State/ National Chamber Updates
March 27, 2019
Highlights from Today:
SENATE
SB 1379 (Hutchinson) passed favorably out of the Senate Revenue Committee 6-1-0. This legislation is an initiative of the Cook County Assessor. The Chamber is opposed.
SB 1591 (Sims) passed out of the Senate Revenue Committee on the agreed bill list. This bill is an initiative of the Illinois Chamber. This bill creates a tax incentive for new and existing data centers in the state. There will be amendment forthcoming to the bill.
HOUSE
HB 3624 (Williams) passed the House Energy and Environment Committee yesterday 18-11-0. The Clean Energy Jobs Act calls for Illinois to: decarbonize by 2030; use 100 percent renewables for the electricity sector by 2050; electrify the transportation network, including rebates to install personal EV infrastructure; and create numerous job programs and community programs to promote clean energy. It also requires Illinois to take over capacity markets from PJM. The sponsor has committed to working with stakeholders on this and the multiple energy proposals being discussed to negotiate a possible package. The Chamber is opposed to the bill.
HB 3493 (Guzzardi) failed to pass out of the House Prescription Drug Affordability & Accessibility Committee. This bill would Creates the Prescription Drug Affordability Act. The Chamber was opposed.
HB 465 (Harris) passed out of the House Prescription Drug and Affordability Committee today. This bill would seeks to regulate pharmacy benefit managers. As written, the Chamber is opposed.
HB 2233 (Thapedi) passed out of the House Judiciary - Civil Committee 8-5-0. This bill amends the Code of Civil Procedure to repeal a provision regarding special interrogatories in verdicts. The sponsor indicated the bill would come back with an amendment. The Chamber is opposed.
HB 255 (Guzzardi) failed in House Commercial Law Subcommittee today. This bill would repeal the Rent control Preemption Act. The Chamber is opposed to this legislation.
HB 2604 (Crespo) passed out of the House Labor and Commerce Committee. This bill Creates the Safe Patient Limits Act and provides the maximum number of patients that may be assigned to a registered nurse in specified situations. The Chamber is opposed.
SB 1407, Amdt 2 (Hastings) passed the Senate Executive Committee, 12-5-0. The amendment, offered by Senator Koehler, adds ethanol facilities to Senator Hastings bill. The underlying bill creates the Illinois Hazardous Materials Workforce Training Act requiring all construction and maintenance work at privately owned petroleum refineries and petrochemical facilities within the state to be exclusively performed by members of certain trade unions. SB1407 passed Committee last week. The Chamber is opposed.
HB 2480 (Evans) passed out of House Labor and Commerce Committee today with the agreement that it would come back to committee. This bill amends the Workers' Compensation Act and the Workers' Occupational Diseases Act. Includes Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the list of ailments giving rise to a rebuttable presumption that the ailment arose out of employment of firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and paramedics. The Chamber is opposed.
HB 2565 (Stava-Murray) passed out of House Labor and Commerce Committee 18-8-0. This bill would prohibit covenants not to compete in the state. The Chamber is opposed.
HB 2846 (Conroy) passed out of House today. Amends the Illinois Insurance Code. In provisions concerning treatment for pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections and pediatric acute onset neuropsychiatric syndrome, provides that treatment administered or prescribed after July 18, 2017 shall be covered. The Chamber is opposed. The bill now heads to the Senate. |
March 26, 2019
Highlights from Today:
Today, the Illinois Chamber and other local and state business chambers across the country wrote an open letter to state governors and lawmakers urging them to carefully consider data privacy legislation and to avoid importing a California-style privacy law. You can read our letter here.
SENATE
Today the Senate Judiciary held a subcommittee on Tort Reform. The only bill heard was SB 98 (Barickman). This legislation Amends the Civil Practice Law of the Code of Civil Procedure to add a Part concerning asbestos trust claims. The Chamber is in support of this legislation.
HOUSE
HB 2861 (Walsh) passed House Public Utilities. The Chamber testified in opposition. At this time, the bill would allow ComEd to utilize a mechanism at PJM to acquire its own capacity, through the Illinois Power Agency. The bill lays out what capacity shall be purchased requiring the bulk of it to come from "clean capacity", but there are a lot of placeholders still in the legislation and how this works is still unknown. Understanding the bill will receive additional amendments, the proposal is still a major change that could have significant cost implications for the state and ratepayers and is a shift away from the markets.
HB 1633 (Hoffman) passed House Judiciary-Criminal 13-6. The Chamber supported the bill, which would impose stricter criminal penalties on a person who knowingly damages critical infrastructure such as pipelines, railways, transmission, etc. An amendment has been filed to lower the criminal penalties from a Class 1 to Class 3 penalty and add coal mines to the definition of critical infrastructure. An additional amendment is expected to switch "knowingly" to "intentionally", further ensuring the bill targets those who seek to damage critical infrastructure assets.
HB 3503 (Manley) passed out of the House Insurance Committee. This bill is in regards to a hearing aid coverage. An amendment was adopted that requires separate hearing aid only policy to be offered by an insurer. We are neutral with the adopted amendment.
HB 3113 (Cassidy) passed out of the House Insurance Committee. This bill is in regards to dermatology insurance mandate. We are neutral with amendment.
HB 466 (Scherer) passed out of the House Insurance Committee 14-7-0.This bill requires insurance to cover substance abuse the same as Medicaid. The Chamber testified in opposition. The sponsor agreed to bring the bill back to committee with an amendment.
HB 3509 (Stuart) passed out of the House Insurance Committee. This bill is in regards to insurance for human breast milk. The Chamber is opposed. |
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