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It’s NFL Divisional Playoff Weekend. The commercials might not be as entertaining, but I think this is the best weekend for the league. Who are you taking?
I’ve got the Chiefs, Giants (and the points), Bengals and the 49ers.
Schedule Updates
Next week, the only the Senate is in session. The following week the House will convene by themselves.
I am meeting with the Senate President and his Chief of Staff early next week. Feel free to drop a line if there are issues you want us to work into the discussion. I have a short list of things to discuss, among them BIPA and the independent contractors issue.
Committee Updates
There are no committees scheduled for next week. The Senate has yet to announce its committee chairs and members.
The Speaker’s office did release the names of Committee Chairs. Among the notable ones for our purposes: Rep. Robinson will continue to lead Cybersecurity, Data Analytics and IT Committee, Rep. Gong-Gershowitz will remain the Judiciary-Civil Chair (where Tech bills with a civil penalty aspect often get assigned) and Rep. Rita will continue to chair the powerful Executive Committee despite his promotion to leadership. A new committee named Small Business, Tech Innovation and Entrepreneurship will be chaired by Rep. Ammons.
New Legislation Filed
While the Senate has yet to read in their new legislation, the House has filed approximately 1,250 bills. We’ve reviewed all of them for your benefit (thankfully there were a lot of shell bills. Please don’t remind me I said this later this Spring). As always, your input is critical.
Thankfully, there were not many tech related bills in this first batch. Here are the ones I flagged:
HB 47 (Hoffman)- Cybersecurity Insurance. Amends the Illinois Insurance Code. Provides that if the entry of an Order of Liquidation occurs on or after January 1, 2023, then the obligations shall not exceed $500,000 or exceed without any deduction $50,000 for any unearned premium claim or refund under any one policy. Provides that in no event shall the Fund be obligated to pay an amount in excess of $500,000 in the aggregate for all first-party and third-party claims under a policy or endorsement providing cybersecurity insurance coverage and arising out of or related to a single insured event, regardless of the number of claims made or number of claimants. Provides that the Illinois Insurance Guaranty Fund shall have the right to appoint or approve and to direct legal counsel and other service providers under any other insurance policies subject to the provisions, regardless of any limitations in the policy. Provides that the Fund may employ or retain such persons as are necessary to provide policy benefits and services. Provides that the Fund may, at its sole discretion and without assumption of any ongoing duty to do so, pay any cybersecurity insurance obligations covered by a policy of an insolvent company on behalf of a high net worth insured. Defines cybersecurity insurance
HB 1122 (Guzzardi) – “Freelance Worker Protection” Creates the Freelance Worker Protection Act. Freelance workers must be compensated by hiring parties for their services in a timely manner. Whenever a hiring party retains the services of a freelance worker, the contract between the hiring party and the freelance worker shall be reduced to writing. No hiring party shall threaten, intimidate, discipline, harass, deny a work opportunity to, or discriminate against a freelance worker, or take any other action that penalizes a freelance worker for, or is reasonably likely to deter a freelance worker from, exercising or attempting to exercise any right guaranteed under the Act. Contains provisions concerning complaints to the Director of Labor; the powers and duties of the Director; civil actions brought by freelance workers; civil actions brought by the State; the scope of freelance worker contracts; a public awareness campaign; and surveys, information collection, and reporting requirements. Effective immediately. Your input on this bill is especially desired.
HB 1228 (Jones) – Drones. Amends the Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act. Defines "emotionally disturbed person" and "special event". Deletes "data" from the definition of "information". Provides that "information" does not mean information gathered under circumstances in which the drone is used over publicly owned property or private property with permission for the purpose of training peace officers, public relations, or conducting infrastructure inspections, or for other similar non-law enforcement purposes. Permits the use of a drone by a law enforcement agency if the law enforcement agency is assisting an emotionally disturbed person and is not also undertaking a criminal investigation. Permits the use of a drone by a law enforcement agency at a special event to prepare for or monitor crowd size, density, and movement; assess public safety staffing; or monitor the safety of the participants. Provides that, if the special event is occurring on private property, use of a drone shall be authorized by the owners or organizers prior to flight. Provides that a law enforcement agency may use a drone to respond to Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) dispatched calls for service, when the primary purpose for the response is to locate or assist victims, or both, identify offenders, or guide emergency response. Provides that information gathered by a drone is subject to the disclosure and exception to disclosure provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. Makes other changes. Amends the Freedom of Information Act to exempt from disclosure information that is prohibited from disclosure under the Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act.
HB 1230 (Jones) BIPA- Healthcare. Amends the Biometric Information Privacy Act. Provides that nothing in the Act shall be construed to apply to any health care employer that (1) hires an employee under the Health Care Worker Background Check Act and the employee has submitted to a fingerprint-based criminal history records check, (2) uses and stores biometric information or biometric identifiers exclusively for employment, human resources, compliance, payroll, identification, authentication, safety, security, or fraud prevention purposes, (3) does not sell, lease, or trade the biometric information or biometric identifiers collected, and (4) maintains and follows a documented process to delete any biometric information or biometric identifier.
Walton v. Roosevelt Oral Arguments Heard This Week
On Wednesday, the Illinois Supreme Court held oral arguments in Walton v. Roosevelt, which was held by Zoom due to a Covid outbreak among court staff.
Several justices, including Chief Justice Theis, seemed focused on the uniform body of federal case law holding BIPA claims are preempted by the LMRA, which the Appellate Court relied upon. Under the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision in State Bank of Cherry, where federal courts are uniform in their interpretation of a federal statute, the Illinois courts should follow that interpretation unless it is “outside of logic and reason.” This is a favorable standard for Roosevelt, and its counsel relied heavily on it.
Plaintiff’s counsel mostly tried to argue the merits of the BIPA claim and that a union should not be permitted to “waive” (his term) the private BIPA rights of an individual employee. He also argued that the court should extensively review the CBA at issue to see if it says anything about biometrics.
Overall, the case is, as we emphasized in our amicus brief, really a dispute about preemption and forum selection. The Court should not consider the merits, but instead should enforce the arbitration clause so the claim can go through the grievance process in the CBA. We are optimistic that the Supreme Court will follow the uniform federal cases and affirm the Appellate Court.
I want to once again thank our friends Matt Wolfe and Melissa Sibert and their firm SHB for their work on this issue. They authored the Illinois Chamber of Commerce’s amicus brief in this case and provided the oral argument summary.
Quick JCAR Note
Senator Castro has been appointed to JCAR to replace Senate President Harmon. Reps. Demmer and Wheeler will have to be replaced by the House GOP as their terms in the GA have expired.
An extension was granted to DCEO for its rulemaking on the Broadband Grant Programs for an additional 45 days. IT will be considered again at the Feb. 14th meeting.
Articles of Interest
‘Right to repair’ advocate plans to wait and see if recent MOU really helps
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