The Senate was in session the week in Springfield. The House was not in Springfield this week. Both chambers held committee hearings via Zoom.

The Senate is scheduled to be back in Springfield next week Tuesday through Thursday. The House will be in Springfield next Thursday. Committee hearings will continue via Zoom next week.

The Senate Revenue committee did not meet this week.

The House Revenue committee met this week on March 11. No bills were considered by the Revenue committee this week. The committee received testimony on state revenues from the Governor's Office of Management and Budget, the Illinois Department of Revenue and the Illinois General Assembly's bi-partisan Commission of Government Finance and Accountability.

Chairman Zalewski announced yesterday that the House Revenue committee will meet again next Thursday. However, as of this morning the hearing has been posted on the General Assembly website. The Chairman announced that no substantive legislation will be voted on next week. The Chairman announced that the hearing will consist of subject matter testimony certain legislation, including subject matter testimony on HB 860 Davis - the Cook County Assessor's so-called "data modernization" legislation. We remain strongly opposed to this legislation.

Tax-related legislation passed the Senate:

SB 58 - which eliminates the $10,000 cap on automobile trade-ins passed the Senate without any dissenting votes and is now in the House. As of this morning, SB 58 is in the Rules committee.

SB 217 - Castro - House - Zalewski - This bill amends the Parking Tax to establish certain exemptions. It passed the Senate unanimously on Wednesday.

The bill has been assigned to the House Executive committee and is posted for a hearing next Wednesday. Note that this bill has been assigned to the Executive committee instead of the Revenue committee. You might ask why it has been assigned to Executive instead of Revenue. The Executive committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, the day before the House is scheduled to be in session on Thursday the one time this month the House is scheduled to be in session. The Revenue committee is scheduled to meet on Thursday afternoon which is after the scheduled session of the House at noon on Thursday.

There is nothing in SB 217 that is of critical importance that requires immediate passage. As a result, the speculation that this bill could be amended to be a vehicle for something else could be correct. I would bet on those who have speculated that this could a vehicle for the Governor to take another run at decoupling legislation.

The bill filing deadline for both houses has passed. No new tax-related legislation this week.

Amendments:

HB 34 House committee amendment 1 - HB 34 contains amendments to the Enterprise Zone Act. The amendment adds requirements concerning provisional certification and decertification of enterprise zones. Provides for the suspension of the benefits to specific businesses rather than an outright decertification of the particular Enterprise Zone for failure to submit specified information. Modifies the criteria for determining Enterprise Zones and underserved areas under the Act. Modifies reporting requirements under the Act. Makes conforming and other changes.

HB 143 - House committee amendment 1 - HB 143 amends the Senior Citizens Real Estate Tax Deferral Act to increase the income limitation to $65,000 beginning with tax year 2021. The amendment in provisions of the introduced bill lowering the interest rate on the deferred taxes, makes a technical correction to clarify that the change begins in tax year 2021.

HB 571 - House committee amendment 1 - HB 571 amends the Municipal Code to add reporting requirements that a municipality shall report to the Comptroller.

The March 12 edition of the Illinois Register contained no proposed or adopted rulemakings by the Illinois Department of Revenue or the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity..

One new case may be of interest. State of Illinois ex rel. Matthew Hurst and Sarraf Gentile LLP v. Fanatics, Inc. et al. is a False Claims Act case. The relators claimed that Fanatics knowingly charged customers sales tax at a rate of 3% instead of the statutorily required rate of 6.25% on internet sales shipped to Illinois, resulting in a the loss of tax revenue to Illinois.

Before the relators filed their complaint. The Illinois Department of Revenue initiated an audit of Fanatics. After the audit concluded the State moved to dismiss the False Claims Act complaint.

The relators filed a cross-motion for a finding that Fanatics $2.1 million payment as a result of the audit was an "alternate remedy" under the Act entitling them to a portion of the tax payment. The trial court granted the State's motion to dismiss and denied the relators' cross-motion. The relators appealed. The appellate court upheld the trial court.

Gayle Morse of Tax Institute member law firm Jenner & Block LLP represented Fanatics.

No new decisions were issued by the Tribunal this week. Noe of the new cases raise any unique issues.

The General Assembly's bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability issued its FY 2022 Economic Forecast and Revenue Estimate and FY 2021 Revenue Update