* Mike Miletich…

A bill on Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk could make Illinois the second state in the country to decriminalize HIV. Nearly 40 states have laws that make it a felony to have sex with someone without disclosing HIV status.

Illinois legislators tweaked the law in 2012, however most feel it’s past time to repeal the law completely. Prior to 2012, someone could face a Class 2 Felony charge even if they didn’t transmit the disease. Many feel the law increased harmful stigma around HIV and health care disparities.

“The laws across the country haven’t kept up with the science of HIV,” said Tom Hughes, Executive Director of the Illinois Public Health Association. “People who are on medication who are virally suppressed, they don’t pass HIV along anymore.”

This fight is personal for Hughes. He spent years working in the Illinois House while lawmakers tried to pass bills discriminating against people living with HIV. Hughes feels most of the reaction to the HIV epidemic in the 1980s was based on ignorance and fear.

“I’m really glad to have lived to see the progress that’s been made not only medically, but socially too,” Hughes said.

* Center Square…

A recently passed bill would add self-identified gender identity and sexual orientation to the existing annual reporting requirement for public corporations.

The bill is on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk.

State Sen. Emil Jones III, D-Chicago, filed Senate Bill 1730. It aims to identify corporations that want to promote qualified LGBTQ individuals to serve on their leadership boards.

Jones said that SB 1730 is an important step to help move the state forward and to develop policies that reflect the state’s diversity. […]

“This bill is not meant to get anyone to out themselves, it is to help those who want to self-identify and help develop legislation that will reflect the diversity in the state of Illinois,” Jones said.

* One more…

Townships in Illinois would be required to either lower taxes or even possibly rebate excess general assistance funds to taxpayers under a bill that’s on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk.

In 2017, a measure from state Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, was enacted that prohibits townships from having more than 2.5 times the annual average expenditures in reserves of the previous three fiscal years.

“There was a 1969 Supreme Court case based out of Adams County that a local businessman said that his county is overtaxing because of the large fund balances that they had and he was proven right because of the decision of the Supreme Court,” Halbrook said.

Halbrook’s measure enacted in 2017 excluded a township’s capital fund from the cap.

This year, Senate Bill 1799 from state Sen. Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park, adds township general assistance funds to that cap. The bill passed both chambers nearly unanimously.

“This bill I believe just kind of reiterates what we put into practice two years ago,” Halbrook said.

If SB1799 is signed by the governor, it could lead to lower taxes.