* Crain’s Chicago Business…

Legislators in Springfield are moving toward setting up a state task force to investigate racial bias in home appraisals, an issue that has gained currency in recent years as Black homeowners and industry groups have documented widespread examples of the problem.

HB 4410, which passed the Illinois House on March 4 and will now go before the Senate, would create a “real estate evaluation task force” that should investigate whether there is a pattern of racial bias in appraisals and recommend ways to correct it. It would also try to determine whether there are barriers to entry for people of color in the appraisal industry, which would be helping to perpetuate unconscious bias among appraisers.

Lowball appraisals of Black-owned homes are “directly connected to the disinvestment, the poverty and the lack of interest” in majority-Black communities, said Rep. Lamont J. Robinson, D-5th, one of five House sponsors of the bill.

“We need to figure out how we can have parity of appraisals in communities like Chatham, Englewood, Washington Park and Woodlawn,” said Robinson, whose district cuts through a broad swath of the South Side to 79th Street.

* Bond Buyer…

Illinois lawmakers could soon cast a final vote on $1 billion of additional borrowing to extend existing pension buyout programs as they eye action on two of the state’s fiscal sore spots — pensions and the rainy day fund.

The Senate Pensions Committee advanced the legislation laid out in HB4292 in a bipartisan vote Wednesday, setting the stage for a floor vote later this month, according to committee Chairman Sen. Robert Martwick, D-Chicago. The measure passed the House Feb. 24 and has Gov. J.P. Pritzker’s support.

“What this bill does is simply authorize the administration to issue another billion of bonds and extend this buyout program in an attempt to capture further savings,” Martwick said. “By using bonds to pay for the buyouts we are leveraging those returns even further because we are getting low cost bonds and we are leaving assets in the pension system.”

* Capitol News Illinois…

llinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza is pushing legislation that would require the state to make automatic deposits into its so-called “rainy day fund” whenever certain financial conditions are met.

Officially known as the Budget Stabilization Fund, it was created in 2001 as a reserve so the state could pay its bills in a timely manner, especially during regular months of the year when revenues are lower than other months. The goal was to maintain a reserve fund equal to 5 percent of the state’s annual revenues.

Current law, however, requires deposits into the fund only when the state’s general revenue estimates increase by 4 percent or more over the prior year, something Mendoza said has not happened since the fund was created.

Instead, transfers into the fund have been made only when the General Assembly makes a one-time appropriation in the budget.

* Capitol News Illinois…

Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly told a state violence prevention task force this week that expressway shootings, gun trafficking, trooper staffing levels and officer wellness are some of the biggest challenges facing the agency.

According to the ISP expressway shootings dashboard, in 2021 there were 310 reported expressway shootings in Illinois, 273 of which were reported in Cook County. Capitol News Illinois reported earlier this week on Kelly’s suggestions for addressing expressway shootings, including expanding an automated license plate reader program, giving tech companies a short window in which they must comply with warrants in investigations of expressway shootings, and updating statutes to reflect the danger of such shootings.

But Kelly also said easy access to firearms plays a role in expressway shootings, and many of the weapons used in criminal activity have previously been stolen.

Over the past two years, Kelly said the agency has gone through criminal records to identify people who should not have firearms and revoked about 17,000 Firearm Owners Identification cards and prevented about 25,000 attempts of people illegally obtaining a firearm in 2021.

Kelly suggested lawmakers update the state’s stolen firearm statute to reflect a recently-passed “Fix the FOID Act” that requires ISP to create a public database to provide information on guns that have been reported stolen.

* This bill has never moved and is still in Senate Assignments…

Proposed legislation at the Illinois capitol could increase the number of wineries that would be allowed to self-distribute their products in the state.

Senate Bill 2976 would increase the amount of wine in-state and out-of-state wineries could self distribute in Illinois without using a wholesaler.

The legislation was submitted by state Sen. Rachelle Crowe, D-Maryville, and its intent is to bring relief to wineries across the state.

The National Association of Wine Retailers, an organization that represents the interests of wine sellers nationwide, has been in support of the bill.

* This bill has passed the House…

Illinois state lawmakers are discussing legislation that would enable school districts to be reimbursed for out-of-state placement for special needs students.

House Bill 4365 would allow school districts to provide funding for a student’s placement if their Individual Education Program (IEP) determines their current district is unfit to meet the student’s needs.

The program would be funded by school districts, with funds from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act grant. The IDEA grant focuses on improving the education of children with disabilities.

* Press release, which is as far as this bill is ever going…

In light of the controversy surrounding Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, State Representative Tim Butler (R-Springfield) has introduced House Bill 5712, which would allow citizens the ability to recall the Cook County State’s Attorney.

“State’s Attorney Foxx has created a crisis of confidence in the Cook County judicial system,” said Butler. “Giving preferential treatment to some defendants like Jussie Smollett and totally ignoring the victims of crime has caused the public to lose faith in her ability to execute the duties she was elected to do.”

Foxx has created controversy on many prosecutorial decisions while crime rates continue to soar in Cook County. Last year she refused to file charges in a case where five gang members exchanged over 70 shots that fatally wounded one of the shooters, citing mutual combat. Just this last week, she also refused to file charges on a felon who was illegally in possession of a firearm he used to kill another man.

Most controversial was Foxx’s decision to drop charges against Jussie Smollett on his faked hate crime. An independent investigation found that Foxx’s office had committed “substantial abuses of discretion and operational failures” in her office’s handling of the initial prosecution.

“The numerous issues surrounding Kim Foxx, and the complete lack of confidence the people have in her abilities as State’s Attorney, underscore the need for citizens to have the ability to recall someone in this vitally important position,” said Butler. “This will give Cook County residents the ability to take back their justice system and stop the cycle of violent criminals not being charged and released back onto the streets.”

HB 5712 sets up a process for voters to initiate a recall election within 60 days of petitions being certified by the Cook County Clerk. The petitions must be signed by registered voters from Cook County, equaling at least five percent of total votes cast in the preceding Cook County State’s Attorney election.