Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone. Here’s to the official start of Summer. I have a feeling it's going to be a great one.
Thanks to all who Attending the Spring Infrastructure Meeting
On Friday, May 20th The Illinois Chamber Infrastructure Council held its Spring Meeting with guest speakers Chicago Department of Aviation Commissioner Rhee and IDOT Director of Planning and Programming, Holly Bieneman.
Rhee was introduced by CMT's Senior Vice President and Director of Aviation, Brad Hamilton. CMT is a great member of the Chamber and proud to have them sponsor this event.
During the presentation, Rhee explained the City of Chicago's role in the administration of O'Hare and Midway Airport and its operations over the past two years. Commissioner Rhee noted some of the following points:
- 2022 travel is on a trajectory to match 80 percent of O'Hare's 2019 travel levels and 82 percent of Midway's 2019 travel levels.
- In 2019, Chicago had 188 domestic destinations
- The City has nearly regained all pre-covid numbers with 185 current destinations.
- Chicago had 71 international destinations in 2019 and has 67 destinations in 2022
Rhee said that current capital goals for the Department are to replace aging infrastructure, improve efficiency, improve experience, and accommodate demand.
With this in mind, Rhee highlighted developments and growth within the department that include Midway's new 80,000 square foot security terminal opened in 2020. Rhee also touted the numerous developments recently completed or currently underway at O'Hare International Airport which includes the completion of new concourses. At O’Hare, Terminal 5 is under construction which will add 10 new gates (a 25% increase) and add 350,000 square feet. These developments will truly make the airport and city of Chicago even more of an international transportation hub than it is today.
Bieneman spoke on a variety of topics but focused on the Rebuild Illinois program. On the Highway Improvement Program, Bieneman spoke of the revenue sources for the Department including the MFT, Sales tax, bonding and intergovernmental reimbursement. New federal formula programs include Carbon reduction, PROTECT – which is related to natural disaster preparation and recovery, and Electric Vehicle Charging, which will require building EV charging stations on interstate corridors.
Speaking on Design-Build passed in this Spring’s session, Bieneman said that the tool will take time to develop but in the next MYP the Department will be able to identify projects eligible for Design-Build. Bieneman said this will hasten the completion of projects and hopefully save money which will then allow for more State projects in the long term. It was nice to hear a top IDOT official echo what I have been preaching in this newsletter for years...
After the guest presentations, I gave a brief breakdown of the infrastructure and transportation related legislation that passed or failed this session.
I highlighted the failure of "Right to Repair" legislation, bad railroad legislation and HB 5395 which would've caused vehicle manufacturers to pay property taxes for 20 years after a dealership closes in a community. I spoke favorably of the passage of Design-Build, a taskforce on a study of transportation funding, and a Chamber initiative, HB 5555, that would've provided transparency in the environmental permitting process.
The event ended with me highlighting our concerns in the Future of Work Taskforce Report which the Chamber participated in and voted “no” on the report. Much more on this below.
We are appreciative of Crawford, Murphy & Tilly’s sponsorship of this great event. Thanks to both Brad and Dan! We are also grateful for Jaime and Holly for their presentations and work on behalf of the people of Illinois.
A recording of the meeting is available here.
In with a Bang and Out with a Whimper…The Curious Case of the Future of Work Taskforce
The Future of Work Taskforce started out with much anticipation from lawmakers, business leaders and labor. I was honored to serve because the future of work, and the policy needed to guide and strengthen it, is central to both the Chamber’s mission and the success of the business community. Illinois policymakers have for decades been more reactive than proactive. This seemed like an opportunity to move in the right direction because as the great American Bobby Knight taught us “failure to plan is planning to fail.”
The meetings themselves were engaging and productive. Unlike almost every other taskforce in recent memory, attendance was almost universal, and legislators were engaged. We had the opportunity to hear from some great speakers such as PayPal's CEO and leaders from Deloitte, Google and United Airlines.
Everything was going great. And then the report came out. The report broached topics that were barely touched upon or not mentioned at all during meetings. Further, the recommendations were strongly worded policy recommendations not voted on or discussed by task force members.
For example, after we had agreed upon a cease fire and refusal to discuss the gig economy, the report initially called for gutting Illinois’ independent worker model in favor of a Canadian “dependent worker” model. It said President Carter went too far in deregulating the trucking industry. Recommendations were also made for unworkable “predictive scheduling” and other increased labor costs.
I want to acknowledge that the report’s authors met several times one-on-one with me and accepted many of my suggested edits. The final report was a definite improvement over the initial draft, but it still contained numerous troublesome recommendations.
The business groups involved (the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, IRMA, IMA and Chicagoland) met several times to discuss a response. We drafted a joint response that was 9 pages in length detailing our objections to the report. We discussed paid leave, scheduling, independent contractors, agricultural and transportation. You can read the letter HERE.
The final meeting was this Monday. Sadly, we felt that the deficiencies in the recommendations were too much to overcome. As a result, I joined our association friends to vote NO on the report.
You can read the final report HERE.
