Clark Kaericher | Vice President, Government Affairs | 217-522-5512 ext. 296
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December 28, 2021
The Technology Council seeks to aggressively and proactively promote the interests of the Illinois technology community by advocating for public policy that fosters innovation and promotes economic growth. The Council will seek to promote workforce development policies, advocate for world-class technology infrastructure, avoid overregulation on the industry and support innovators access to the capital they need to grow.
BIPA Update 

The United States 7th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in the case Cothron v White Castle System, Inc. just a few days ago.  In this case, a former White Castle manager initiated a class action BIPA complaint after employees used their fingerprints to sign onto the computer system. The first such scan occurred around the law's passage in 2008 and White Castle argued in district court that the claim accrued with the first scan and, therefore, the suit was filed too late for the statute of limitations (which, incidentally we still don’t have a clear answer on how long that is, but all parties agreed was five years maximum).  

The 7th Circuit said that whether a claim accrues only once or repeatedly is an important and recurring question of Illinois law implicating state accrual principles as applied to this “novel state statute”. As a result, they punted the issue to the Illinois Supreme Court to decide.  

In other BIPA lawsuit news, the owners of Hawthrone Racecourse were sued just two days before Christmas over the use of facial recognition security system at their horse racing track. I’m confused how exactly the track owners were going to obtain consent from criminals for a security system scan. Also, given the timing of the suit I would really like to make a joke about the plaintiffs' bar being Grinch-like, but I’ll refrain. You can read more about this case here

How can we fix these issues?  The White Castle type case would be fixed by the Chamber’s BIPA liability bill that we’ve had introduced the last few years. HB 559 (Durkin) would have limited damages to the first scan. As a bonus, it would clear up the confusion on the length of the statute of limitations.  

For the Hawthorne case, a different approach would be required and that is my intention for 2022. I’m drafting language for introduction that would specify that BIPA does not apply to “legitimate security and law enforcement purposes.”  This would allow for this type of security scan and other common-sense innovations that are now commonplace in other states. I will share the draft when it is available. I have met with more than a dozen members of the House Democratic Caucus and have received favorable feedback on this idea.  

Future of Work Meeting #4 Update 

This month’s Future of Work meeting was held virtually on December 20th. This week’s topic was Education, Skills and Barriers.  

The meeting started with updates from Matthew Muench of P33 who spoke to the challenge of making sure worker’s skills match employer needs- a problem that the data says is particularly acute in certain underrepresented communities. In this area, Chicago is lagging in reskilling and apprenticeship programs compared to other international cities.  

Next we heard about the good being done by the private sector from Sarah Hartwick of the IMA and Bronagh Friel. Bronagh spoke about Google’s revolutionary “Grow with Google” program.  

Finally, we were addressed by Deputy Governor Manar who talked about the state’s efforts to become greener and whether we could replicate the success found with central Illinois’ Rivian.  

The long term most important portion of the program might have been the update from the drafters of the reports.  They have asked for short success stories for your company on how you are innovating and preparing for the future of work so that those stories can be highlighted in the report.  
I know that no one likes homework over holiday break but remember that the idea behind the task force is to use its work for legislative proposals. The report will be the only real lasting memory of the task force. This is our opportunity to help set the narrative. If you want to send me anything to highlight about your company, please do not hesitate to do so. I will make sure it gets in the hands of the correct people.  

FTC Letter 

The Illinois Chamber joined 85 other local, state and national trade associations in submitting a letter to the full United States Senate opposing the FTC penalty provisions in the Build Back Better Act (BBB). These troublesome provisions would give the FTC new powers including establishing a $500 million privacy bureau to give power to unelected bureaucrats. If any potential changes to the greater than century old FTC are considered, such deliberation should be carefully conducted only through a full legislative process and not a budget reconciliation process.  

As you know, this Act has passed the House of Representatives but has hit a roadblock in the Senate in the form of Joe Manchin (D-WVa.).  However, the Senate Majority Leader has vowed the press the issue and has called for a vote early next year.  

You can read the full letter here.
 
New Bill of Interest Introduced 

Earlier this month, Representative Anne Stava-Murray introduced HB 4282. 

This bill requires every telecommunications carrier with more than 10,000 customers and every Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier to offer or provide advanced telecommunications services to not less than 90% of its customers by December 31, 2023 (rather than 80% of its customers by January 1, 2005).  It removes provisions authorizing the Illinois Commerce Commission to grant a full or partial waiver of specified requirements. If the holder of a State-issued authorization is using telecommunications facilities to provide cable or video service and has more than 1,000,000 telecommunications access lines in this State, the holder shall provide access to its cable or video service to a number of households equal to at least 90% (rather than 35%) of the households in the holder's telecommunications service area in the State by December 31, 2023 (rather than within 3 years after the date a holder receives a State-issued authorization from the Commission). Further, the holder of a State-issued authorization shall provide wireline broadband service capable of supporting, in at least one direction, a speed in excess of 1,000 megabits per second (rather than 200 kilobits per second), to the network demarcation point at the subscriber's premises, to a number of households equal to 90% of the households in the holder's telecommunications service area by December 31, 2023 (rather than December 31, 2008). 
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