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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Committee Updates
Yes, it was committee deadline today. However, there are plenty of committees scheduled for next week.
House Transportation: Regulation meets Tuesday at 2 pm. This is almost exclusively for road naming bills.
Senate Transportation meets 30 minutes later at 2:30. There are only three bills: one renames a road, one changes the word “accident” to “crash”, and one deals with sports license plates. That sports license plate bill, HB 4434, is a favorite of mine as it gets rid of St. Louis Rams plates. As a Saint Louis native, it's not safe to print my sentiments towards Mr. Kroenke.
Transportation: Vehicles is not scheduled at this time.
These are the interesting bills we previewed in last week’s edition for committee action this week:
SB 1233, Transportation Commission passed out of the House Transportation: Regulations, Roads & Bridges Committee by a vote of 12-0-0. This bill creates the Blue-Ribbon Commission on Transportation Infrastructure and Policy. The Commission shall report a summary of its activities and produce a final report of its data, findings, and recommendations to the General Assembly by January 31, 2023.
SB 2981, Design Build passed out of the House State Government Administration Committee by a vote of 7-0-0. This bill creates the Innovations for Transportation Infrastructure Act. This bill would give IDOT long overdue design-build capabilities. It sits on 3rd Reading in the House. The Chamber supports this bill.
Other Legislative Updates
HB 260, Digital Drivers License passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee by a vote of 17-0-0. This bill provides that the Secretary of State shall conduct a study on the feasibility of allowing the use of digital electronic license plates on passenger and commercial vehicles registered in the State. Provides that the report shall include information on the following areas: (1) jurisdictions currently offering digital electronic license plates for passenger vehicles and their creation and implementation comments; (2) jurisdictions currently offering digital electronic license plates for commercial vehicles; (3) cost of implementation and issuance in Illinois for both passenger and commercial vehicles; and (4) any benefits or deterrents to electronic vehicle registration. Provides that the report shall also examine and provide jurisdictional information concerning: (i) interaction with law enforcement and automated license plate readers; (ii) oversight of messaging on digital electronic license plates; and (iii) any other information the Secretary deems pertinent to the report. Provides that the Secretary of State shall update the report issued in 2016, pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 11 of the 99th General Assembly, regarding the issuance of an electronic driver's license to eligible drivers. Provides that the report shall include, but not be limited to: (1) advancements in technology since the initial report; (2) production information on other states offering an electronic driver's license to qualified drivers in their jurisdictions; and (3) cost and timeline to implement an electronic driver's license program in Illinois. Requires that the reports be filed with the General Assembly by July 1, 2022.
HB 989, Corporate Board Diversity Reporting passed out of the House Economic Opportunity & Equity Committee by a vote of 5-2-0. This bill adds onerous penalty provisions to the corporate board reporting requirements. This act applies to all publicly traded companies with principal headquarters in Illinois. Under this amendment, the penalty for a first-time oversight is $100,000. The penalty more than doubles for second and subsequent violations. The Chamber opposes this bill.
HB 3124, Towing Database passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee by a vote of 18-0-0. This bill provides that the Transportation Division of the Illinois Commerce Commission shall establish a statewide database in which any licensed tow operator may enter information regarding vehicles towed for safety or relocation purposes.
HB 4251, Competitive Bids passed out of the Senate Labor Committee by a vote of 12-3-0. This bill provides that any purchase by a township for services, materials, equipment, or supplies in excess of $30,000 (rather than $20,000) shall be contracted in specified ways. Provides that contracts for construction work whose estimated cost will exceed $30,000 (rather than $20,000) for township waterworks and sewerage systems shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder.
HB 5262, Infrastructure Transparency passed out of the House by a vote of 109-2-2. This bill creates the Infrastructure Delivery and Program Transparency Act. Provides for the creation of an Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator within the Office of the Secretary of Transportation to administer the Rebuild Illinois Program. Provides that the Office of the Secretary of Transportation shall develop a publicly available project information website that includes detailed information about each infrastructure project. Provides that the Coordinator shall track and make publicly available a master program, budget, and construction schedule and program metrics. Provides that after a review of the program metrics, the Coordinator shall implement improvements to the Rebuild Illinois Program in accordance with the established overall program budget and project schedule. Provides that the Department of Transportation and the Coordinator shall implement certain initiatives to assist the Department with meeting program goals.
SB 1234, EPA Inspection Station passed out of the House by a vote of 105-05-1 and has now passed both chambers. This bill provides that, by October 1, 2022, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency shall submit a report to the General Assembly containing its plan to replace the dismantled official inspection stations located in the City of Chicago. Provides that the plan shall consist of either a pilot program or a permanent replacement program, and shall provide information on the proposed locations of the new stations within the City of Chicago, information on programs implemented in other states, and a target date for full operation of all stations. Provides that the Agency shall issue a request for proposals related to its plan by January 1, 2023. Provides that the described plan shall also contain a timeline of actions, shall include procurement of services, technology, equipment, and other elements necessary to replace the former vehicle testing lanes, and shall state whether the replacement stations in the City of Chicago will utilize permanent self-service kiosks or other services. Provides that the plan shall also include the Agency's strategy of how best to inform people of the location and hours of operation of the new official inspection stations and conduct an informational campaign.
SB 3184, Utility Tower Inspection passed out of the Agriculture & Conservation Committee by a vote of 5-3-0. This bill, as amended, provides that the use of unmanned aircraft in the inspection of a public utility facility, tower, or structure or a mobile service facility, tower, or structure by a public utility or a provider of mobile services is not prohibited.
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You can register for the Infrastructure Council quarterly meeting here.
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Future of Work Taskforce Meeting 7
Last Friday, the Future of Work Taskforce held its seventh meeting. Todd Tucker of the Roosevelt Institute spoke about “buy American” procurement efforts. Kassie Beyer of Jobs to Move America talked about changing procurement policies, especially in the electric vehicle industry. I liked some of her ideas regarding bulk government procurement practices instead of multiple procurement requests, so that small villages can buy a vehicle for cheaper than they could on their own.
The final speaker was the most interesting. Aidan Ali-Sullivan from Waymo, the Google offshoot. He talked about Waymo’s goal of fully autonomous vehicles both in passenger vehicles and in trucking.
For passenger vehicles, I had no idea Waymo has been offering fully autonomous ride sharing in Phoenix for over a year. You can get a ride, sans driver, in the city of Phoenix through their app, Waymo One. Not only would it be cool to experience, its 30-40% cheaper because you don’t have to pay a driver. That’s wild.
He also talked about autonomous long-haul trucking. Waymo wants to remove the “monotonous” portion of trucking- the overland, long haul like driving 70 across Kansas. The last mile of delivery would still be done by a human. I wish we had more time to focus on this technology, the future is coming sooner than we think.
First EV Steering Committee Meeting
This Wednesday I participated in the first EV Steering Committee meeting of the IDOT-funded research project: EV Infrastructure Plan for Illinois. The work is facilitated by Chamber member, the University of Illinois.
The first meeting was mostly a setup for the work of looking at the needs of
statewide charging infrastructure. I learned some cool tidbits:
- There are currently 39,000 electric vehicles in Illinois.
- Lake and DuPage Counties are leading the way but no county has more than 0.76% adoption.
- 25% of energy consumption and 33% of CO2 emissions are attributed to transportation.
I look forward to future meetings. Charging infrastructure, or lack thereof, is currently a major impediment towards the widespread adoption of electric vehicles.
ICC Approves 5 Year (FY 2023-2027) Crossing Safety Improvement Plan
The Illinois Commerce Commission recently approved its annual five-year Crossing Safety Improvement Program to start implementing highway-rail safety capital projects for local roads across the state. For Fiscal Years 2023-2027, the ICC is expected to spend $386 million dollars from the Grade Crossing Protection Fund (GCPF) to assist local communities and railroads pay for much-needed improvements at nearly 879 crossing locations. The Plan includes Rebuild Illinois (RBI) capital program funds for the installation of grade crossing protection or grade separations not limited to local routes or other restrictions.
Webinar: Avoiding the Wrong Buyers in Export – Understanding Denied Parties and Vetting Your Importers
Denied parties are organizations or companies that various U.S. agencies – and other foreign governments – have identified as those who have been denied export privileges. Any dealings with a party on this list that would violate the terms of its denial order are prohibited. This webinar will be presented by Alex Sonifrank, Affinity and Partnerships Manager at the American World Trade Chamber of Commerce. Alex has worked to vet registrations against their global trade platform for issuing trade documents and worked directly with US exporters experiencing challenges and risks in the global market. The AWTCC is focused on expanding US trade internationally. This webinar is for anybody who has questions about Certificates of Origin, exporting, and international business.
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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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