Fifteen days remaining of legislative session and legislators are better procrastinators than college sophomores with BACs higher than their GPAs. Don’t lie, you immediately pictured a guy when you read that. I have no idea where that guy is now, but I wonder how he’s doing. The rest of us will have plenty of time to wonder as we spend countless hours at the Capitol next week making up for lost time the last two weeks.
Committee Updates
Not much worth reporting happened during the one transportation committee held this week as electric bikes dominated the discussion. The House Revenue Committee met to discuss capital funding at the end of a two-hour marathon committee hearing. The main topic of discussion was lowering the fee for small trailers back to its original amount of $18 from the widely out of sync new price of $118. Chairman Zalewski indicated he would be ok with this so long as there was a revenue offset. Proponents suggested increasing the title fee by $5 to make up for the revenue loss. It was interesting that small trailer registration dropped from 450,000 to 300,000 the first year the fee increase. It’s almost as if the public responds to incentives…
Three transportation committees are scheduled this week. The first is the House Transportation: Regulation and Roads. It meets on Tuesday at 2 for road naming resolutions.
The Senate Transportation Committee meets an hour later in virtual room 1.
Bills to be Heard:
House Transportation: Vehicles & Safety Committee meets Wednesday morning at 10 in virtual room 2 to discuss two measures from the Secretary of State.
Bills to be Heard:
Other Legislative Updates
HB 270, Bicycle & Pedestrian Ways passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee by a vote of 19-0-0. This bill provides that, in or within a municipality with a population of over 1,000 people, the Department of Transportation shall establish and solely fund bicycle and pedestrian ways in conjunction with the construction, reconstruction, or other change of any State transportation facility. Adds an exemption in cases in which the municipality passes a resolution stating that a bicycle or pedestrian way does not fit within its development plan. Provides that if programmed funds identified as supplemental funding for the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program are not expended for 5 years, the Department has the option to use those funds to pay the cost of bicycle and pedestrian ways in roadway projects.
HB 399, High Speed Railway Commission was placed on the Senate Calendar for 3rd reading. This bill Creates the High-Speed Railway Commission Act. Prescribes the membership of the Commission. Provides that the Commission shall create a statewide plan for a high-speed rail line and feeder network connecting St. Louis, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois that includes current existing Amtrak and Metra services, connects the cities of Rockford, Moline, Peoria, and Decatur, and uses inter-city bus service to coordinate with the rail line. Provides that the Commission shall conduct a ridership study and shall make findings and recommendations concerning a governance structure, the frequency of service, and implementation of the plan.
SB 117, Treasurer Infrastructure passed out of the House Revenue Committee by a vote of 18-0-0. This bill Creates the Infrastructure Development Act. Provides that the State Treasurer shall segregate a portion of the Treasurer's State investment portfolio in the Infrastructure Development Account, an account that shall be maintained separately and apart from other moneys invested by the State Treasurer. Allows the State Treasurer to make investments concerning the Infrastructure Development Account. Provides for Infrastructure Development Account-Recipient Funds created by Illinois infrastructure development firms in which the State Treasurer places money. Provides further requirements concerning Infrastructure Development Account-Recipient Funds. Provides for the adoption rules. Provides that the Infrastructure Development Fund is created as a special fund in the State treasury, which may receive a portion of earnings from the Infrastructure Development Account and may be used by the State Treasurer to pay expenses related to the Act.
SB 2183, Transportation Network Providers Act passed out of the House Labor & Commerce Committee by a vote of 28-0-0. As amended, this bill repeals the Transportation Network Providers Act on January 1, 2023. The Chamber supports this bill.
SB 2424, Railroad Supplier Diversity passed out of the House Transportation Committee by a vote of 13-0-0. This bill amends the Railroad Supplier Diversity Act. Adds the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (doing business as Amtrak) to the list of entities that may report to the Illinois Commerce Commission under the Act.
SB 2459, Electronic Signature passed out of the House Transportation Committee by a vote of 13-0-0. This bill Provides that the Department of Transportation, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, and the Capital Development Board shall each accept the use of electronic signatures in transactions between those State agencies and other persons or entities, unless all parties to the transaction waive the right to use electronic signatures. Provides an exception to the use of electronic signatures for transactions involving technical submissions.
Freight Advisory Survey
The fine folks of IDOT asked that we gather responses for this survey for freight planning purposes. It only takes a few minutes and your input would be much appreciated.
The Illinois State Freight Advisory Council remains committed to providing a forum for freight multimodal planning coordination in the state of Illinois. Insight from our members and supporters goes a long way in helping us achieve Council objectives. In anticipation of our work ahead, we would like to learn more about what issues are important to you and how we can best support your engagement with the ISFAC.
Please help us improve our meeting agendas by taking this Illinois State Freight Advisory Council Survey, which should take about 10 minutes or less of your time to complete: https://isfacsurvey.metroquest.com/
If you could please take a few minutes to complete by Tuesday, June 1, 2021, your valuable input will influence future meeting topics and activities to follow.
US 14 at Hartland Road/Hughes Road in McHenry County
IDOT is hosting a virtual public outreach to share details of this project in McHenry County and to encourage public input for this intersection improvement project. The project is included in the Department’s FY 2021-2026 Proposed Highway Improvement Program. The information will be available from May 17th until June 13th at US14hartandhughes.com
Album of the Week
It’s a beautiful weekend on tap down in central Illinois, and the GA is going home. Since Memorial Day will likely be spent under the Dome, there’s no excuse not to light the grill this weekend, crack open an ice-cold domestic beverage and crank the new American Aquarium album: Slappers, Bangers and Certified Twangers. The entire album is the band covering 90s country classics and what goes better with a Busch Latte than some Joe Diffee and vintage Toby Keith.
Articles of Interest
Until next time,
Clark
