August 5, 2018
Good morning Illinois Chamber Tech Council members and happy Sunday! Thank you to those who attended our 3rd Annual Cybersecurity Conference last week. Great discussions, featuring great panels, at a great location! And thanks to Chamber-member Baker McKenzie for sponsoring the event and providing their wonderful space. Pictures to the event can be found
here.
RAUNER SIGNS CHAMBER-BACKED DRONE BILL
It's a great day for drone manufacturers, operators, and retailers in the state of Illinois. On Friday, Gov. Rauner signed
SB 3291 (Clayborne/Evans) into law. As you may recall from session, this legislation ensures uniform regulation across the state while complying with federal law in the area of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), also known as drones.
SB 3291 follows the 2016 recommendations of a state task force that determined state-level preemption regarding UAS oversight in Illinois is necessary. The task force concluded that a patchwork of local ordinances would impede commerce and unjustifiably restrict legitimate uses by UAS operators in Illinois. The task force also noted that many local ordinances are written by those unfamiliar with the complexities of federal airspace and operational regulations. This often leads to local ordinances that conflict with federal law. The overwhelming majority of laws and regulations governing UAS are determined at the federal level.
This new law ensures compliance with federal law by preempting local ordinances within the limited allowable window, providing simple and streamlined state regulations that avoids a patchwork of inconsistent and invalid local drone ordinances. We applaud the Governors' decision as this adds to Illinois' attractiveness as a tech hub.
NEW LAW CODIFIES DEP. OF INNOVATION AND TECH
Since our last newsletter, Gov. Rauner recently signed a law recognizing his executive order from 2016, creating the Department of Innovation and Technology. Bipartisan support for the legislation reflects the state's commitment to improve cybersecurity, enhance employee work processes, and provide better services to Illinois citizens. Cybersecurity has been a priority for DoIT. Since its inception, the agency has encrypted more than 5.8 billion records, protecting the personal and private information of Illinois citizens. DoIT launched the first statewide security operations center with 24/7 monitoring aimed at identifying risk and proactively responding to cyberthreats. The Chamber supported this legislation. For text of the new law governing the new state agency, click here.
BURKE FILES ORDINANCE ON FACIAL RECOGNITION
Last week, Chicago Ald. Ed Burke introduced an ordinance containing language allowing businesses to use facial recognition technology for "Security purposes only" pursuant to an agreement with the Chicago Police Department. Businesses must also post a sign disclosing the technology is being used within the establishment. The language can be found
here. Take a look and let me know your thoughts. So far, no votes or committee hearings posted.
CYBER COMMITTEE SCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY
This Tuesday, the House Cybersecurity, Data Analytics and IT Committee will hold a subject matter hearing in Chicago on "Student data privacy." From my conversations with legislative staff, the hearing will consist of four panels. The panels include education, parents, tech, and advocacy groups. The hearing will discuss how the implementation of the
Student Online Privacy Protection Act (SOPPA) and will cover recommended changes to the Act. As a reminder, the SOPPA, was enacted in 2017 with bipartsian support. The Act's intent was to ensure that student data is protected when collected by educational technology companies and that the data may be used for beneficial purposes such as providing personalized learning and innovative educational technologies. I've been told the committee hearing will use HB 1295 as a starting point for discussion. This legislation, opposed by many school groups, creates new reporting mandates on school districts related to the treatment of student data. I intend on attending the hearing and will provide a recap on the hearing in the next newsletter.
UPCOMING COMMITTEE ON AI AND ENERGY
There is also a hearing that was recently posted for September 13 in Chicago. The Senate Energy and Public Utilities will hold a subject matter hearing on "artificial Intelligence Within the Energy Sector." I am still trying to dig into what will be discussed. I will provide more details as I receive them. There are
a ton of Google search results on the topic. If this is of any interest to you or anyone you know, please let me know. This would include if you have expertise on the topic that would like to provide to the Chamber and/or testify.
CHAMBER HAPPENINGS
The Illinois Chamber and the Chamber's Business Services division has several events and webinars scheduled for this summer. Check out our
events calendar for more information or see below for some of the featured events this summer!
August 9th: Age of Agility Summit Illinois
We are living in a time of extreme and rapid innovations in technology, causing radical shifts in the workforce and, consequently, drastic changes are needed in how we educate students. Technologists, futurists, and business leaders alike are referring to this fundamental shift as the next Industrial Revolution. We call it the Age of Agility, and we are calling for changes in education that match the forces of change in the workforce and economy.
Please join our partners at Empower Illinois and America Succeeds for the Age of Agility Summit Illinois on Thursday, August 9th from 7:00 am to 12:30 pm. This event will present insights and perspectives from business, education, and policy leaders on what the Future of Work means for restructuring the way we deliver education - helping us crowdsource strategies and solutions to take action within our state and across the country. Children only get one chance at a quality education. We must do everything we can to ensure that they get the education they need and deserve to succeed in the future.
The event is free to attend. Click
here to RSVP and I will see you there!
September 20th: Annual Luncheon
Mark September 20, 2018 in your calendar to join us at the Hilton Chicago for the 2018 Illinois Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting. This fall Lance Fritz, the chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Union Pacific Railroad will keynote this exciting event.
Union Pacific Railroad is one of two western-U.S. railroads that connects Illinois agriculture and industry to the West Coast and international markets. In addition, their heritage traces back to Abraham Lincoln, who signed the Pacific Railway Act of 1862, setting the wheels in motion that eventually connected the Pacific to the Mississippi River by rail-a fitting story for Illinois' bicentennial celebration!
ARTICLES OF INTEREST
