* Bloomberg…

A new bill expected to be passed by the Illinois legislature would likely defang the contentious Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by drastically changing the risk associated with litigating an alleged violation for both parties.

The proposed amendments (S.B. 2979) would lower the potential damages per privacy violation and possibly dissuade individuals from bringing suits altogether.

The law’s intent is to protect the public from misuse of their sensitive personal information. It imposes harsh fines on entities who fail to safeguard the biometrics they collect. By including a private right of action, BIPA gives the public the right to hold an entity that was careless with their biometric information directly responsible.

The bill would, among other things, limit damages to one recovery per plaintiff of $1,000 or $5,000 for a finding of negligence—no matter how many violations occurred. Previously, plaintiffs could recover this amount for each violation.

If passed, employee plaintiffs may consider these damages too small to outweigh the cost, time, and potential workplace fallout of litigation. And employers might simply find it cheaper to break the law than to change their operations or technologies.

* Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, Illinois Retail Merchants Association, Illinois Restaurant Association and more…

The United States has one of the safest, most efficient, and affordable food systems in the world, in no small part due to the commitment of and close coordination between industry and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Federal regulatory standards and programs – which offer an opportunity for stakeholder input through the rulemaking process and are grounded in science - provide consistency for industry as we produce innovative products while meeting consumers’ expectations for a safe food supply.

Collectively, our organizations represent America’s food, beverage, ingredient, agricultural, and retail industries. Our members source, manufacture, distribute, and sell safe and wholesome products across the United States.

The safety and quality of what we make and sell to our customers is of the highest importance, and we share a common commitment to a strong, unified federal food safety system. Unfortunately, SB2637 would supplant FDA’s authority to regulate the safety of the American food supply by prohibiting an entity from manufacturing, selling, delivering, distributing, holding, or offering for sale products that contain certain specified ingredients in the state of Illinois.

With regulatory oversight of approximately 80% of the nation’s food supply, FDA prioritizes its review of food and color additives through the rigorous evaluation and application of the entire body of scientific evidence to make safety determinations. Those reviews are continuous and ongoing; as recently as March 4, 2024, FDA updated its list of substances currently under the agency’s review to provide more insight on the status of post-market assessments regarding these ingredients. At present, all substances identified in HB 2637 are under active, current review by FDA. It is imperative that FDA be permitted to conclude its review process before action is taken to remove these ingredients from the marketplace.

Legislation such as SB2637 shifts food safety decisions away from qualified scientists and regulatory experts and creates a state-by-state patchwork of inconsistent requirements that will increase costs, create confusion around food safety, and erode consumer trust. By creating two different regulatory standards for the food industry - one enforced by Illinois and one by the federal government - this legislation would inject additional costs into the food supply chain at a time when we should be doing everything we can to bring prices down for consumers.

The organizations above therefore express our opposition to SB2637. We urge you to allow FDA to perform its responsibilities as mandated by Congress to oversee the safety of our nation’s food supply. It is critical that we maintain a national system for determining the safety of food ingredients that is grounded in science and adheres to the process FDA has in place for the appropriate and ongoing review of ingredients.

* WAND…

The Illinois House could soon pass a plan to help law enforcement and retailers keep electronic cigarettes away from young people. Sponsors told WAND News that Illinois must hold bad actors accountable for bringing illegal and potentially dangerous vaping products to retail stores. […]

There are roughly 300 vaping products approved by the FDA, but state lawmakers and advocates have seen a significant rise in unregulated products hitting the shelves. […]

“What type of products are they selling,” asked Rep. Bob Rita (D-Blue Island). “You know? When you start looking at these different products, they’re geared towards younger kids. As you dug deeper into it, a lot of these products are illegal that are being sold.” […]

House Bill 5069 could require vaping manufacturers to provide product certifications to retail stores to ensure the vaping products meet safety standards set by the state and federal government.

* WCIA…

If you’ve ever booked a hotel room or bought concert tickets, you might have been surprised to find the amount you had to pay at the end was more than you expected because of those additional charges tacked on at checkout.

These are considered so-called “junk fees” – labeled as processing or service fees you don’t see until it’s time to pay. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, these fees cost an average family of four $3,200 a year. […]

A bill in the Capitol would ban those fees. Instead, consumers would pay the advertised price for the item or service. The proposal passed out of the House Thursday and is now in the Senate for further consideration. […]

There have also been efforts at the federal level for this. In October, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a proposed rule change to ban businesses from using junk fees.

“But a lot of times at the federal level, it takes a long time,” Anna Aurilio, the senior campaigns director at the Economic Security Project, said. “And that’s why we were really happy to be there with representatives from four different states that are working on state level junk fee legislation because we think, number one, states know what the experiences of their own citizens [are], they’re much closer, and number two, they can act much more quickly.”

* SJ-R…

House Bill 5057 introduced by Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, is a bill that would slightly change the process to become a teacher. It would allow the State Board of education to create a content test for those seeking to teach first through sixth grade.

The test would include content on foundational teaching skills and methods that would be appropriate for students first through sixth grade.

The test will have elements that cover areas such as biliteracy, bilingualism, oral language development and foundational literacy skills. The bill would also allow people to retake parts of the test where they previously scored low on, but they will not be allowed to teach until they pass the full test. […]

The bill passed through the House last week and is now headed to the Senate for further consideration.

* Robert Mensch…

As the principal of an elementary school that has been providing free breakfasts to students during school hours for six years, I see firsthand the difference a morning meal makes. Kids who eat breakfast perform better on tests, take fewer trips to the nurse and attend more school days per year. What I witness every day at my school reinforces what years of research tells us — providing kids with breakfast helps reduce their risk of developing health issues and increases their chances of academic success. They have better brain function, memory and attention and score 17.5% higher on standardized tests than kids who skip the morning meal. […]

I believe that most schools want to offer breakfast after the bell. However, many can’t afford the start-up costs needed to get the program off the ground. A new bill proposed in the state Senate authorizes the Illinois State Board of Education to provide some schools with a modest one-time grant of $7,500 to purchase equipment such as kiosks, portable coolers and storage, cited by schools as one of the main obstacles to making the switch from cafeteria meals.

The bill also makes school breakfasts and lunches free for working families living just above the poverty line. The reduced price of a daily breakfast and lunch can add up fast, creating continued hardship for families. Our state’s children living in households earning barely above the poverty line still struggle with having to pay for reduced-price school meals, often incurring school meal debt. Committing to covering this cost would not only provide peace of mind for these families but would also ensure all low-income children have access to the nutrition they need to thrive.

These are the main reasons why I wholeheartedly support the bill. I urge members of the Illinois General Assembly to support and approve funding in the budget to help schools start or expand flexible breakfast programs so that all children have access to the morning nutrition they need to thrive. Currently, Illinois ranks 41st in the country when it comes to school breakfast participation. We can and must do better.

SB2209 has not made it out of Senate Appropriations.

* Rep. Harry Benton…

State Rep. Harry Benton, D-Plainfield, is working to increase workforce development opportunities for people with autism by passing legislation to expand workforce training programs for people on the spectrum.

“Our disability accommodations and services need to include folks with autism,” said Benton. “People with autism are fully capable of doing important work when given opportunities, which we all need to learn and develop. Making sure our training programs for differently abled people including those with autism will be beneficial to both them and our state.”

Benton’s House Bill 5256 will allow state agencies to hire individuals with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through existing trainee programs for people with disabilities. These trainee programs exist throughout state agencies to give people with disabilities work experience. The bill received unanimous support in the house, and now moves to the Senate.

* Rep. Laura Faver Dias…

State Rep. Laura Faver Dias, D-Grayslake, is continuing to fight for families with her measure to guarantee extra days of leave for the parents of children in the neonatal intensive care unit, which recently passed the House with strong bipartisan support.

“Denying parents of seriously sick children the ability to spend time with their kids is unthinkable, but it has been the reality to far too many,” Faver Dias. “Some parents have had to continue to work through their child’s serious illness for fear of losing the source of the income paying for lifesaving medical care. This measure allows for well-deserved time off for these parents to be by their children’s bedside, something I think anyone with children can understand is vital.”

House Bill 5294 is a parents’ rights measure Faver Dias passed with the support of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, and Illinois Education Association and AFSCME Council 31. It gives parents unpaid time off to attend a child who is a patient in a neonatal intensive care unit in addition to leave provided under the Family Medical Leave Act. Employers with 15 or fewer employees are exempted from the 10-day requirement, while employers with 51 or more employees must provide 20 days.