It’s just a bill
Tuesday, Apr 29, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Tribune…
After more than a decade of negotiations and failed efforts to reduce the use of plastics, Illinois lawmakers are considering legislation that would prohibit large retailers from offering single-use plastic bags and ban the use of most” polystyrene containers in the state over the next four to five years.
Advocates, citing the threat of rising plastic waste to human and environmental health, say the timing for the bills is ripe given rising health concerns about microplastics and the passage of similar legislation in states like New Jersey and California. Retailers also support the measures, calling the requirements balanced and flexible, according to a statement from the Illinois Retail Merchants Association. […]
In addition, some labor unions, including the Illinois Pipe Trades Association and AFL-CIO, oppose the move to do away with foam food containers. Manufacturers have expressed concerns the measures could lead to thousands of layoffs if the facilities that make the banned products are forced to shut down as their in-state customer base disappears.
Two bills are awaiting a vote in the state Senate. One measure would use financial penalties under the jurisdiction of the attorney general and local state’s attorney offices to restrict the sale or distribution of disposable containers made of polystyrene — known by the brand name Styrofoam — with the exception of egg cartons, starting in January 2030. The other bill would prohibit retailers with more than a dozen stores from offering or making available single-use checkout bags by January 2029.
* WGLT…
With hate crimes rising across Illinois in the last five years, lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow people to sue if they receive threatening flyers on private property due to protected identity characteristics.
Democratic state Rep. Sharon Chung jumped on the bill as a co-sponsor after Bloomington-Normal faced its own incident recently with antisemitic flyers from white supremist groups. […]
While it has gained support, opponents say the bill’s language is vague and could be weaponized to hurt certain groups such as student protesters and activists.
The National Lawyers Guild Chicago opposed the bill in a statement.
“This legislation raises significant concerns regarding free speech rights and is ripe for potential misuse,” the organization wrote, “If passed, this legislation would deter Illinoisans from engaging in First Amendment protected activity. While attacks on free speech are always concerning, this bill is particularly troubling given the attacks on our democracy the U.S. is currently facing from the Trump administration.”
* KWQC…
A new bill in Illinois would try and protect elderly people from scams by putting more power in the hands of financial advisors.
If passed, financial planners would have the power to slow down or freeze transactions that they fear are scams.
Though Democrats passed the bill through the state senate, some are concerned that this could create a liability nightmare for financial institutions.
“There’s already plenty of examples of how that system is in place and could be improved upon, but this isn’t one of them and it sets every organization up, that this bill impacts for severe liability,” Republican State Sen. Jason Plummer said.
* WAND…
State lawmakers could pass multiple insurance reform proposals before session ends next month, but researchers believe Illinois should be cautious about overregulation. […]
Lynne McChristian runs the UIUC Office of Risk Management & Insurance Research. McChristian told WAND News Monday that insurers employ nearly 160,000 people across the state and provide benefits for consumers when they face life challenges.
“With insurance, you pay it forward for what you think might happen in the year ahead of the six months ahead,” McChristian said. “Planning for that takes a lot of variables, a lot of planning, and also a great deal of caution.”
Senators could discuss a bill this week to require insurance companies seek approval from the state for any homeowner or auto insurance rate increases, with a cap of 15% per year unless justified. Yet, Senate Bill 268 would also ban insurers from using credit scores or occupation to set premiums.
McChristian said Illinois should look at the unintended consequences states like California and Washington faced after implementing similar policies.
* Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea and Sen. Robert Peters…
Every morning, hundreds of thousands of Illinois workers clock in with a simple expectation: to return home safe. But across our state, that basic right is under attack. […]
Last month, the Trump administration’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took a sledgehammer to worker safety by gutting the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) — laying off more than 1,000 employees, shuttering research centers, and stalling life-saving rules. This isn’t “trimming the fat.” It is a direct assault on the American workers who rely on these agencies to enforce safety standards to ensure that they return home to their loved ones after a hard day’s work. […]
That’s why we’re fighting back with SB1976, the Illinois Workers’ Rights and Worker Safety Act. This bill ensures that no matter what reckless decisions are made in by the Trump administration, Illinois will uphold the hard-fought federal workplace protections that have existed for decades. More than that, it allows our state to raise the bar on safety, not lower it.
Here’s the truth: a safe job isn’t a luxury. It’s a right. And when that right is stripped away, working people die. Illinois can lead the nation by saying no to dangerous deregulation and yes to real, enforceable worker protections.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Apr 29, 25 @ 8:59 am:
We should continue doing whatever we can do to regulate the insurance industry.
- Bob - Tuesday, Apr 29, 25 @ 9:14 am:
Not looking forward to the fight over plastics. Too many people are only happy when their “freedom” includes destroying everything upon which future generations would depend.
- Homebody - Tuesday, Apr 29, 25 @ 9:29 am:
I think we absolutely do have legitimate problems around free speech in this country. But I don’t know how to solve it without creating a situation where bad actors will weaponize any speech regulating law in a way to go after innocent people and legitimate protestors. It disgusts me that you can have people publicly advocating on behalf of Nazis, actively recruiting members into would be secessionist or terrorist groups, but the current case law basically says you have to wait until the last second to actually do anything about it (when it may be too late).
But I also recognize that we have a significant portion of our population who would be totally fine with a fascist government using any change in the law to go after any threats to their power.
Seems like the problem is we have a fascism problem in our country that needs to be dealt with first before we can have nice things.
- Wilson - Tuesday, Apr 29, 25 @ 9:59 am:
Back in 2012 the business community negotiated a plastic bag recycling program with environmental groups based on a Lake County pilot program. It would have diverted millions of tons of plastic from landfills over the last 13 years, but Governor Quinn vetoed it and the Illinois Environmental Council broke the deal and worked against the veto override. The lesson learned was to never trust the IEC to put progress over politics. Shame to let a good fundraising issue get resolved. I wouldn’t hold my breath this time either.
- Donnie Elgin - Tuesday, Apr 29, 25 @ 10:19 am:
= insurance reform =
If passed, the outcome will be fewer companies competing for customers and, god forbid, gaps in coverage if we ever have a large-scale catastrophic loss like the CA fires. As the old saying goes, ” The cure for high prices is … high prices.”
- Siualum - Tuesday, Apr 29, 25 @ 10:25 am:
I am so sick of seeing discarded plastic bags in open fields, in trees, anywhere they shouldn’t be.
- TheInvisibleMan - Tuesday, Apr 29, 25 @ 10:34 am:
“After more than a decade of negotiations and failed efforts to reduce the use of plastics”
Thankfully, we’re also coming up on the legislative expiration for the plastic gasification plant the legislature authorized a few years ago to be built in Will or Grundy County.
If I recall correctly, that legislation and its extensions finally expire on July 1 of this year, after HB1616 in 2023 failed in session to extend the possible construction timeline out to 2027.
It was a terrible idea from the start, to change the ILEPA law to classify an industrial chemical plant as a ‘recycling center’ in order to avoid all the EPA permits that would be required for a chemical plant.
Seeing (D)s try to completely gut environmental laws like this is something I expect from (R)s. (D)s should not take for granted their supermajority, as doing stuff like this is a good way to erode that advantage bit by bit.
- Iron Duke - Tuesday, Apr 29, 25 @ 10:38 am:
Careful what you wish for.
How do you think so many Californian residents feel about the over regulation of the insurance industry that caused State Farm, Allstate, Chubb, Farmers, Nationwide, The Hartford, Travelers and so many other insurance companies to either leave or severely cut back their business in the state leaving customers with just the state to cover them?
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Tuesday, Apr 29, 25 @ 10:39 am:
If there’s one industry that I ain’t hearing scream hard times, it’s the insurance industry.
- Excitable Boy - Tuesday, Apr 29, 25 @ 10:45 am:
- that caused State Farm, Allstate, Chubb, Farmers, Nationwide, The Hartford, Travelers and so many other insurance companies to either leave or severely cut back their business in the state leaving customers with just the state to cover them? -
I think just maybe those massive wildfires may have played a role in this.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Tuesday, Apr 29, 25 @ 11:37 am:
“I think just maybe those massive wildfires may have played a role in this.”
Not enough people are comprehending that insurance can’t exist long term in a high catastrophe/high cost market like that. There is only loss, not profit.
More and more of the world is becoming subject to catastrophic weather events on an increasingly regular basis. Get mad at insurance companies for underwriting more fossil fuel projects before you get mad at them for charging rates tied to the loss experience.
The Feds effectively aren’t insuring property in red states anymore either. AR and WV have been left holding the bag by FEMA recently. It would be nice if we lived in a society that was capable of planning ahead.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Apr 29, 25 @ 11:51 am:
For anyone who thinks that insurance companies pull out of markets due to regulation…Florida would like a word.
It is not regulation, it is loss. If they are not making enough money then they will not stay in the marketplace. State Farm left Florida (at least for homeowners insurance) because of hurricanes and the damage created.
Corporations do not want to be regulated so they will come up with any justification against attempts to regulate. In the case of insurance companies, well just head to Florida and ask people whose coverage was denied after they lost everything what they think of their low regulatory shangri la now.
It is as obvious as the nose on your face as my grandpa used to say.
=Seems like the problem is we have a fascism problem in our country that needs to be dealt with first before we can have nice things.=
I am fairly close to a free speech absolutist. One thing these hate groups speaking out does is let us know who and where they are. Better the sunlight shines on them then be allowed to fester in the dark.
- Merica - Tuesday, Apr 29, 25 @ 12:46 pm:
RE: plastic bags
I’d be happy getting rid of them, but this is exactly the sort of policy that gets Trump elected to a third term. Put a small tax on them instead, or wait till trump is gone
RE: Insurance
Take a look at other countries, they don’t have an insurance market like us. Insurance is the underpinning of the 30 yr mortgage, 6 year vehicle financing. Or we could shift to the China model, where you pay the total cost of your home upfront.
- Leatherneck - Tuesday, Apr 29, 25 @ 12:49 pm:
Speaking of insurance and regulation–I wonder if Senator Farici and Reps Ammons and/or Rose need to start asking more questions on why Health Alliance is shutting down everything except Medicare Advantage. Maybe a GA hearing on the matter?