The Chicago Open for Business Act gives small, independent Chicago businesses relief from red tape and a simpler licensing process. This relief arrives alongside the Dignity Wage, the plan's living-wage minimum, so that the higher wage is politically and economically sustainable for the businesses most affected by it.
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PART OF THE NEW BURNHAM PLAN
CONSTRUCT · FOUNDATION
OPEN
Chicago Open for Business Act
You should be able to open a business in Chicago without being sent from office to office or left waiting on an answer.
Apply once online and get a decision on any standard business license in 30 days. If you meet the rules, you should be able to open.
Right now a cafe that wants to serve beer goes through a process built for nightclubs, with a sign-off the alderman can give or refuse at will, and no guaranteed timeline. You can meet every rule and still wait on an answer that depends on who you know. That uncertainty falls hardest on the first-time owner who put their savings into a storefront.
So we fix the process. One online portal handles liquor, business licenses and signs. Any standard business license gets a decision within 30 days. Restaurants and cafes that meet published standards get their liquor license without the alderman being able to block it. Health, fire and building inspections are scheduled together instead of one after another. If your business is already allowed where you want to open, you register online and get your number right away.
Neighbors get the new cafe or corner shop sooner, and the people it hires start working sooner. The timing is deliberate, too: the relief arrives while the Dignity Wage, my plan to set the minimum wage at 120% of what it costs a single adult to live in Cook County ($30.53 an hour today), phases in over four years, so small businesses get a faster, cheaper start while wages rise.
WHAT IT WON'T DO
It doesn't lower any safety standard. Every health, fire and building inspection still happens. They're just scheduled together.
It doesn't change the rules for bars. Bars and nightclubs keep today's process, including community input. Dry precincts, where voters have banned liquor sales, and the 100-foot buffer around churches, schools, hospitals and homes for the aged stay exactly as they are.
It doesn't grow government. Building the online portal costs a one-time $3 to $8 million, paid from savings elsewhere in the budget, with no significant new ongoing cost.
How it connects
Nothing in this plan works alone. These are the questions people ask next, and the policies that answer them.
Where am I allowed to open? Contextual Zoning lets you build what already stands on your block, and Corner Store Revival makes small shops, cafes and daycares legal again on corners and main streets in residential neighborhoods.
Contextual Zoning →
Corner Store Revival →
Can I afford the new wage floor? The Dignity Wage steps up over four years, and workers spending more at Chicago businesses is estimated to add $90 to $140 million a year in Chicago sales tax.
Dignity Wage →
What if the city misses the deadline? Regulatory Streamlining gives you your fees back when the city misses a building permit deadline, and the Mayor's Delivery Unit tracks every commitment and reports on it publicly every quarter.
Regulatory Streamlining →
Mayor's Delivery Unit →
FISCAL IMPACT
Revenue Neutral
RENOVATION STEP
Construct · Foundation
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01
Where it ranks
OUR PRIORITIES
#26 of 33
SMALLER MOVE
37.5 / 100
Daily life
Long-term future
Reach
Unlocks
PROVEN It gives every standard business license one portal, published standards and a decision within 30 days, so opening a business in Chicago is simple.
When you'd feel it: Within months.
See all the priorities
How I set them
02
How it works
30 days for any standard license
Every standard city business license gets a decision within 30 days, judged against published standards, with no separate sign-off from the alderman on top. If the business is already allowed without a hearing under Contextual Zoning (the plan's zoning rules, where your block sets what you can build) or Corner Store Revival (which lets small local shops open on corners and main streets), the owner certifies online that it meets the rules and gets a registration number right away.
Liquor: two paths
Food-primary places, meaning restaurants, cafes and corner stores where food is the main business, get a review by city staff, a decision within 30 days, and no aldermanic veto if they meet zoning, pass a safety inspection and have BASSET (Illinois alcohol server training) certification. Bars and nightclubs keep today's process, including community input.
One portal
There is one online application, one login and one tracked timeline for liquor, business licenses and signs. The reviews themselves still happen.
Inspections together
Health, fire and building inspections are scheduled at the same time instead of one after another. The inspections themselves don't change.
Sidewalk cafes
Applications that meet published placement standards (sidewalk width, accessibility clearance, standard furniture and barriers) are approved by city staff, without a separate sign-off from the alderman.
What doesn't change
Under Illinois law, voters can vote a precinct dry, and no liquor license can be issued there, food-primary or not. The 100-foot buffer between liquor licenses and churches, schools, hospitals and homes for the aged stays.
Timed with the Dignity Wage
The licensing relief arrives while the Dignity Wage, the city's new minimum wage for adults, phases in over four years, so small businesses feel both at once.
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What it costs
Unified licensing portal
$3–8M once
Ongoing operations
No material new cost
One-time cost
$3–8M
It's paid for with savings from running the city's main operating budget more efficiently. It's expected to bring in more in license fees and sales tax than it costs, but no annual revenue figure has been modeled yet.
04
What it takes to make it happen
CITY COUNCIL
Amend the licensing and liquor ordinances: the 30-day guarantee, the food-primary liquor path without an aldermanic veto, and approval of sidewalk cafes by city staff.
MAYOR AND BUSINESS AFFAIRS AND CONSUMER PROTECTION
Build the portal, and schedule inspections together with the Health, Fire and Buildings departments.
SPRINGFIELD
No state action is needed. State liquor law stays in force, including dry precincts and the 100-foot buffers.
VOTERS
No referendum is needed.
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Timeline
ONCE THE ORDINANCE PASSES
Most of the process changes can start right away. Building the online portal is the main piece of work.
YEAR 1
The target is a median of 30 days or fewer for food-primary liquor decisions, none needing an aldermanic sign-off, and most new food-primary applications filed through the portal.
YEAR 3
The target is for the 30-day median to hold and for the portal to be the standard path for every qualifying application.
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Where it's worked
Chicago, 2012
Chicago cut its business license types from 117 to 49. The city estimated more than 10,000 small businesses would save over $2 million a year in fees.
SOURCE: HARVARD ASH CENTER, DATA-SMART CITY SOLUTIONS, MARCH 19, 2015 ↗
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Chicago, 2012
A 2026 study of city records found the license consolidation reduced the number of licenses each business held and increased new business entry, mostly from new companies.
SOURCE: YUMI KOH, ECONOMICS LETTERS (2026) ↗
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Chicago today
When someone applies for a liquor license, the alderman, the police commander and every registered voter within 250 feet are notified.
SOURCE: CITY OF CHICAGO, CHICAGO BUSINESS LICENSING: LIQUOR LICENSES ↗
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Illinois
State law bars liquor licenses within 100 feet of a church, school, hospital, or home for the aged or indigent or for veterans.
SOURCE: ILLINOIS LIQUOR CONTROL ACT, 235 ILCS 5/6-11 (VIA FINDLAW) ↗
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Sources
Harvard Ash Center, Data-Smart City Solutions, March 19, 2015
Yumi Koh, Economics Letters (2026)
City of Chicago, Chicago Business Licensing: Liquor Licenses
Illinois Liquor Control Act, 235 ILCS 5/6-11 (via FindLaw)
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