Sad events transpiring on the global stage this week. You can’t help looking at what is happening without gaining a little perspective for whatever issues we face in this country. Hug your loved ones a little tighter.
Committee Updates
Senate Transportation met to pass SB 2981 (Villivalam) which enables design-build construction in Illinois. This long overdue policy enhancement flew out of the committee 17-0-0. Early this morning, SB 2981 passed the Senate 51-0-0.
The House Transportation Vehicles & Safety Committee met on Wednesday. The committee passed a single bill, HB 4434 (Delgado). This bill allows for license plates honoring two of the women’s professional sports teams located in Chicago.
House Transportation: Regulations, Roads and Bridges met on Thursday at 4:30. Two bills were posted. Only one was of concern, HB 1357 (Zaleswki) which sought to needlessly further regulated railroads. It was not called for a vote. The Chamber slipped in opposition.
HB 4772 (McLaughlin) allows for design-build construction in county infrastructure projects less than $12,000,000. It passed out of House Counties and Townships Committee 10-0-0.
Floor Votes of Note
SB 2912 Provides that a superintendent of a department of public works shall be a registered professional engineer, hold a degree in engineering from an accredited institution of higher learning, or have at least 10 years of professional, management-level experience in either a municipal or county public works department (rather than the superintendent shall be a registered professional engineer). This bill passed Senate 39-10-0
SB 2981 – Villivalam – passed the Senate by a vote of 51-0-0. This bill allows for Design Build for Transportation construction project in Illinois. The Chamber supports this bill.
SB 3609, Vehicle Registration Discount passed out of the Senate by a vote of 53-0-0. This bill provides that the registration fee for cars and small trucks shall be reduced by $25 if the vehicle is manufactured in this State and the application for registration is made no more than one year after the month in which the vehicle was manufactured.
SB 3625, Design Build Procurement Act Extension passed out of the Senate by a vote of 36-16-0. This bill amends the Design-Build Procurement Act. Extends the repeal of the Act from July 1, 2022 to July 1, 2027. Opposition to the bill was due to earlier patronage allegations at the Capital Development Board.
SB 3917 (Glowiak Hilton) - Creates the Manufacturing Illinois Chips for Real Opportunity (MICRO) Act. This is an initiative of the IMA and supported by the Chamber. Passed the Senate 55-0-0.
Future of Work Taskforce
The Future of Work Taskforce meets again this morning. I’ll have updates on anything of interest in next week’s newsletter.
Save the Date- Spring Infrastructure Meeting
Our next infrastructure meeting will be held in the morning of May 20th. I’m excited to announce that we will hear from Chicago Department of Aviation Commissioner Jaime Rhee and IDOT’s Holly Bieneman, Director of Planning and Programming.
