* Capitol News Illinois…

A bill that bans carbon sequestration over, under or through portions of the Mahomet Aquifer passed out of the Illinois General Assembly on Tuesday.

The bill has been a point of contention in the Statehouse during this year’s legislative session, after it was found that a leak occurred during carbon injections carried out by ADM, a Decatur-based agriculture giant.

Carbon sequestration is a relatively new technological process that pumps liquified carbon dioxide deep underground for long-term storage. Proponents say it could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions for high-emissions industries like ethanol production.

The ADM injection site, which opened in 2011, received the first federal permit for “geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide” in 2017. Since then, the project has stored more than 4.5 million tons of carbon dioxide more than a mile underground.

Although the leak did not take place in the Mahomet Aquifer area, roughly 8,000 metric tons of liquid carbon dioxide and other ground fluid escaped the area it was permitted to be in. ADM temporarily paused carbon injections in October after another issue with a well was identified. […]

The bill passed out of the Senate in April 55-0. It now awaits approval from the governor after passing out of the House on Tuesday with a vote of 91-19.

* The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association…

“Carbon capture and sequestration is a safe and proven technology that is key to maintaining economic growth and advancing our state’s decarbonization goals. We urge Gov. JB Pritzker to veto this legislation, which discourages investment in clean energy projects including sustainable aviation fuel,” said Mark Denzler, President and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association. “Illinois should stand by the historic legislation adopted just last year that established the most stringent carbon capture and sequestration regulations in the nation.”

* Subscribers know more. Sun-Times…

Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke is calling for Illinois lawmakers to include attacks against reproductive health centers as an act of terrorism following a car bombing outside a fertility clinic in California.

O’Neill Burke issued a call this week for legislation that would amend the state criminal code to define any act that creates substantial damage to a reproductive health clinic or facility as terrorism.

“This is exactly why I worked to introduce legislation that ensures any such incident in Illinois is treated as the terrorist act that it is, and it’s a shame certain interest groups and legislators worked behind the scenes to put a brick on it,” O’Neill Burke said in a prepared statement.

The bills are pending in the Legislature, and lawmakers are expected to wrap up the session by May 31. The legislation was introduced in February and there hasn’t been any action since, giving them little chance of passing by the end of the month.

* Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias…

Here’s an appalling fact: The cost of your car insurance in Illinois isn’t based on your driving record — it’s based on things such as the neighborhood where you live and your credit score.

This is shameful. Especially when you consider that a motorist with driving under the influence on their record but solid credit pays far less than a driver with a spotless driving record and a low credit rating. Yes, you read that correctly. […]

There’s still much that we don’t know about these algorithms and nondriving ratemaking factors, which is why we need House Bill 1234. We need public input, and we need the insurance industry to work with us. If there’s a good explanation for why driving records don’t matter, but your ZIP code does, we’d like to hear “how” and “why.” We’re all ears.

As it stands, Illinois and Wyoming remain the only states in the entire country that allow insurance companies to increase rates without any type of state regulation or oversight prior to an increased rate.

The truth is simple — the current system has created a patently unfair, unaffordable and unjust ratemaking system for statutorily mandated automobile insurance. Your ZIP code, credit score or social media presence should not determine how much you pay for car insurance. This not only unfairly punishes the people who can least afford it, but it also creates danger on our roads.

* The Junk Fee Transparency Act unanimously passed out of the House Consumer Protection Committee yesterday. Director of Policy and Advocacy with Economic Security of Illinois Erion Malasi…

“We are thrilled to see this bill to curbjunk fees taking another step toward becoming law. This bill is the culmination of months of hard work and will make a real difference in protecting working families from deceptive practices. The price you see should be the price you pay, and we’re one step closer to making that a reality in Illinois. We are grateful to our House Sponsor, Rep. Bob Morgan, and will stand with him as he takes this critical piece of legislation to the House floor.”

* Chief executive officer of Metropolitan Planning Council Dan Lurie…

There has been an exciting debate recently about how to increase Chicago’s housing supply and thus spark economic growth through changes to the city’s administrative and regulatory processes.

But a critical element missing from this discussion, and vital to our shared economic prosperity, is securing housing stability for the thousands of people leaving prison each year that are shut out of our housing market altogether, and our economy.

The Home for Good legislative package, now under consideration by lawmakers in Springfield and supported by a 50-member strong statewide coalition, gives Illinois a strong path to do just that for the approximately 20,0000 individuals and their families each year who have served their time in prison and reenter society seeking to contribute to our economy. […]

The Home for Good program presents a generational opportunity to confront this problem directly. The Home for Good bills, HB3162 and SB2403, before the Illinois General Assembly—sponsored by Rep. Maurice West and Sen. Willie Preston—would expand investments in state programs that have already shown promising results in connecting people to stable housing and lowering recidivism rates. The program would also increase the affordable housing stock and subsidized units available to returning residents and increase services to help people successfully reintegrate into communities.

* Chicago Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez…

On Wednesday, May 21 at 9:00 a.m., a coalition of Chicago City Council members, students, and community leaders will hold a press conference at Senate President Don Harmon’s Oak Park office to demand immediate action on Senate Bill 1693.

SB 1693, which calls for the creation of an elected Board of Trustees for the City Colleges of Chicago, has earned bipartisan backing with 41 co-sponsors in the Illinois Senate, nearly 70% of the chamber. Yet despite this overwhelming support, the bill remains stalled. Senate leadership will not even move it to committee.

City Colleges of Chicago is the only community college district in Illinois whose board is appointed rather than elected. Everywhere else in the state, community college boards are accountable to the public through democratic elections. Advocates argue that City Colleges students and community residents deserve the same democratic voice in governing their institutions.

“Now, more than ever, I see the fundamental impact and importance of democratic processes in all our public institutions. I strongly support our Chicago community colleges to also be able to have elected representatives who are accountable to the working people of this city. The billionaires who have dictated our path forward for generations are finally going to learn how beautiful democracy is when working people have self determination in the trajectory of their lives and the institutions that they hold on their shoulders”said Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez. “An elected board is long overdue.” […]

WHERE:

Office of Senate President Don Harmon

6941 W. North Avenue

Oak Park, Illinois 60302

WHO:

Members of the Chicago City Council

Cook County College Teachers Union, Local 1600

Alliance for Community Services

Northside Action for Justice

* Student Borrower Protection Center…

Illinois is poised to be the first state to enact legislation affirmatively permitting and creating special rules for Income Share Agreements (ISAs), a type of private student loan with a track record of violating state and federal consumer protections and financial regulations. The bill, SB 1537, has been pushed for years by Better Future Forward, the first ISA provider to be penalized by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for violating consumer protection laws. If passed, the legislation will amend both the state’s Student Loan Servicing Rights Act and the Consumer Installment Loan Act.

In response, Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC) Legal Director Winston Berkman-Breen released the following statement:

“Income Share Agreements (ISAs) are dangerous loans peddled by profiteering lenders and schools that have trapped borrowers and their families into debts with exorbitant rates and predatory terms. Despite misleading industry representations—claiming ISAs are a safer, more affordable alternative to private student loans—numerous federal and state regulators found that ISAs are, in fact, just another type of private student loan.

“It is a shame that a state with a strong track record of protecting consumers like Illinois is the first to roll out new regulations in service of ISA providers, especially when the ISA industry has yet to demonstrate its ability to comply with the most basic consumer protections found in the federal Truth in Lending Act.

“Rather than green lighting the activities of companies like Better Future Forward, the state should be asking whether these companies have been operating in the state illegally. We urge policymakers in Springfield to defend existing consumer protections and lending laws and not bend those laws to accommodate predatory financial products.”

* Fox Chicago…

House Bill 3027, introduced by State Rep. Janet Yang Rohr, D-Naperville, would block anyone under 18 from buying diet pills or muscle-building supplements without a doctor’s note or a parent with them.

“So this bill basically says if you are under 18, you cannot buy these diet pills. You cannot buy these muscle supplements unless you have a doctor’s note or may be a parent with you,” said Yang Rohr.

If you read the label, Yang Rohr points out that many of these products already say for “18 and over.”

Right now, there aren’t any rules or regulations for retailers to make sure the consumer buying these products is at least 18. […]

The bill has passed the public health committee and has now been referred to the rules committee.

* WAND…

A bipartisan plan to reduce the price of building veteran tiny homes passes the Illinois House unanimously on Tuesday.

The proposal would remove a requirement for tiny homes to have an inbuilt electric vehicle charging station if the owner is a veteran. This will help some non-profit groups, who are building tiny homes for veterans, to save on costs.

State Rep. Rita Mayfield (D-Waukegan) said this policy will help keep veterans off the streets.

“As we all know homelessness and veteran are two words that should never be used in the same sentence,” Mayfield said.

* Capitol News Illinois…

A mile-wide EF3 tornado tore through St. Louis on Friday afternoon before crossing into Illinois and inflicting more damage in parts of Madison County. According to the National Weather Service, the tornado passed less than a mile from a complex of warehouses where a man was killed when a similar strength tornado demolished an Amazon warehouse in December 2021.

In response to the 2021 tornado, Illinois lawmakers convened a task force to issue recommendations on how to make warehouses safer in a tornado. In response to those recommendations, the House voted 83-28 Tuesday to pass House Bill 2987, which creates a series of new requirements warehouses must follow to protect their employees during a tornado warning. […]

The bill now heads to the Senate. It requires warehouse operators to work with local first responder agencies to craft safety plans for severe weather. New warehouses would need to be built with shelter spaces compliant with building codes for tornadoes and other types of natural disasters.

* Rep. Katie Stuart…

State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, is working to protect nursing mothers in the workplace by advancing a bill that would require employers to provide paid break time to an employee who needs to express breast milk and prohibits employers from forcing nursing mothers to use their paid leave to express breast milk.

“The year after becoming a mother, whether that be for the first time or again, can be very difficult for many mothers and if they choose to return to work, they should not have to worry about needing to use their paid break or leave time to express breast milk,” said Stuart. “We need to support our mothers in every way we can, including in the workplace.”

The Stuart-sponsored Senate Bill 212 expands on the protections guaranteed to working mothers in the Illinois Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act by defining “reasonable” in the requirement for employers to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk. Additionally, the bill requires employers to compensate nursing mothers at their regular pay rate and nursing mothers cannot be forced to use their paid leave to express breast milk. […]

The Stuart-sponsored bill passed in the Senate, passed in the House Labor & Commerce Committee and now moves to the House floor for consideration.

* WAND…

The Illinois House unanimously passed a plan Tuesday to properly notify parents about the toxic metals in baby food.

This legislation could require baby food manufacturers to test their products for toxic heavy metals. Companies would then have to clearly label how much of each toxic metal is found in their baby food.

Manufacturers must also include a QR code for people to scan and find more information about the test results and FDA guidance about the health effects of toxic elements for children. […]

The proposal will now head back to the Senate on concurrence. Senators unanimously approved the original bill language last month.