President & CEO Maisch Talks Labor Shortages
Last weekend, Illinois Chamber President and CEO Todd Maisch spoke to Tanja Babich with ABC 7 Chicago on the labor shortage impacting our economy.
Appearing on the Our Chicago segment, Maisch said "All you have to do is drive around your local community and see how many help wanted signs there are and know that this is a different labor environment."
Maisch stated that the issue is impacting every segment of the economy with repercussions for employers. Many businesses are offering higher wages and reducing hours.
Concluding the segment, Maisch noted that US GDP has grown beyond pre-pandemic levels despite 6 million fewer workers participating in the economy. This shows that businesses are adapting to the present times. What this means for the future of the economy is not clear.
View the full segment here.
Illinois Chamber Participates in Business Roundtable
On Thursday, Illinois Chamber Vice President of Government Affairs Clark Kaericher participated in a business roundtable with Senator Syverson (R-Rockford) and Representative Keicher (R-Sycamore). Rob Karr from the Illinois Retails Merchants Association and Mark Grant from NFIB also took part in the event.
This event was an opportunity for businesses in northern Illinois to get an expert update on new laws and regulations that have gone into effect in Illinois or have recently been under consideration legislatively.
In his presentation, Kaericher highlighted the Chamber's effort to reform the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) and the Chamber's $10,000 SALT-cap work around initiative that was signed into law late last month. He also detailed the Chamber's opposition to SB 2408, the omnibus energy package that was signed into law last week.
The full event can be viewed here.
BIPA Update
On Friday the Appellate Court for the First District issued its decision in Tims v. Black Horse Carriers, in which the Chamber filed an amicus brief. The Chamber thanks our friends at Shook, Hardy & Bacon for all their work on this brief, specifically Matt Wolfe. The following is Wolfe's summary:
The Court “split the baby” and held that claims under BIPA section 15(c) (sale of biometrics) and 15(d) (disclosure of biometrics) are subject to the one-year statute of limitations for “publication of matter violating the right of privacy”; but claims under BIPA sections 15(a) (failure to have and comply with a biometrics policy), 15(b) (failure to abide by BIPA’s notice and consent procedure), and 15(e) (failure to store biometrics with due care) are subject to the “catch-all” five-year statute of limitations.
As you will recall, a major theme of our brief was that BIPA’s overarching intent is to protect against the disclosure of biometrics. Accordingly, we argued that the one-year SOL should apply to all claims under BIPA because they all either involve or are designed to protect against unauthorized publication of private information. Although the Court acknowledged that BIPA is designed to protect a secrecy right, it did not address our argument in any detail. Instead, the Court said the statute was unambiguous and that was all it needed to consider.
Congress Set to Vote on Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
From our friends at the US Chamber:
VOTE on Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – This coming Monday, Congress has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring our infrastructure into the 21st century by passing H.R. 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Please take a minute to call your members of Congress (and encourage your members to do the same) and ask that they vote YES on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. You can reach members of Congress by calling 202-225-3121 and asking to be connected to their offices. Below are additional resources explaining the contents of the bill, including our Key Vote Letter to Congress.
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Click here - Key Vote Letter on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
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Click here - Explainer of the Deadline for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act
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Click here - Summary of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
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Click here - 10 Reasons Why the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Benefits All Americans
The Illinois Chamber supports this important piece of legislation and hopes for its passage next week. Illinois Chamber President Todd Maisch recently held a press conference with the Missouri Chamber CEO and the US Chamber to urge its passage.
Session Update
Both the House and Senate are scheduled to return to Springfield on October 19th-21st and October 26th-28th for veto session. No additional session dates are scheduled at this time.
Traditionally, the spring session calendar is released at the end of veto session. At this time it is rumored that the Spring 2022 legislative session will be shorter in duration than typical years.
