* WGN TV…

If you’re staying in an Illinois hotel, you won’t find those complementary mini-bottles of shampoo waiting in your room anymore soon.

A new law, signed by Gov. JB Pritzker last month, will ban hotels in the state from providing small, single-use plastic bottles containing personal-care products to lodgers staying at a hotel or guests using a hotel’s public bathroom. […]

In a statement provided to WGN, the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association said many state hotels have already switched to providing personal-care products via more environmentally-friendly options and that the association worked with state legislators on the Small Plastic Bottle Act.

“While most hotels are already in compliance with this bill and have proactively replaced these products with more environmentally-friendly options, we remain committed to strengthening sustainability efforts and reducing waste within our industry,” Michael Jacobson, President and CEO of the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association, said in the statement.

* Sen. Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport) wrote a provacative “How the sausage is made” op-ed about the bill last month…

Most of us know the process of how a bill becomes a law. While that process directs the flow of bills that are filed, just how do thousands of policy ideas each year become bills in the first place?

As of this writing, just under 3,000 Senate and House bills have been filed this year alone. Generally, these policy ideas come from one of four places.

Many good bills are the result of a constituent who contacts their elected Senator or State Representative with an issue that cannot be resolved through existing systems. In those cases, a lawmaker writes a bill that provides a solution. The legislator files the bill, talks with colleagues to gain support, and the bill moves through the legislative process of hearings and votes in both chambers of the General Assembly. Some of our very best laws begin as ideas brought forward by Illinoisans.

Other laws are the result of a legislative agenda pushed by individual lawmakers. Most people get involved with politics because there are specific issues that are very important to them. For example, I am a vocal advocate for Second Amendment rights, ethics, traditional family values, and support for our men and women in blue. As such, every year my legislative agenda is comprised of bills that address these ideals and seek to improve or safeguard protections.

Additionally, advocacy groups that hire lobbyists to push an agenda are responsible for a large number of the bills that are filed each year. These groups have their place, and their lobbyists form relationships with lawmakers in an effort to build support for their policy ideas. Lobbyists can also be good sources of information on issues for which they have a depth of knowledge.

Unfortunately, there are also many instances when leaders from special interest groups come to lawmakers and ask them to legislate issues that do not and should not require legislative involvement. In these instances, those representing these large groups are being disingenuous and are asking the legislature to pass legislation that could be viewed as unpopular. We saw the perfect example of this during the 2024 spring session when the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association asked lawmakers to pass a bill that prohibits the use of small single-use plastic bottles of products like shampoo, conditioner, and body lotion in hotels with more than 50 rooms. The Association partnered with two environmental advocacy groups to seek passage of Senate Bill 2960.

Many hotels have already moved away from the small bottles as a way to save money. The decision was made internally and without legislative assistance. The only reason to involve the legislature is to provide cover when patrons complain about ridiculous state mandates that limit consumer choice.

Nevertheless, the Association asked for a legislative mandate and received it through Senate Bill 2960. And now, the same group that lobbied for the change will say “Illinois law prohibited our ability to provide these products” when patrons ask why they no longer have access to popular single-use bottles. The Association limited consumer choice and used a fake vehicle to make it happen. It was clearly about their financial bottom line and had nothing to do with the environment.

The legislature should be focusing its efforts on issues like tax relief, reducing regulations on job creators, improving ethical standards, and realigning priorities so that Illinois citizens come first. We should not be in the business of adopting private industry regulations like prohibiting the use of single-use shampoo bottles all in the name of protecting the environment.

Folks, this is how the sausage is made. Welcome to your state government and the operations of the General Assembly.

Sen. Chesney was one of just 17 “No” votes in the Senate.

* Since this law was in the news again, I reached out to the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association for comment about Sen. Chesney’s claims…

“Most hotels have been in compliance with this new law for several years, as they proactively replaced single-use toiletries to meet demands of consumers who widely support more sustainable options,” said Michael Jacobson, President and CEO of the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association. “Following months of negotiations with advocates of this bill, we chose to support a measure that had minimal impact on the day-to-day operations of our members and their customers. We appreciate the sponsors of the legislation for working directly with the hospitality industry on this issue, which simply codifies common practices into law.”

* The Illinois Environmental Council pushed the bill and included it in its candidate ratings. So, I also reached out to them…

The truth is plastic pollution has rapidly become a widespread crisis that we cannot recycle our way out of. It is estimated that 11 million pounds of plastic enter Lake Michigan each year alone. Scientists are finding plastic particles in the human body that cause physical issues like lung and organ damage and that leach cancer-causing chemicals and disrupt hormones. Hotels transitioning away from small single-use plastic bottles will drastically reduce the plastic that the hotel industry sends to community landfills.

We also think it’s a good thing when we can find common ground on common sense solutions like this. That should be what we’re all striving for in our work at the Capitol. So, we were pleased to work with the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association to come to an agreement on the bill that reduces plastic pollution from hotels.

While Sen. Chesney misses the mark on the importance of protecting people from the harmful impacts of plastic pollution, it is good to see that we agree on at least one thing– reducing pollution is good for Illinois businesses.

Many hotels are already going in this direction. Here is an example of how impactful opting for small single-use bottle alternatives can be: When fully implemented across the globe, Marriott International’s expanded toiletry program is expected to prevent about 500 million tiny bottles annually from going to landfills; that’s about 1.7 million pounds of plastic, a 30 percent annual reduction from current amenity plastic usage. That’s a good thing.

The IEC’s original press release is here.

Thoughts?