Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Ethics Reporting topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Cook County Department of Human Rights and Ethics summarizes 2025 enforcement and training gains
Summary
Jennifer King, Director of the Department of Human Rights and Ethics, presented the 2025 ethics annual report noting staffing levels, recent ordinance amendments to the —doing business— threshold, a six-day average response time for opinions, and a large increase in employee ethics-training completions.
The Cook County Department of Human Rights and Ethics presented its 2025 annual report to the Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee, highlighting changes to ethics rules, staffing and training improvements.
Director Jennifer King described the board's composition (four volunteer members with one vacancy) and a departmental staff of 16, including one investigator dedicated to ethics. She noted recent amendments to the ethics ordinance (section 2-58, including the definition of "doing business") and procurement-code alignment that raised the "doing business" threshold from $10,000 to $25,000 over a four-year span.
King reported a six-day average response time for staff opinions and an increased goal to reach a five-day average. The department trained 10,339 Cook County employees in FY25, a 240% increase from FY24, and issued new ethics guidance materials including social-media guidance and a prohibited political-activity poster.
Vice Chair moved to receive and file item 206511 (the 2025 ethics annual report); the motion was seconded and adopted by the committee on voice vote.
King listed near-term goals for 2026, including strengthened guidance materials, expanded training and interim lunch-and-learn sessions for county offices.
