* The Illinois Municipal League…

Representing local leaders from across the state, the Illinois Municipal League (IML) announced its annual Moving Cities Forward legislative platform, which aims to ensure the long-term success of all 1,294 cities, villages and towns across Illinois.

Mayors are advocating for policies that strengthen municipalities by fully funding all state shared revenues including the Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF), imposing a local Motor Fuel Tax (MFT), securing local authority over housing programs, modernizing public notice requirements and streamlining state permitting. […]

Governor JB Pritzker’s State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2027 proposed budget reduces LGDF share of individual income tax revenues from 6.47% to 6.28%. Municipal officials are urging the General Assembly to fully fund LGDF, which for decades provided municipalities with 10% of state income tax revenues before being cut to 6% in 2011, following the enactment of a temporary state income tax increase that did not benefit local governments. […]

Mayors are backing a proposal to help level the playing field for local revenue options in non-home rule municipalities. Currently, only non-home rule municipalities in Cook County or with a population of more than 100,000 can impose a local non-home rule MFT, limiting revenue generation for many non-home rule communities. The bill would allow all non-home rule municipalities to adopt a local MFT by ordinance, up to three cents per gallon, giving communities a flexible, locally controlled source of funding for roads and infrastructure. […]

Moving Cities Forward also seeks to preserve municipal authority for land use and zoning and to implement housing programs. Governor Pritzker’s SFY 2027 budget proposal also includes provisions broadly preempting local authority for land use and zoning. […]

Non-Home Rule Motor Fuel Tax
HB 1283 (Rep. DeLuca, D-Chicago Heights)
Non-home rule municipalities within Cook County or those with more than 100,000 residents may impose a tax on motor fuel, by ordinance, not to exceed $0.03 per gallon in $0.01 increments. The remaining non-home rule municipalities in Illinois do not have this authority. This proposed legislation would allow all non-home rule municipalities to impose a local MFT, not to exceed $0.03 per gallon. This solution provides additional flexibility for non-home rule municipalities to utilize an alternative revenue source by expanding the authority to impose a local municipal MFT statewide.

HB 1283 was introduced last year and is in the House Rules committee.

* WAND…

A bill in Springfield could prohibit health insurance companies from using artificial intelligence to code a health service lower than what is actually provided to patients. […]

The plan states doctors should make all downcoding decisions and insurance companies would be required to notify providers if a service has been downcoded.

Senate Bill 3114 would also ban insurers from downcoding in a discriminatory manner against doctors who routinely treat patients with complex health conditions. […]

The Illinois Life and Health Insurance Council opposes this idea, as they argue downcoding is beneficial when it corrects unsupported and inaccurate coding. President Laura Minzer told the Senate Insurance Committee Tuesday that downcoding also helps patients save money.

SB 3115 has been assigned to the Senate Insurance Committee and has bipartisan support.

* Economic Security Illinois Action…

Economic Security Illinois Action joined State Senator Robert Peters, the Illinois AFL-CIO, UFCW, and Consumer Reports in support of SB 2255, the Surveillance-Based Price Discrimination Act, which would ban surveillance pricing in Illinois and protect working families from being secretly charged different prices based on their personal data. The bill was introduced at a press conference in front of a grocery store in Hyde Park with workers, small business owners, and advocates on Monday morning. […]

SB 2255 would prohibit companies from setting customized prices based on personal data collected about individual consumers or groups of consumers. This could look like a ridesharing app charging a customer more because they know their phone battery is low and they are desperate for a ride, or an airline charging a mourner more because they have access to search history related to funeral arrangements. […]

That corporations engage in such practices is not speculation. Documented cases have already been uncovered:

- Target recently paid a $5 million fine for geo-pricing TVs based on consumers’ proximity to the store.
- Staples charges consumers who live in places with less competition higher prices for the same exact stapler.
- Orbitz was found charging Mac users higher prices for hotels because their user data suggested they’d be willing to pay more.
- Instacart was found to be charging up to 23% more on groceries for certain customers with their AI-enabled experiments. […]

This bill would ban these and other practices that involve secret profiling, leaving consumers unaware that they are being charged more than someone else for the same item. Importantly, this is distinct from traditional sales or loyalty programs, which would remain legal under the bill. This includes publicly disclosed discounts for teachers, veterans, or loyalty members.

* Sun-Times…

Too often, a person’s will is written on paper and tucked into a cabinet or under a mattress. By the time they die, their family can’t find it, and their final wishes aren’t accurately fulfilled.

That’s according to Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Mariyana Spyropoulos, whose office is leading an effort to pass a law in Springfield that would create a statewide, optional, county-level will depository. It also would maintain the ability to deposit a will without hiring an attorney, which can cost hundreds of dollars. […]

State Sen. Bill Cunningham, a South Side Democrat, is sponsoring the bill, which is scheduled for its first Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday. Eleven other state senators have signed on as co-sponsors.

“This is a straightforward reform that gives Illinois families a safer, more reliable way to protect an original will before it is ever needed,” Cunningham said in a statement. “It helps reduce avoidable complications in probate and gives people greater confidence that their wishes will be carried out.”

* Illinois Insurance Association Executive Director Kevin Martin in Crain’s…

Illinois drivers deserve real solutions to rising costs and not policies that will make the problem worse. Unfortunately, SB 2412 — a bill initiated by the Secretary of State’s Office — does exactly that.

By banning long validated underwriting tools like credit and age, this bill would raise auto insurance premiums at a time when people can least afford it, especially seniors and women who often benefit from lower rates due to strong credit and years of safe driving. […]

When Washington State banned credit scoring in 2021, more than 60% of drivers saw their premiums go up. Research shows credit-based insurance scores save consumers between 30% and 59% on their auto insurance. If Illinois adopts a similar ban, we should expect similar results — with women and seniors hit hardest.

Illinois already has one of the most competitive insurance markets in the country, with more than 200 companies vying for business. That competition keeps prices stable. Proposals like SB 2412 ignore the experience of other states and threaten to undermine a system that works for most Illinois families.

* More…

* WAND | IL bill could shift daycare background checks from DCFS to Dept of Early Childhood: The Illinois Senate Education Committee unanimously approved legislation Tuesday to shift the responsibility for daycare employee background checks to the future Department of Early Childhood. Staff from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services are currently in charge of conducting fingerprint-based criminal history checks on providers at daycares and childcare facilities.

* WAND | Illinois could prohibit private schools from banning religious hairstyles: Sen. Mike Simmons (D-Chicago) said rabbis asked him to file the plan to protect Orthodox Jewish students who have beards. “I live in the West Ridge community where there’s a pretty big Orthodox Jewish community and dozens of people have brought up to me in the last few years since we passed the Jett Hawkins Act,” Simmons said. “It seems like it’s a good time to move forward with this legislation, particularly when we know that there’s been such a big increase in antisemitism across the country and the world.”

* Press release | Ellman bill protects access to health coverage, prevents denials over past-due premiums: Senate Bill 3815 would prohibit health insurance companies from denying new coverage to individuals or employers solely because they owe premiums from a previous policy. The measure maintains that insurers may still pursue collection of unpaid balances, but ensures that outstanding debt does not act as a barrier to accessing care.

* Press release | Hastings advances bill to protect homeowners from ‘storm chaser’ contractor scams: Senate Bill 3029 would prohibit a contractor from offering home repair or remodeling services while a loss-producing event, such as a fire or storm, is occurring at the premises; while the fire department or emergency personnel are engaged at the premises; or between the hours of 7 p.m. and 8 a.m. The measure would still allow consumers to initiate solicitation with contractors during these scenarios.

* Press release | Turner calls for action to expand students’ access to service animals: Students who need service animals in order to equally access public schools are protected under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. Turner’s proposal, Senate Bill 2761, would set the tone for school environments that value diversity and inclusion by adding training on the proper handling of service animals in the school setting to the ADA training teachers, administrators and school support personnel already receive. Turner’s measure comes in response to a recent incident involving a Rochester High School student who utilizes a medical alert dog to manage her Type 1 diabetes – alerting the student when her blood sugar drops too low and helping her stay alive. In November, the student reported harassment from other students at a school board meeting, claiming her peers would step on her Labrador’s legs – hurting his hips – pull his tail, throw food at him and bark at him in the hallways. In a video posted by the student on social media, she spoke about the issues and said the school district has not taken action to protect her service animal.