It’s just a bill…
Wednesday, Apr 29, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* But this one may be important. Lisa Ryan…
A proposal in the Illinois Senate would make sure students are completely recovered from concussions before returning to athletics or the classroom.
Each year, there are 200,000 concussion-related emergency room visits for children and teenagers in the U.S. For one Chicago lawmaker, that’s not just a statistic.
Both of Democratic Sen. Kwame Raoul’s kids have sustained concussions. Raoul says his teenage daughter, Mizan, is still recovering from one she received one when she was playing basketball in January. At first, nobody realized it was a concussion. […]
A proposal Raoul is sponsoring would expand high school concussion policies to elementary and middle schools. It also requires guidelines for when students can return to school and athletics after sustaining a concussion.
* Seth Richardson has more…
Raoul said the legislation is not a mandate with any sort of penalties. Each district would form a concussion plan and team based on resources available.
Schools currently have to follow Illinois High School Association regulations when deciding if a player can return. However, those rules only apply to high schools, while Raoul’s bill would extend to both middle and grade schools.
IHSA associate director Kurt Gibson, who has previously said he was skeptical of the bill, said he is now a supporter since it requires each district to come up with a concussion policy based on their resources.
* This looks like a reprinted press release…
State Representative Natalie Manley (D-Joliet) is sponsoring legislation that would prohibit Illinois from double taxing income that is earned in another state when the taxpayer’s home office is based in Illinois.
“Right now Illinois residents are taxed on most income received in other states, rather than just income earned in Illinois,” said Manley. “This wouldn’t be an issue if the other states didn’t also tax those wages, but they do. Our working families are being hit hard enough with the many different taxes that are imposed upon them, and the last thing we should be doing is taxing them twice on the same income.”
Manley introduced House Bill 675, to prevent the double taxation of certain income for Illinois residents. Under current law, if an Illinois resident earns income from another state then that person is required to pay taxes in both states under certain circumstances. The legislation would instead only tax the wages earned in Illinois based on the number of work days the employee is performing services in Illinois. Out-of-state earnings would be excluded from Illinois income taxes.
“We are the only state that implements this double taxation, and it hurts our taxpayers,” Manley said.
I say it looks like a press release because the bill didn’t make it out of the House by last Friday’s deadline and is now in Rules.
* Another press release…
Illinois is joining several other states in passing legislation that would dramatically increase the potential liability for marketers in the event of a data breach. The Illinois Senate voted 35-13 to approve a bill (SB1833) drafted by the Illinois Attorney General that would add “consumer marketing information” to the definition of personal information under the state’s data breach law. It would require notification if there is a breach of “information related to a consumer’s online browsing history, online search history, or purchasing history.” Illinois Bill SB1833 now moves to the Illinois House of Representatives, where it will likely have substantial support.
At first blush this certainly sounds appealing considering all the data breaches that have occurred in recent times; however, for those that market products on the internet, the inconsistent laws across the country are truly a field of potential liability landmines. […]
This unprecedented expansion of the scope of the current data breach law could cost Illinois companies millions of dollars each year to protect non-sensitive information that poses no material risk of identity theft or financial harm to residents. In addition, consumers could eventually succumb to “notice fatigue” if they receive notices about breaches that involve no serious risk of harm to them.
* And moving along to Chicago…
When Chicago’s most powerful alderman began pushing for legislation that could mean big money for a major industry, it seemed only a matter of time before Edward Burke got a generous campaign contribution from someone who stood to benefit.
The City Council proposal that would promote the ethanol business has not yet been approved.
But the check for Burke, the Council’s $10 million man, is not stuck in the mail.
The Archer Daniels Midland Co. — the local agribusiness giant that’s among the world’s biggest ethanol producers — recently gave $20,000 to a political committee led by Burke.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Apr 29, 15 @ 1:18 pm:
The proposed ordinance is garbage. Trying to require gas stations to carry a higher blend ethonal gas that is bad for engines, hurts the mpg and is not recommended for use by car manufacturers. But Burke got paid so guess what Chicago it will happen.
- OneMan - Wednesday, Apr 29, 15 @ 1:27 pm:
In terms of ‘returning to school’ seems to me that should be at the discretion of the parents and a health care professional mostly IMHO.
- 1776 - Wednesday, Apr 29, 15 @ 1:45 pm:
To her credit, Rep. Manley sat down with the business community to discuss a very technical and complex issue. There are ongoing discussions with Revenue to try and reach consensus.
- Carhartt Representative - Wednesday, Apr 29, 15 @ 1:54 pm:
I can’t really get upset about corruption in Chicago governance. If this bothered the residents, they wouldn’t have reelected Rahm.
- Wordslinger - Wednesday, Apr 29, 15 @ 2:07 pm:
Well, if Burke and ADM are for it, you know it’s good for you.
Ethanol is a government subsidized scam, falsely sold as “green” and promoting “natiional security.”
Yet ethanol takes just about as much carbon-based energy to produce as it provides and takes an enormous amount of fresh water. And we’re producing record domestic oil and gas now. In fact, U.S. based refineries are net exporters of oil products.
- Judgment Day - Wednesday, Apr 29, 15 @ 2:12 pm:
The “Data Breach” issues really needs to be thought out a whole lot better before the State starts passing legislation.
There’s a lot of unanticipated consequences that can happen when you get into this area. For example, one of the biggest areas of concern in the tech community is the whole security environment surrounding the Affordable Care Act.
This isn’t ideology, it’s technology.
And trying to ‘establish’ liability for data breaches? Folks, it’s a constantly changing Target (bad reference) - If you pass something in this area, better plan on updating it monthly - maybe every 2 weeks.
Not saying there isn’t need, but really doubt this is the answer.
MAYBE we should re-purpose the NSA to fight cyber crime/data breaches instead of spying on us.(Sorry, editorial comment there…:).
- mcb - Wednesday, Apr 29, 15 @ 2:40 pm:
I’m not saying we need higher or lower ethanol blend standards, but the amount of disinformation out there on the fuel is mind boggling. It is absolutely not true that “ethanol takes just about as much carbon-based energy to produce as it provides”, not even close. Years ago an oil industry shill tried to claim it took more energy to produce than it gave (even he didn’t claim more carbon based energy), he only got his results because he used bad data, then counted sunlight(received by growing plants), energy from the water cycle(rainwater received by plants), and plenty of other badly calculated pseudoscience to get his completely dishonest results.
It does however take more energy to explore for, extract, refine, and deliver gasoline than you get out of it, so the comparison is a joke anyway.
- Nick Naylor - Wednesday, Apr 29, 15 @ 2:57 pm:
You have to question ADM’s judgment here…I mean really? Hiring John Kelly?!?
- Arthur Andersen - Wednesday, Apr 29, 15 @ 3:02 pm:
Interesting, if perhaps slightly skewed data, mcb.
Now, can you address the impact of E15 on all the pre-flexfuel cars/trucks on the road? Lower fuel mileage? Deterioration of non-metallic components? Give us something on that.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Apr 29, 15 @ 5:34 pm:
mcb is absolutely correct on the ethanol issue.
- Wordslinger - Wednesday, Apr 29, 15 @ 5:42 pm:
Mcb, my source was the “oil company shills” at “Mother Jones.”
No Big Corn shills in Illinois, I’m sure.
I suppose using all that groundwater to produce ethanol prevents floods or something.
- Plutocrat03 - Wednesday, Apr 29, 15 @ 5:52 pm:
Ethanol actually is worse for the environment than straight gasoline per the California Resources Board.
Let’s follow the money and see why e15 won’t die. Let’s focus on something more fun like Burke’s nanny (security detail). It should be brought up each time he brings up a bill.
- mcb - Wednesday, Apr 29, 15 @ 6:02 pm:
I’m not an advocate for e85, just trying to clear up misconceptions. Ethanol isn’t perfect or awful. There are lots of bad decisions and legislation that have been based on bad info, including apparently CARB’s whacked out view. (A lot of that is based on bad analysis, such as bad energy equivalency formulas; or studies that look at corn as food or fuel, when DDG’s have meant that the same bushel is used for both)
I would whole heartedly agree that there are better options like electric(eventually, once the infrastructure and range are improved), and even with biofuels, biodiesel is a far better option.
The problem is that unlike Europe, Americans as a whole don’t want diesels, so there are few passenger cars that can take advantage, thus severely limiting growth potential for the fuel. It also doesn’t help that the EPA and federal standards seem determined to do everything they can to kill diesels.
- Harry - Wednesday, Apr 29, 15 @ 11:32 pm:
I checked my owner’s manual and using E15 will void my 2013 Honda’s warranty. No ifs, ands, or buts. A 2014 would be OK. I’m sure Burke gets a new Caddy or Benz every year so he wouldn’t care, but the rest of us poor slobs might… but I don’t have $20K to give him so I guess I’ll just have to drive from Hyde Park to Lansing or Oak Park or some such to gas up, burning about 3-4 gallons per trip. Real environmental.