Clark Kaericher l Vice President, Government Affairs l 217-522-5512 x 296
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The Infrastructure Council is an initiative of the
Illinois Chamber that brings together Chamber members with a focus on increasing
infrastructure investments in a strategic and thoughtful way to boost the overall business climate in Illinois. Our focus is on the public and private systems that are essential to Illinois businesses.
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Thank you to all who attended or supported financially our “Chamber Day” this week. It was a great event and wonderful to see many of you in person.
Committee Updates
House Transportation: Regulation, Roads & Bridges meets Tuesday at 2 pm. There is a long list of bills posted but nothing of concern.
Chamber/IERG Initiative to Streamline Infrastructure Permitting Passes House of Representatives
This morning HB 5555 (Yednock) passed the House of Representatives 104-0-0. The bill which is a joint initiative of the Illinois Chamber and our affiliate IERG, will provide an optional streamlined permitting process in Illinois for projects exceeding $20 million. The bill would break agency silos by mandating cooperation and coordination to reduce inefficiency and increase transparency. It would create a portal where applicants can see any necessary permits and their status, along with contact information in case of any snags. It would require permitting decisions to be made within 2 years.
You can read the bill’s highlights HERE.
I want to thank Representative Yednock for his work on this bill. His leadership and relationships with business and labor and respect from the other side of the aisle was invaluable in the impressive vote total the bill was able to garner. Representative Yednock took the time to really understand the issue and we are grateful he spearheaded this initiative.
The Chamber would also like to thank the cosponsors of this measure: Representatives Wheeler, Vella, McLaughlin, Reick, Walker, and Chesney. This bipartisan group is helping to bring jobs to Illinois.
Floor Action of Note
HB 3125, EV Charging passed out of the House by a vote of 68-35-0. This bill creates the Electric Vehicle Charging Act. Provides that the Act applies to new single-family homes and newly constructed or renovated multi-unit residential buildings that have parking spaces and are constructed or renovated after the effective date of the Act. Provides that a new single-family residence or a small multi-family residence shall have at least one electric vehicle capable parking space for each residential unit that has dedicated parking, unless any subsequently adopted building code requires additional electric vehicle capable parking spaces or installed EVSE.
HB 3820, Illinois/Domestic Procurement passed the House by a vote of 102-3-2. This bill requires construction agencies procuring construction and construction-related professional services to make reasonable efforts to contract with Illinois businesses. Requires each construction agency to submit a report to the Governor and the General Assembly by September 1 of each year concerning Illinois businesses procured for construction projects by the construction agency. Provides that in procuring construction and construction-related professional services for projects with a total construction cost valued at greater than $100,000, construction agencies shall provide bid preference to a responsible bidder that is an Illinois business. Provides that it is the public policy of the State of Illinois for each purchasing agency to use the terms and conditions of State financial assistance awards and State procurements to maximize the use of goods, products, and materials produced in Illinois. Provides a penalty for a contractor who is awarded a contract through the use of a preference for Illinois products but knowingly supplies procured products under that contract that are not manufactured in Illinois.
HB 4093, EPA/EJ passed out of the House by a vote of 64-38-0. This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency to annually review and update the underlying data for, and use of, indicators used to determine whether a community is designated as an environmental justice community and to establish a process by which communities not designated as environmental justice communities may petition for such a designation.
HB 4393, Bidding passed out of the House by a vote of 109-0-2. This bill provides that specified contracts may be let to the lowest responsible bidder or the best value bidder (rather than to the lowest responsible bidder). As amended, provides that, if an entity is eligible to be paid for or reimbursed, in whole or in part, with federal-aid funds, grants, or loans, and the letting of a contract to the best value bidder under the provisions would result in the loss of those federal-aid funds, grants, or loans, then the contract shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder (rather than the contract is exempt from the provisions).
HB 4600, One Day of Rest Penalties passed out of the House by a vote of 65-42-2. This bill provides that every employer covered by the Act shall post and keep posted, in one or more conspicuous places on the premises of the employer where notices to employees are customarily posted, a notice, to be provided by the Director of Labor, summarizing the requirements of the Act and information pertaining to the filing of a complaint. Provides that the Director of Labor shall provide copies of summaries and rules to employers upon request without charge. Provides that an employer with employees who do not regularly report to a physical workplace, and instead work remotely or travel for work, shall also provide the notice by email to its employees or on a website, regularly used by the employer to communicate work-related information, that all employees are able to regularly access, freely and without interference. Provides that an employee who works in excess of 7 1/2 continuous hours shall be entitled to an additional 20-minute meal period for every additional 4 1/2 continuous hours worked. Provides that any employer who violates specified provisions of the Act shall be subject to a civil penalty. Provides that for an employer with fewer than 25 employees, the civil penalty shall not exceed $250 per offense, payable to the Department of Labor, and damages of up to $250 per offense, payable to the employee or employees affected. Provides that for an employer with 25 or more employees, the civil penalty shall not exceed $500 per offense, payable to the Department, and damages of up to $500 per offense, payable to the employee or employees affected.
HB 5035, Bond passed out of the House by a vote of 106-0-3. This bill provides that the Department of Transportation may implement a 5-year pilot program to allow a contractor to provide a non-diminishing irrevocable bank letter of credit in lieu of specified bond requirements on contracts under $500,000. Provides that projects selected by the Department of Transportation for the pilot program must be classified by the Department as low-risk scope of work contracts. Provides for the adoption of rules concerning the criteria for pilot project selection and implementation of the pilot program.
HB 5412, Contractors passed out of the House by a vote of 62-36-0 after consideration was postponed earlier in the night This bill as amended, provides that, for all contracts entered into on or after July 1, 2022, a primary contractor making or taking a contract in the State for the erection, construction, alteration, or repair of a building, structure, or other private work in the State, shall assume, and is liable for, any debt owed to a claimant incurred pursuant to the Act by a subcontractor at any tier acting under, by, or for the primary contractor for the wage claimant's performance of labor included in the subject of the contract between the primary contractor and the owner.
Amendment of Note
HB 5543 (HFA 0001) "Good Corporate Citizen" amendment was filed. This amendment would allow the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to pull incentive agreements previously granted to the business in the state for a shockingly wide variety of reasons. Something as small as a corporate officer receiving a DUI or a citation for smoking marijuana in a prohibited place would be enough under the legislation to pull incentives at the discretion of the department.
This legislation would have a chilling effect on business recruitment and once again shows the Department to be shockingly disinterested in its core mission of recruiting and retaining businesses. Whether it's this, bills to strip recruitment processes or opposition to streaming the permitting process, DCEO has shown an unwillingness to go to work on behalf of the business community these past few months. Sadly, you can ask people dealing with the agency to get agreements on the data center incentives or EDGE and hear horror stories. The Department must improve.
The amendment was sent to House Revenue of Wednesday. Chamber CEO Todd Maisch was ready to testify in opposition but thankfully the bill was not called. If it wasn’t obvious from the rant above, the Chamber opposes the “Good Corporate Citizen” amendment.
Future of Work Taskforce- Meeting 6
The Future of Work Task Force held its sixth meeting last Friday. We started with a discussion on the upcoming report, in particular the metrics which will be used to grade Illinois’ performance. I made the point that the metrics needed to be graded against the efforts of the rest of the states. Illinois does not exist in a vacuum. If, for example, our GDP grows 1% and average salary by $1000 that might look good by itself. But if Florida’s grows by 5% and their average salary by $5,000, suddenly those numbers look paltry.
The committee was addressed by Dan Schulman, the CEO of PayPal. He spoke about the benefits to the company of increasing wages and decreasing healthcare costs for his employees. As a result, PayPal saw dramatic decreases in employee absenteeism and turnover.
We were also addressed by Justin King of the Aspen Institute who highlighted state benefit legislation like Illinois’ “Secured Choice” retirement system and Kansas’ Employee Emergency Savings Accounts.
There was also extended discussion about the growing importance of the “care economy.”
Mobility 4.0 Workshop
Yesterday I attended the Mobility 4.0 Workshop hosted by the University of Illinois Center for Transportation. The workshop is a component of a Future of Transportation and Mobility research study funded by IDOT. The workshop brought together transportation leaders from the public and private sector to discuss Illinois’ position to grow as an national infrastructure leader.
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Articles of Interest
Until next time,
Clark
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Not a member and want to learn more about the Illinois Chamber - click here to contact Lauryn Thornton. Click here to contact Jack Bernhardt.
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