It is almost the best weekend of the year. There’s nothing better than being on a body of water with some American flag apparel and a playlist with “Party in the USA”, “Real American”, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” turned up way too loud. Santa Claus is cool and all but Uncle Sam is the cooler version of a bearded old man.
Illinois Chamber Amicus Brief on BIPA Accepted by the Illinois Supreme Court
The Illinois Chamber filed an amicus brief in support of Roosevelt University as a defendant in a BIPA suit in the Illinois Supreme Court. The brief was accepted by the Supreme Court last Friday. The gist of our argument is that federal labor law controls when the BIPA suit centers on unionized employees. BIPA claims cannot exist independently of a collective bargaining agreement where a union is the legally authorized representative of the BIPA plaintiff. BIPA claims therefore are completely preempted by the Labor Management Act and courts must dismiss them.
Special thanks to our friends at Shook, Hardy & Bacon for authoring the brief. You can read the brief in full here.
Illinois Chamber of Commerce Annual Luncheon & Council Reception
The Illinois Chamber is returning to its traditional Annual Luncheon & Reception format with its September 30th get together at the Palmer House in Chicago. This year’s Keynote Speaker is Holly Sullivan, VP of Worldwide Economic Development, Amazon.
Per pre-COVID, there will be a reception that will feature a Council Reception from 10-11:30 am. Sponsorship of the reception is $2500. A sponsor receives 2 seats at the luncheon, promotional consideration, and an exhibitor space.
More information can be found here.
Bills of Interest Sent to the Governor
HB 53 (Andrade) AI Interviews Provides that employers that rely solely upon artificial intelligence to determine whether an applicant will qualify for an in-person interview must gather and report certain demographic information to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Requires the Department to analyze the data and report to the Governor and General Assembly whether the data discloses a racial bias in the use of artificial intelligence. This bill passed the Senate 43-11 and the House 112-5. This bill has been sent to the Governor.
HB 645 (Evans) Future of Work Taskforce This bill creates the Illinois Future of Work Task Force to study the future of work and submit a final report to the Governor and the General Assembly no later than May 1, 2022. We flagged this task force as we believe it will study critical issues such as the importance of the “gig economy” and its proposals may serve as a trojan horse for gig economy proposals. This bill has been sent to the Governor.
HB 2411 (Davis) Data Center Amends the data center exemption to change the required timeframe for green energy certification as a condition of qualifying for the exemption from 90 days to 2 years. This bill has been sent to the Governor.
HB 3712, (Jones) Car Sharing Program This bill, as amended after extensive negotiations, provides that a car-sharing program shall assume liability of a shared-vehicle owner for bodily injury or property damage to third parties or uninsured and underinsured motorist or personal injury protection losses during the car-sharing period in an amount stated in the car-sharing agreement, which amount may not be less than 4 times the minimum amounts required under the Illinois Vehicle Code (instead of those amounts set forth in the Illinois Vehicle Code). A car-sharing program shall ensure that, during each car-sharing period, the shared-vehicle owner and the shared-vehicle driver are insured under a motor vehicle liability insurance policy that provides insurance coverage in amounts that, for the shared-vehicle driver, are equal to 2 times the minimum amounts set forth in the Illinois Vehicle Code (instead of in amounts no less than the minimum amounts set forth in the Illinois Vehicle Code). This bill has been sent to the Governor.
