also consider items passed by the zoning committee Tuesday, including the expansion of the Francis W. Parker School, the redevelopment plans for the Ford City Mall site and a new Amazon “last mile” warehouse in Gage Park.

Finally, the council expects to take a vote on Hadden’s employee heat illness prevention ordinance,  which would set new standards for businesses to protect workers that spend a lot of time outdoors from heat-related illness during extreme temperatures. 

Related: Heat illness prevention ordinance advances out of Workforce Development committee over business opposition

The ordinance was approved by the Committee on Workforce Development last fall despite opposition from some business interests, but a final vote was delayed nearly a year ago. The council on Wednesday is expected to take up a new version (SO2023-0004210) of the proposal that incorporates feedback gathered since then. 

Some of the changes from the committee version include carveouts that create alternative ways for airport businesses, the roofing industry and outdoor event organizers to comply with the ordinance. The substitute also reduces the fines the city would impose on violators.