GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
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January 7th, 2022
This Week in Illinois
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Breaking This evening: Governor Signs Judicial Subcircuit Maps into Law
Late on Friday, Governor Pritzker signed HB 3138, new Judicial Subcircuit maps into law. Read more on this legislation in the session update below.
Session Update
The Illinois General Assembly returned to Springfield on January 5, 2022. Both the House and Senate canceled session on Tuesday and Thursday of this week due to increased COVID-19 cases. Neither chamber will be in Springfield next week as originally planned. With SJR41, the House has adjourned until the call of the Speaker and the Senate has adjourned until the call of the President. At this time, the next scheduled session day is January 18th.
Nonetheless, expect numerous bill filings and virtual committee hearings in the coming weeks. The bill drafting request deadline was today, January 7th.
Relevant Bills that Passed out of both Chambers:
HB 1953, Elections passed the Passed by a vote of 39-17-0 and passed the House by a vote of 67-41-0. This bill, for the 2022 general primary election only, states that the petition circulator shall certify that the signatures on the sheet were signed during the period of January 13, 2022 through March 14, 2022. Also provides that in 2022 the period during which newsletters and brochures may not be mailed begins on May 15, 2022 (currently, February 1).
HB 3138 Judicial Subcircuits passed the Senate by a vote of 41-16-0 and passed the House on concurrence by a vote of 66-34-0 and has now been signed into law. This bill creates the Judicial Circuits Districting Act of 2022. It divides the 3rd, 7th, 12th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 22nd judicial circuits and the Cook County judicial circuit into subcircuits. On Monday, the proposal to create new judicial subcircuits was announced. You can view the maps here.
State Pays Off Federal Pandemic Loan Early
Earlier this week, it was announced that the state had paid off the remainder of its early-pandemic loan from the Federal Reserve. The $2 billion loan was taken out by the state in 2020 due to COVID-19 related costs.
Comptroller Mendoza said that by paying off the loan nearly two years the state will save $82 million in interest payments. Mendoza also said that state tax revenues have been better than projected which allowed for quicker repayment.
OSHA COVID-19 Employer Mandate: US Supreme Court Hears Arguments
Last month, A three judge panel from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals was selected to hear the ETS case and issued a ruling on December 17th. The Sixth Circuit panel dissolved the stay issued by the Fifth Circuit in a 2-to-1 ruling, allowing the ETS to go into effect.
Today, January 7th, the Supreme Court was scheduled to hear oral arguments on the OSHA ETS and Healthcare CMS cases. It is reported that the Court heard oral arguments for over 4 hours.
OSHA says it will not issue any citations before January 10. While the original compliance date was January 4th, OSHA will not enforce the vaccine or testing requirement until February 9 as long as an employer is attempting to come into compliance with the ETS.
Our thanks go out to the US Chamber of Commerce who has a team of experts working this extremely important issue. Read the US Chamber's latest updates here.
Frequently asked questions on the COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing ETS are provided by the US Department of Labor here.
Chamber Opposes "Right to Repair" In Committee
The House Cybersecurity committee met yesterday afternoon for a subject matter hearing on HB 3061 (Mussman). HB 3061 creates the “Digital Fair Repair Act”. The name is misleading as this would apply to every industry except for automobiles. Most colloquially refer to this issue as “Right to Repair”. Right to Repair legislation has been introduced in nearly every state and in Illinois numerous times but has yet to become law in any state. The Illinois Chamber has consistently opposed any so-called right to repair legislation.
The original plan was to have a subject matter hearing on the bill and then put the issue on the shelf for the remainder of the spring session. However, late on Wednesday the measure was reposted for committee on January 13th to allow a potential vote. That committee hearing has now been canceled. We will continue to work the committee on this issue and voice our concerns. We will keep you informed on any updates.
For more on our objections, view our written testimony Here.
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Send Us Your Legislative Agenda
The spring legislative session is well underway.
If you have not already, please send us your legislative agenda and priorities so that we can work together to develop a strategy for the coming year. Email any thoughts, concerns, and ideas to: ckaericher@ilchamber.org
First GAP Call Scheduled for Monday, January 10th
Our first Government Affairs Professionals (GAP) Call will be held virtually on Monday, January 10th. Call-in information is provided below:
Microsoft Teams meeting
Join on your computer or mobile app
Or call in (audio only)
Phone Conference ID: 463 563 254#
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Webinar: Detection is Your Super Power!
On January 27th, the Illinois Chamber will host a security-focused webinar titled "Detection is your super power."
Protecting a network against a hacker used to mean that you had to be on your game 100%, but the hacker only needed to be right once to get in. With Detection, however, the tables are turned, and they’re on your territory. Detection becomes your advantage, as they have to avoid making any mistakes and all you have to do is watch and wait. Join Stel Valavanis, CEO of Onshore Security, to hear more about how Panoptic Cyberdefense gives us the super power to see all and stop bad actors in their tracks.
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If you have questions about the Government Affairs Report, contact Clark Kaericher at ckaericher@ilchamber.org. Do not reply to this email.
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