* Press release…

State legislators have given strong endorsement to State Rep. Anna Moeller’s proposal to expand bereavement leave in Illinois.

Rep. Moeller, D-Elgin, pushed Senate Bill 3120 through the Illinois House on March 30.

The proposed law expands current Illinois law, which allows parents to take up to 10 unpaid days of leave for bereavement of the death of a child. Moeller’s changes would allow those 10 unpaid days off work for bereavement of the death of other close family members, including parents, grandparents and in-laws, grandchildren, spouses or partners, and siblings.

The legislation also allows the same unpaid leave for families who go through loss related to stillbirth, miscarriage, failed adoptions or surrogacy, and failed IVF procedures.

“This expands the family members who would be covered in these other tragic situations that an employee might experience, and need time to grieve and make arrangements and heal from such an experience,” Moeller said in presenting the bill on the House floor.

The bill has the support of a number of organizations representing women and workers, including Illinois NOW, Women Employed and the Illinois AFL-CIO. It has already passed the Illinois Senate, so now it goes to the Governor to be signed into law.

* Capitol News Illinois…

The state Senate on Thursday advanced a measure to create a task force to study electric grid reliability in light of the 2021 passage of the energy regulatory overhaul bill known as the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act.

A House committee, meanwhile, began preliminary conversations about lifting the ban on new nuclear developments in Illinois.

The unpaid, 33-member task force outlined in Senate Bill 1104 would be known as the Illinois Regional Generation Reliability Task Force. It passed 32-15 in a bipartisan vote, although several Democrats voted against the measure. It still needs approval in the House.

The task force would study the effect of state laws, including CEJA, on energy prices as well as grid reliability. It would also study ways to deploy new technologies and ways to “improve” the power supply mix, among other tasks.

It wouldn’t have authority to create any new laws or regulations, but it would report to the General Assembly by Feb. 1, 2023, and each year thereafter.

Labor unions were among some of the prominent backers of the bill, according to witness slips filed on the General Assembly website, while the environmental group Illinois Sierra Club opposed the measure.

One enviro lobster I know described the legislation as a “gas/coal dominated task force designed to recommend changes that are good for fossil fuels.”

* Lizzie Seils…

Illinois lawmakers passed legislation last October to address concerns with corruption and conflicts of interest. They intended to bring more light to government; instead, some argue the law has made things cloudier.

The House Ethics and Elections Committee heard complaints from various groups about the confusion caused by the reforms. Namely, the changes it made to the economic disclosure forms that all public officials have to fill out their economic interests and investments.

The language of the law lays out what should and shouldn’t be reported on the form. It reads that those filling it out should list out all single assets worth over $10,000. That includes items that are owned jointly with a spouse or child. the minimum amount increased on the reform from an asset worth $5,000 to double that. […]

“In many ways, this is perceived by a lot of people as swatting flies with a hammer,” [Illinois Municipal League Executive Director Brad Cole] said. “It’s intended to solve problems that we see on the news of people that have been convicted or accused of wrongdoing, and the thousands if not tens of thousands of additional people that are now kind of the unintended consequences are having to comply with this.” […]

However, Ethics and Elections chair Rep. Kelly Burke (D - Evergreen Park) contended the reform did not change what needed to be reported or who needed to report. Any financial interests that weren’t disclosed on the old version of the form should have been.

“Much of this should have been being reported under the old form,” Burke said. “The fact that people didn’t understand that or weren’t doing it is troubling.”

* The IML wants to water down the ethics law and is demanding more state money…

Local governments could see an additional $500 million dollars for their share of state income taxes, something that could help fund local services and control local taxes.

The Local Government Distributive Fund, or LGDF, was instituted when the state implemented an income tax decades ago. The LGDF sends a percentage of state income taxes back to local governments as a way to keep local governments from implementing their own income taxes.

“If the state is experiencing the positive revenues that it says that it is and there are additional resources available, then the money that is rightfully due to local governments should be distributed back to them,” Illinois Municipal League Executive Director Brad Cole told The Center Square.

* Press release…

Legislation sponsored by Senator Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) would protect restaurants, bars and retailers from deceptive delivery services advanced out of the Senate Friday.

House Bill 3205 would prohibit third party delivery companies from posting a menu, registered trademark or any intellectual property without the express written consent of restaurant, bars and retail establishments.

“Restaurants, bars and retailers have a right to protect their brand,” Feigenholtz said. “Some establishments simply do not want to offer delivery because their food does not travel well or they are focused on the dine-in experience.”

The Fair Food and Retail Delivery Act would prohibit third-party delivery services from listing non-partnered restaurants or retailers on their platform. Several reports indicate that these delivery services have listed menus and items without the knowledge or consent of the restaurant or retailer. In addition, this law would prohibit a third-party delivery service from posting a menu, registered trademark or any intellectual property of a restaurant, bar or retail establishment without the express written consent of that business.

“Small businesses are the backbone of our communities,” Feigenholtz said. “We have to ensure that restaurants and retailers are in control of their brand and that outside delivery services can only do business with whom they have consent.”

House Bill 3205 passed the Senate with bipartisan support.

* Press release…

House Bill 4994 (HB 4994) passed both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly and is now awaiting Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature. The legislation, initiated by the Illinois Education Association, would track which school districts are not in compliance with the Illinois’ School Threat Assessment Law. Rep. Fred Crespo (Hoffman Estates-D) and Rep. Tony McCombie (Savanna-R) worked with the IEA and are sponsoring the bill.

“Unfortunately, during the pandemic, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the amount of violence in our schools,” said Griffin. “We need our school district administrators to be following the law and keeping our schools safe. Our teachers and school support staff should not have to worry about their own safety and the safety of their students. When this bill becomes law, it will hold our school districts accountable and make sure we’re doing everything we can to keep our schools and communities safe.”

In 2019, the Illinois Education Association initiated, and the state legislature passed what’s known as the School Threat Assessment Law.

The law does several things:

• Instructs schools to develop a threat assessment team and a threat assessment protocol.
• Expands the use of the 1-cent county sales tax to include school safety improvements, school resource officers or mental health professionals, or allow a district to issue bonds, borrow money or find other ways to pay for the similar needs.
• Requires school districts to implement a threat assessment procedure that may be part of a school board policy on targeted school violence and prevention, which must include the creation of a threat assessment team made up of specific people.
• Calls for each district to review each school building’s emergency and crisis response plans, protocols and procedures and the make-up of its team.
• Requires each district’s assessment team to include mental health professionals as well as representatives from state, county and local law enforcement agencies.

The IEA partnered with Crespo and McCombie to sponsor HB 4994 to ensure school districts are complying with the requirements in the School Threat Assessment law.

“I’m so glad to see this legislation on its way to becoming law. Strong schools mean we have strong communities. This legislation will protect our students and school employees across the state. This will lead to a better Illinois,” Crespo said.

“In a situation like what happened in Michigan, the threat assessment team would have been called upon and intervened to get the student the help they needed before tragedy occurs. That is the intent of this law,” McCombie said. “The children of our state are our most important asset. We must ensure threat assessment plans are not only created but reviewed and followed to keep our students safe.”

School districts can use Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to hire more staff to address mental health issues students may be facing.
“Laws can certainly help keep us safe, but we need to make sure we are working with our children to get them the supports they need,” Griffin said. “The pandemic is causing additional trauma for so many Illinois families. We need to recognize that and do what we can to help.”

* Press release…

– On Thursday, State Representative Mark Batinick’s (R-Plainfield) last sponsored piece of legislation passed the House with unanimous support. Senate Bill 3785 will allow a pension transfer credit for county correctional officers.

“I was happy to see my last bill to pass through the House will help our local police officers,” said Rep. Batinick. “It has been an honor to see my legislation pass through these halls and head to the Governor’s desk for the past seven years. I’m grateful to my constituents and fortunate to have seen ideas turn into change in the Statehouse to make Illinois a better place to live.”

SB 3785 will allow members of pension funds established in Article 3 of the Illinois Pension Code to transfer accumulated creditable service from the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund for service as a county correctional officer or as a person employed by a participating municipality who performs law enforcement-related administrative duties.

Rep. Batinick spoke on his legislation on the floor of the House and his remarks ended with a standing ovation from the entire House chamber for his years of service to the state. Rep. Batinick’s first piece of legislation signed into law was Senate Bill 810 in the 99th General Assembly, which decreased the time between a first and second attempt at an examination to apply for a public adjuster license from 90 days to 7 days. It was signed into law by Governor Bruce Rauner in August 2015.

Rep. Batinick has served as House Republican Spokesperson for the Personnel & Pensions Committee since 2019. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since January 2015.

I’m gonna miss that guy. My only complaint is that he never should’ve retired his campaign logo…