November 12, 2018
Good evening Tech Council members. Thank you to those who attended this morning's event at Google. Our keynote speaker, Tim Day of the US Chamber
provided a document outlining their data privacy principles. Their principles include input from over 200 of their companies nationwide. As discussed at today's meeting, the Illinois Chamber's Tech Council would like to use the US Chamber's privacy principles as a starting point for our very own set of principles. Please provide me with any edits or suggestions that your organization may have.
You can view the US Chamber's privacy principles
here. My goal is to incorporate the Tech Council's input and take an electronic vote within membership to ratify a set of privacy principles.
The election has come and gone and I know many of you are happy to see the digital ads, commercials, and mailers come to an end. That being said, how do you think the outcome of this election will impact the tech community?
Many
of you know by now, Illinois will have a new governor. Democrat JB Pritzker will take over the Governor's Mansion as the 43rd Governor of the State of Illinois. Current-Governor Bruce Rauner was a key ally to the tech industry, although JB has proven to be friendly to the tech community in the past, given his generous involvement in several Chicago startup companies. It is still too early to determine where he will be on policy issues, however, we look forward to working with the new administration and providing insight on key tech issues.
Another race that will play a major role in tech policy, particularly data privacy, is the state's Attorney General. Current state Senator Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago) handily beat Champaign attorney Erika Harold in the race for the state's top lawyer. Sen. Raoul has been an active legislator during his 14 years in the Senate. A
recent Law360 article highlighted his ongoing effort to regulate the internet of things (IoT) devices. He may also look into amending the state's data breach law on reporting requirements if businesses experience a data breach.
As for the General Assembly, both the Senate and House will have Democrat super majorities (veto-proof majorities).
Speaking of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislature returns to Springfield tomorrow for what is week one of a two week fall veto session. This is the time in which the legislature may take action on bills the Governor vetoed over the summer.
In the tech arena, here are some of the high points I want members to be aware of.
Legislation that received a considerable amount of attention this spring is SB 2641 (Munoz/Turner). This bill, amendatorily vetoed by the Governor, sought to pit traditional car rental companies and car-sharing companies against each other. In short, this bill sought to apply the same regulatory and statutory obligations on non-traditional car rental companies (such as Turo and Getaround) as traditional car rental companies.
The Governor's
veto message
was seen as a positive for the car-sharing industry. In his veto message
he stated: "Many of the structures this sweeping legislation proposes are ill-suited to thoughtfully regulate this new industry...Oversight of this new industry is important to protect consumers; however, we should be careful not to unintentionally smother its growth before it has a chance to get off the ground." The bill passed the House with a veto-proof majority. It is possible there will be an attempt to override this week.
As mentioned at today's meeting, the Chamber and other stakeholders are sitting down with the sponsor of HB 2747 (Zalewski) to discuss next steps on autonomous vehicles here in Illinois. A few weeks back, Gov. Rauner issued an executive order opening Illinois for autonomous vehicle testing. His executive order created a multi-agency public-private partnership allowing for local testing of autonomous vehicles. To conclude, HB 2747 has been moved out of the Rules Committee and placed on the floor for a vote. This bill would create the Safe Autonomous Vehicle Act. While it is unlikely that the bill will move as is, it could end up including language that rescinds the Governor's executive order. More on autonomous vehicles in the next newsletter.
Not much legislation has been filed on tech since our last newsletter. However, one bill was filed last week that would make the state's research and development tax credit permanent (current law expires in 2022). Having this tax credit become permanent is extremely important to anyone conducting research and development in Illinois. Often times, as we saw the other year with the budget stalemate, tax credits can be used as bargaining chips. Businesses deserve stability and predictability. The Chamber is in support of this legislation and is also exploring other ways to change the base period calculation to the R&D credit.
Lastly, Chicago Alderman Ed Burke recently held another hearing on his data privacy omnibus ordinance. This ordinance would:
- Regulate data collection and disclosure within city limits
- Data breach notification (different than Illinois' law)
- Regulation of data brokers
- Geo-location information notification
If you are operating in and around
the Chicagoland area, this is something you may want to keep an eye on. At this moment, we are not expecting any movement but will continue to monitor. You can view the ordinance
here
.
ARTICLES OF INTEREST
