* Labor Tribune…

Illinois unions made big steps in the recently ended legislative session, a statement from Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea and Secretary-Treasurer Pat Devaney proudly points out.

“The list of successes is long, and we tackled issues that impact working families from creating new opportunities to increase pay equity and transparency with the Equal Pay Scale Act to new prevailing wage provisions and safety protections for our essential workers in the transit industry,” Drea wrote in the statement. […]

Among the successes Drea and Devaney listed were:

HB 1120 protects Illinois teachers and education professionals working in privately funded charter schools from intimidation or retaliation when they organize to join a union.

HB 2396 requires public schools to establish full-day kindergarten by 2027-28, which will boost education while making child care easier for working parents.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed a measure to guarantee disability payments to first responders who contracted COVID-19 in the line of duty.

HB 1342 allows transit agencies to create procedures to suspend problematic riders, to prioritize the safety and well-being of transit workers and operators.

HB 2231 requires rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft to abide by the same liability standards as common carriers like taxicabs.

HB 1122 creates legal protections for freelance workers to ensure they are properly compensated and hold contracting entities accountable. Meanwhile, the Temp Worker and Fairness Safety Act has passed both chambers ensuring improvement of wages and working conditions for the 650,000 temporary workers across Illinois who suffer injuries at three times the rate of direct-hire employees.

The Equal Pay Scale Act requires employers to disclose their pay scale to combat income inequities in the workplace, particularly concerning race and gender.

HB 3351 requires all projects funded under the Illinois Solar for All program must pay the prevailing wage to workers.

* Center Square…

The call is growing louder in Illinois for Gov. J.B. Pritzker to veto a freelance workers bill.

The Freelance Workers Protection Act in House Bill 1122 requires written contracts for freelance workers and several requirements on payment. The measure would require contracting entities to pay freelance workers according to the terms stated in their contract. If no such terms exist, then payment shall occur no later than 30 days after they fulfill their obligations under a contract. […]

“Freelance workers deserve the same dignity other workers receive, including being offered the basic respect of timely compensation for their labor,” said Cristina Pacione-Zayas, D-Chicago. […]

The Independent Writers of Chicago is the latest group denouncing the bill, joining the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois Trucking Association. IWOC has penned an open letter to the governor asking him not to sign the bill, saying it adds needless rules that all independent contractors will have to obey.

* The Crusader…

Prominent consumer activist and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader is praising State Representative La Shawn Ford (IL-8th) of Chicago for the passage of a bill that allows relatives of crash victims to sue corporations for punitive damages.

Nader, who for decades lobbied for consumer rights nationwide, and prominent Attorney Bruce Fein sent a letter in February to the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association (ITLA), urging the organization to help Ford and State Representative Jay Hoffman get the bill passed.

They were surprised when Illinois HB219 passed both Houses on May 18. Governor JB Pritzker will sign it into law later this month.

During a telephone interview with the Crusader, Nader expressed surprise at how quickly the bill passed in just one legislative session. “Ford really carried the ball for us,” Nader told the Crusader. “We didn’t think it was going to pass in this session.”

* Chicago Tribune…

Lelia Peradotti learned about fentanyl while she was baking cookies.

She still remembers that phone call from her mother, Susan Peradotti, who was in shock after she walked into her partner’s apartment to find him slumped over the kitchen sink next to a hot stove, a cold spoon and a white powder. A coroner’s report reviewed by Susan Peradotti found the synthetic opioid known as fentanyl in his system. […]

For the last two years, she has been studying fentanyl whenever she was in a class that gave her freedom to investigate a topic of her interest, and in her senior year she took a humanities course focused on achieving measurable results on an issue. What she learned about fentanyl and how she put it to use contributed to two bills passed by Illinois lawmakers this spring aimed at educating high school students about fentanyl and preventing tragic outcomes for those using it.

One bill requires high schools to “provide instruction, study and discussion on the dangers of fentanyl” beginning with the 2024-25 school year. The other requires all schools to maintain a supply of opioid antagonists, including Narcan or naloxone. Both bills passed legislative chambers without any “nay” votes and are on the desk of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, whose office said he will review them.

* Attorney Justin Ian Sia.…

Last month, the Illinois General Assembly passed HB 1286, a common-sense bill that allows places of public accommodation to implement multi-stall gender-inclusive restrooms. If an entity chooses to install a gender-inclusive restroom, it must have locks and privacy strips on each stall to ensure users’ safety and privacy, baby-changing stations, menstruation supply dispensers, and other features. The bill only needs the Governor’s signature to become law.

HB 1286 began as my law school capstone project in 2019. At the time, Illinois law barred our law school from installing gender-inclusive restrooms to serve its transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) students. My professor and I thought the prohibition was discriminatory, so I drafted an amendment to Illinois law to allow for gender-inclusive restrooms.

While primarily meant to serve the LGBTQIA+ community, I also saw the bill as a broader opportunity to make Illinois restrooms safer, more private, and more inclusive.

TGNC individuals face daily challenges when same-gender restrooms are the only option. TGNC individuals may have difficulty deciding which restroom to use, as they may not identify as female or male or may be transitioning genders. […]

As neighboring states attack the LGBTQIA+ community, we should be proud that Illinois values its diversity and stands as a beacon of inclusivity in the Midwest.

* Ron Kern, manager of the Ogle County Farm Bureau…

The Illinois General Assembly wrapped up a couple of weeks ago and as usual, farm bureau was in Springfield working the Capitol halls. Let’s look at some of the legislation we were successful in passing.

Energy generation equipment sales tax exemption

The omnibus tax bill included language that allows energy generation equipment used directly for the raising of crops and livestock to be treated like ‘farm equipment and machinery’ for production which are not subject to state sales tax. Power equipment will include items like generators, solar panels, wind turbines or other forms of generation equipment. The equipment must be necessary for the actual growing of a crop or livestock. This is modeled after the current farm equipment exemptions so equipment that is primarily used for powering a machine shed, your house, electric fence, etc. will not be exempt.

Ethanol sales tax exemptions

This provision establishes a sales tax incentive on E-15 equal to 10 percent; creates a 20 percent sales tax break on mid-range ethanol (20 percent to 51 percent ethanol-blended fuel), and the current E-85 sales tax exemption of 100 percent will be extended. All three exemptions sunset on Dec. 31, 2028. The original bill introduced would have let the exemptions run until 2030, but there were concerns of the legislators that the exemptions could have a larger fiscal impact in future years, so the shorter sunset will require a review sooner. The only group that opposed this provision was ABATE. Their feeling was this was somehow going to mandate the elimination of E-10.

Diseased animals prohibition

Allows the director of the department of agriculture to declare a temporary (30-day or longer) prohibition on the sale, movement, or exhibition of certain animals in order to prevent or reduce the spread of any contamination or disease in the state.

School code FFA & 4H absences

This bill allows schools to support FFA and 4-H students attending competitions or exhibitions. This also benefits the school by counting these students as in attendance while participating in the events. High school agricultural education and the FFA and 4-H are vital programs for development of the talent and leadership needed in farming and agricultural service industries. Students benefit from participating in competitions and exhibitions held by these organizations.

* Looking back to the ones that didn’t make it, via Capitol News Illinois…

Subminimum wage: State Rep. Theresa Mah, D-Chicago, led a late push to prohibit Illinois businesses from participating in a federal program that allows them to pay individuals with disabilities below the minimum wage. It came just short of passing, although Mah says she has the votes to pass it in the fall. […]

Another stalled measure would have made changes to the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act, a 2008 law that allows individuals to sue companies over improper collection or storage of information such as fingerprints or facial scans.

Senate Democrats filed language to alter BIPA in an amendment to House Bill 3811 on what was scheduled to be the final day of the spring session before it was extended, immediately drawing criticisms from business groups. […]

House Bill 3158 would have legalized and regulated “natural organic reduction,” a process also known as human composting or terramation in which human remains are rapidly decomposed into compost. […]

The measure passed the House 63-38 on March 24 and was later discussed in a subject matter hearing in the Senate. But it never received a committee vote or consideration by the full Senate.