It’s just a bill
Friday, Jan 31, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Capitol News Illinois…
Some Illinois Democrats are pushing the General Assembly to pass legislation that would require the state’s five pension systems to divest from fossil fuel companies.
Under Senate Bill 130, the pension systems for legislators, state employees, university employees, teachers and judges would be prohibited from investing in any fossil fuel companies or their affiliates. Pension systems would be required to complete divestment in fossil fuel companies by 2030 but would be prohibited from making any new investments in them once the bill is signed by the governor.
Fossil fuel companies covered under the legislation include subsidiaries, affiliates and parent companies of 200 publicly traded companies with the largest fuel reserves in the world, the 30 largest public companies owning coal-fired power plants and any company with fossil fuel operations at the core of its business. […]
Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, a budget leader in the House, said he believes divesting from fossil fuel companies will ultimately lead to better investment outcomes for pension systems as lawmakers search for ways to improve pension liabilities. Illinois has a $143.7 billion unfunded pension liability, according to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.
* WGLT…
Democratic state Sen. Dave Koehler has started his sixth term seeking to advance legislation in several key areas including agriculture and the environment, but concerns about the state budget could overshadow much of lawmakers’ work during the spring session. […]
Koehler said he is interested in passing bills related to agriculture and the environment this spring. His bill, the Clean Transportation Standard Act, would seek to limit carbon emissions in transportation by creating a credit marketplace advised by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Companies could earn credits from this marketplace for using plant-based fuel or switching to electric vehicles. Airline, rail, ocean-going, and military fuel would not be included. […]
Koehler also said he is planning to reintroduce a bill to raise the threshold for the estate tax to prevent farmers from losing their land to estate taxes. The bill did not get out of committee last year. […]
Koehler also plans to sponsor a bill with Rep. Sharon Chung to increase funding for Illinois State University through a change to the higher education funding formula.
* Rep. Barbara Hernandez filed HB2367 yesterday…
Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Eliminates provisions that a person must serve various percentages for particular offenses. Provides that the rules and regulations of the Department of Corrections shall provide that the individual in custody shall receive one day of sentence credit for each day of service in prison other than when a sentence of natural life imprisonment has been imposed. Provides that each day of sentence credit shall reduce by one day the incarcerated person’s period of incarceration set by the court. Provides that within 6 months after the effective date of the amendatory Act, the Department of Corrections shall recalculate each incarcerated person’s release date by crediting each person one day sentence credit for each day the incarcerated person has spent in prison on the current sentence. Provides that an incarcerated person serving a term of natural life imprisonment shall be eligible to accumulate sentence credit so that in the event that his or her sentence is reduced to something less than a sentence of natural life imprisonment, it can thereafter be credited toward his or her new sentence. Makes technical changes. Effective January 1, 2026.
* St Louis Post Dispatch…
Two state lawmakers have filed bills that would officially “lock the clock” by making daylight saving time permanent.
This would end the decades-long practice of Illinois residents setting their clocks forward one hour on the second Sunday in March and setting it back one hour on the first Sunday in November.
The bills, proposed by Reps. Bob Morgan, D-Highland Park, and Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, would keep the time set as it is during the spring and summer. The practical effect of this would be darker mornings and lighter evenings during the fall and winter seasons. […]
In Illinois, at least a dozen bills on the subject — most of them within the past 10 years — have been filed by members of both political parties. Most of them aimed to move the state to permanent daylight saving time.
Nearly all those bills died without receiving a committee hearing in its chamber of origin. However, the Illinois Senate in 2019 overwhelmingly passed legislation sponsored by then-state Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, that would have transitioned Illinois to permanent daylight saving time pending federal legislation repealing or amending the Uniform Time Act of 1966. That bill, however, never got past the gatekeeping House Rules Committee.
- Steve - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 9:36 am:
-divest from fossil fuel companies-
Great way to underperform the S&P 500 over the long run. Not good for system that needs better returns to pay for promised public pensions.
- Donnie Elgin - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 9:43 am:
=Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, a budget leader in the House, said he believes divesting from fossil fuel companies will ultimately lead to better investment outcomes for pension systems as lawmakers search for ways to improve pension liabilities=
Letting one legislator’s environmental “beliefs” limit investment options for thousands of pensioners is likely a breach of fiduciary duty and will bog down the pensions in lawsuits…
American Airlines’ focus on ESG in retirement plan is illegal, US judge rules
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/american-airlines-focus-esg-401k-plan-is-illegal-us-judge-rules-2025-01-10/
- Short sighted Bill 130 - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 9:52 am:
How are yoiu going to produce energy to charge all those EV’s?
Those EV’s have a lot of plastic in them and those are made using petroleum chemicals. Also, some of the fluids in EV’s - trans fluid are made from a petroluem based oil
Oil companies are not going away even if everyone owns EV’s
- TNR - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 10:25 am:
== he believes divesting from fossil fuel companies will ultimately lead to better investment outcomes for pension systems ==
Calling on pension systems to divest from fossil fuel companies is a legit public policy position to hold and worthy of debate. But restricting investments options based policy goals rather than financial performance will not lead to better investment outcomes. To suggest otherwise is to insult everyone’s intelligence.
- Chicagonk - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 10:41 am:
I went through the IDOC data set and Barbara Hernandez’s bill would mostly decrease sentences for those in jail for murder, criminal sexual assault, aggravated assault, and armed habitual criminals.
- Bigtwich - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 11:29 am:
==limit investment options for thousands of pensioners is likely a breach of fiduciary duty and will bog down the pensions in lawsuits…==
Not true.
In People ex rel. Sklodowski v. State of Illinois, 162 Ill. 2d 117, The court found “neither a vested contractual nor constitutional right for beneficiaries to enforce the level of state contributions previously mandated by Public Act 86 — 273. The framers of the Illinois Constitution were careful to craft in the pension protection clause an amendment that would create a contractual right to benefits, while not freezing the politically sensitive area of pension financing. In addition, the funding provisions contained in the Pension Code do not evince a legislative intent to create vested contractual rights in favor of beneficiaries.”
- hisgirlfriday - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 11:38 am:
I get that Dems have supermajorities in both chambers and a moribund Illinois GOP but c’mon and read the room a little.
We don’t need a bunch of recycled pie-in-the-sky bleeding heart legislation pushed by the groups this term.
We need to prepare for the winter that is coming which is the onslaught of deprivation, chaos, and malice that will be directed to the Free State of Illinois by D.C.
Has Illinois prepared for the economic disruption to come from 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico?
Is it ready for a vindictive federal govt discouraging foreign investment in Illinois and targeting already appropriated grants meant to come here?
Is there any Illinois Dem effort to protect our research universities from the attack on science that is afoot?
I hope I am overreacting but I just can’t help but feel the same sense of foreboding I felt in late January and February 2020 about COVID while most people were still going on like stuff was normal…
- JS Mill - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 11:43 am:
I think it is over the top to prohibit investment in fossil fuel companies. Many have diversified by also investing in green energy development (fully understanding that these “investments” may only be top create the appearance of moving away from fossil fuels). Until we have reliable and ample energy sources all legal investments should be encouraged.
I also disagree with HB2367. The judge and the jury should determine the sentencing within the approved framework and the IGA should not actively develop “bac doors” to reduce sentencing. These people committed crimes and have victims who deserve justice.
- Donnie Elgin - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 11:47 am:
= Sklodowski v. State of Illinois=
That is a laughable comparison - the appealed case is from 1996 - ESG investing did not exist then( outside of a few mutual funds like Domi and Pax word). ESG took off slowly after things like the Kyoto Accord in 1997. More importantly, the lawsuit you reference dealt with the level of contributions - not the investments themselves
“(specifically the State’s failure to contribute as required under P.A. 86-273)”
- JoeMaddon - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 11:48 am:
**Letting one legislator’s environmental “beliefs”**
You do understand that it is a piece of legislation right? And that one legislator cannot pass legislation?
- JoeMaddon - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 11:53 am:
**I also disagree with HB2367. The judge and the jury should determine the sentencing within the approved framework and the IGA should not actively develop “bac doors” to reduce sentencing. These people committed crimes and have victims who deserve justice.**
Uh… so you’re fine with the current statute having certain sentencing rules/guidelines, but you’re not fine with the legislature changing said statute?
Your argument that the Judge/jury determines sentencing ignores what’s already in the law.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 12:09 pm:
===And that one legislator cannot pass legislation? ===
Hence, the name of this post.
- H-W - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 12:41 pm:
=== to increase funding for Illinois State University ===
Yeah, because their economies of scale just do not work as well as those of the regional public universities. Right.
- JS Mill - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 1:36 pm:
=Uh… so you’re fine with the current statute having certain sentencing rules/guidelines, but you’re not fine with the legislature changing said statute?=
That is not what I was trying to convey. My point was follow the statute on sentencing. They set the statute and then pass another law to reduce how many days the sentence actually means.
- Zach - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 1:49 pm:
Have the political entities learned nothing from Congress’ attempt at making Daylight Savings Time permanent? When they passed that bill in Congress it got massive backlash from people across the US. It is the literal opposite of what most people want. We want the transition to end by ending Daylight Savings Time and keeping permanently in normal time (and in sync with the rest of the world’s clocks).
- Donnie Elgin - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 2:25 pm:
=We want the transition to end by ending Daylight Savings Time and keeping permanently in normal time=
Polling indicated otherwise…
“Of those 62% that indicated they would like to get rid of the practice of changing the clocks entirely, exactly half of them prefer the option of later sunrises and sunsets, as in year-round daylight-saving time, compared with 31% preferring year-round standard time.”
https://www.businessinsider.com/daylight-saving-time-polling-shows-americans-utterly-divided-2023-3