Tyler Diers
Director, Legislative Relations
630-400-3439
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May 22, 2018
Good morning Illinois Chamber Tech Council members!
The General Assembly convened yesterday afternoon for the beginning of an 11-day legislative sprint to the end of the month. Two bills passed last night that I want to flag for members. First,
HB 5611 (Andrade/Martinez) passed the Senate and is now on its way to the Governor's desk. This bill codifies Governor Rauner's executive order creating the Department of Innovation and Technology (aka DoIT). DoIT yields innovation by providing statewide information technology and telecommunication service to all state government agencies, boards and commissions. In addition to these services, DoIT also delivers policy and standards development, lifecycle investment planning, enterprise solutions, privacy and security management, and leads the nation in Smart State initiatives. The Illinois Chamber supported HB 5611.
Also passing the Senate last night was
HB 5547. This bill provides that on a biennial basis, the state Auditor General must conduct a performance audit of State agencies and their cybersecurity programs and practices, with a particular focus on agencies holding large volumes of personal information. The Chamber did not take a position on this bill. It heads to the Governor's desk.
BILL SEEKS REGULATION FOR RENTAL-CAR SHARING
An amendment has been filed to
SB 2641 (Munoz/Turner) that would seek to apply the same statutory and regulatory obligations on
non-traditional car rental companies (defined in the bill as personal car facilitation) as
traditional car rental companies.
House Amendment 1 would apply the same standard of regulations on personal car facilitation such as liability, loss or injury and the ability for local units of government to apply a rental service tax on vehicles. The Chamber is currently reviewing this amendment. If you have any questions or concerns, please reply to this email.
RAOUL FILES AN AMENDMENT ON MICROPHONE BILL
Last week, Sen. Raoul
filed an amendment to
SB 575, otherwise known as the "Keep Internet Devices Safe Act." This bill would seek to regulate IoT devices (i.e. cell phones, tablets, refrigerators, cars, etc.) by requiring private entities to submit a written policy informing Illinois users of IoT devices on information regarding the microphone.
The new amendment makes the following changes:
- removes minor and verifiable parental consent provisions;
- removes public written policy requirement;
- removes the frequency and length requirement of which the microphone is on; and,
- removes the specific category requirement on what words the device is listening for.
The bill is not posted for committee but the committee is scheduled to meet today at 10:00AM. As this is being written, the new amendment has not been referred for a hearing. The Chamber remains opposed to both amendments 1 and 2.
UPDATE: CALL CENTER BILL
A bill that may have implications on many technology businesses failed to receive the required votes need to pass in committee last week.
HB 4081 would create the Call Center and Consumer Protection Act by requiring employers who operate call centers of more than 50 employees (i.e. technical support, IT support, troubleshooting, financial planning, customer service, sales, etc.) to notify the state 120 days in advance if they intend to move jobs out of the state. Employers who do not notify would be subjected to a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per day. Among other provisions, it also r
equires an employer that relocates a call center from Illinois to another state or a foreign country to repay grants, loans, and tax benefits that may have been received.
I testified in opposition to the bill, arguing
that the Illinois WARN Act and the ability of DCEO to currently claw back state incentives in certain situations provide adequate protection that the legislation seeks. My written testimony can be found here. The bill has been re-posted for a committee hearing on Wednesday. The Chamber remains opposed and will be working to defeat the bill again.
SCOTUS WEIGHS IN ON ONLINE SPORTS BETTING
Last week, the US Supreme Court agreed to allow states outside of Nevada to participate in sports gambling. The 6-3 ruling (which by the way hit the over) paves the way for the legalization of sports gambling. However, it is up to states how they wish to proceed and how quickly they wish to do so. Fewer than half of the states have a bill introduced to do so - let alone passed. Illinois state Representative Tim Butler
introduced a bill early this session as a place holder for the ruling. However, gaming in Springfield becomes increasingly complex as the issue gets drawn out.
According to ESPN, there could be five states that could have a structure in place for football season this year. The lottery currently exists in 44 states and casinos operate in 43 states. In fact, much of Europe and Asia has already been accustomed to sports gambling. Not to mention, many are already betting on sports in the dark. So how does this impact tech? Primarily because the betting may very well occur
online.
It may not be in the next few weeks but i
n a cash starved state, expect Illinois to adopt a regulatory framework sooner rather than later. Interesting times. Stay tuned.
ARTICLES OF INTEREST
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