2024 End of Session Report

Posted on July 2, 2024by [email protected]

By Illinois Chamber of Commerce Council Directors

The General Assembly adjourned this year on Wednesday, May 29th, which was later than their intended early adjournment date of May 24th. The Senate continued its session until the evening of Sunday, May 26, while the House took a short break before adjourning into the early morning of Wednesday, May 29th. The Illinois Chamber of Commerce is pleased to present our annual end-of-session report. Our team has diligently drafted, tracked, and advocated for legislation impacting the business community. This document is a product of that advocacy.

The report begins with a message from our President and CEO, Lou Sandoval, and highlights the major legislative items of the year. Following that, you will find a detailed recap of the legislation tracked and lobbied by each of the Chamber's 7 policy councils. If you have any questions or would like to discuss any of these legislative matters, please feel free to reach out to our team.

FY25 Budget Signed into Law, Revenue Enhancements Raise Concerns

As final budget negotiations were carried out in the waning days of May, The Illinois Chamber appreciated the opportunity to collaborate with legislators on both sides of the aisle and secure meaningful policy wins. The Chamber is aligned with Governor Pritzker's goals of business attraction and support for education and we acknowledge that many in our dynamic and diverse membership base will be served well by the state in the coming year.

A long overdue legislative update changing the sales taxation of leasing from an upfront tax on the acquisition cost of the leasperty paid by the lessor to a tax on the rental charges paid by a lessee is an example of one such victory. Due to the collaboration of Senator DeWitte and the Illinois Chamber Tax Institute, Illinois will now be in line with the rest of the country in how these leases are treated by IDOR.

However, the Chamber has significant concerns about the revenue bill (HB4951) that passed in that it will ultimately be balanced on the backs of the taxpayers and businesses of Illinois. With an increase of more than $1B in revenue without commensurate cuts, it poses substantial problems moving forward with ARPA funds expiring in 2025 and pending transportation funding gaps going unaddressed. Growing our revenue base is a worthwhile effort, however, growth efforts will be for naught unless we apply fiscal balance and retain opportunities to help existing businesses grow. We look forward to being part of that conversation.

Please view the Tax Institute update beginning on page 41 of this report for an in-depth look at major tax legislation for the business community that was considered throughout the entire Spring.

General Assembly Acknowledges Need for BIPA Reform, SB 2979 Passes Both Houses

Senator President Pro Tempore Bill Cunningham has been involved in discussions to make changes to Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) for several years. He is the Senate sponsor of SB2979 which is the first BIPA-related reform bill to make its way through the full legislative process passing the Senate 46-13-0 and the House 81-30-0. The bill now heads to Governor J.B. Pritzker's desk where it is expected to be signed shortly.

The Illinois Supreme Court effectively directed the General Assembly to clarify the intent of damages calculations in BIPA so judges for many existing cases have not awarded damages while waiting for the conclusion of the legislative process. To that end, the business community has been seeking retroactivity as part of any BIPA reform.

In addition, many companies are requesting a security exception which would exempt specific situations from BIPA. Current BIPA language prevents the use of facial recognition technology that could be used to improve personal security for individuals as well as in the transportation environment. Without the security exemption, the opportunity for further tech investment in Illinois could dissipate. For this reason, the Illinois Chamber opposed SB2979 along with the great majority of the business

Quick review of what the bill does and does not do: The bill includes a damage cap based on a "per person" basis rather than a "per instance" or "per swipe" approach. The current version of SB2979 also allows for electronic opt-in rather than a paper-based requirement. Both of these measures are significant improvements and are especially helpful to companies who have not yet been sued.

In both the House Judiciary Civil Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee and on the floors of both chambers, an exchange denoting legislative intent to inform the courts of the opportunity to use SB2979 as the basis for the calculation of damages in cases which haven't been completed. In the Senate, the dialog was between Senate President Don Harmon and Senate President Pro Tempore Bill Cunningham. In the House, Representative Dan Didech and Representative Ann Williams put the scripted legislative intent on the record.

The exchanges in the respective chambers followed along these lines:

1. The intent of the amendment regarding assessment of liquid damages to deter future violations without destroying defendant's business.
2. The amendment doesn't authorize a death penalty to the business.
3. A clarification about retroactivity that implies that a court could take "judicial notice" of the amendment in determining an initial award or in reducing an award.

The bill sponsor made mention of the recent development that White Castle was going to pay less than $10 million to resolve their BIPA issues rather than the potential $17 billion that the Supreme Court had outlined as a potential.

In summary, the Chamber still opposed this bill - not because it doesn't help, but because it is missing a vital component: an allowance for a security exception to the current BIPA framework. For example, companies engaged in the transportation safety business have had to disable some security features of their offerings to steer clear of BIPA violations when drivers are passing through Illinois. Making Illinois roads less safe was never the intent of the original BIPA language. That is an unfortunate, but correctable consequence of BIPA. Efforts are underway to make that adjustment in future conversations related to BIPA.

Comprehensive Carbon Capture & Sequestration Legislation Heads to Governor After Two Years of Negotiation

One of our biggest priorities, and therefore our biggest wins this session, was getting comprehensive carbon capture legislation adopted by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor. While we await his signature, SB 1289 was a huge victory that was two years in the making. The proposal endorses the federal Class 6 well program and allows for the unitization of pore space in Illinois. These are enormous victories.

Unfortunately, this victory comes with a number of questions. The bill troublingly includes a temporary moratorium on CO2 pipelines, includes vague language on criteria pollutant emission increases resulting from CCA projects, and includes costs and fees that will be an impediment to many projects. But this bill is still a key first step, and now the real work begins.

Agreed Workers' Compensation Bill Passes House and Senate

In late May, the Illinois House voted 79-29-0 and the Senate voted 44-14-0 in favor of SB 1996, the agreed workers' compensation bill. This legislation provides a very modest increase to fund the operations of the workers compensation commission. The legislation was a part of the agreed bill process which requires representatives of business and labor to come together and agree on legislation related to workers comp. On the house floor, it was made clear that the agreed bill process will be utilized next year on a broader range of workers comp reforms for Illinois. The Governor signed the bill into law last week.

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