Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Thursday, Nov 15, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* AP…

The Senate has overturned a veto by Gov. Bruce Rauner on a measure that would regulate so-called peer-to-peer car-rental businesses.

The vote Wednesday was 39-12 to require the companies to comply with the same safety standards and pay the same taxes as traditional rental-car companies.

Turo and Getaround are examples of businesses that provide online apps for people to rent cars from other people.

Republican Rauner says the measure is too restrictive and could “smother” growth of an innovative new industry. He suggested a rewrite of the regulations.

* WTTW…

Illinois lawmakers are set to consider legislation this week that would limit the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals, a practice that has been shown to fuel drug-resistant bacteria that can be dangerous to humans.

On Thursday, the Illinois Senate’s Agriculture and Public Health committees are scheduled to hold subject matter hearings on a bill introduced earlier this year by state Sen. Daniel Biss that would further restrict antibiotic use on the nearly 20,000 Illinois farms with beef cattle, hogs or pigs.

Experts from the World Health Organization have for years warned that the routine use of antibiotics on animals that aren’t sick leads to drug-resistant bacteria that can have deadly consequences for humans.

Each year, millions of Americans get sick with antibiotic-resistant infections, and at least 23,000 of them die as a result, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A recent study estimates that by 2050, drug-resistant bacteria could kill more people worldwide than cancer kills today.

…Adding… The hearing was postponed due to weather.

* Tribune…

Meanwhile, lawmakers started moving a bill aimed at the Chicago mayoral race. A plan that cleared a House committee would open a special election for Cook County board president to more people if Toni Preckwinkle is elected mayor. Now, only Cook County commissioners could run for president if she won and left the board president job.

Also, lawmakers are trying to negotiate a compromise on dueling proposals aimed at companies such as Sterigenics in west suburban Willowbrook that emit dangerous ethylene oxide gas.

Separate bills from House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs and Democratic state Rep. Carol Sente of Vernon Hills would limit and eventually ban use of the chemical in Illinois. Lawmakers say they’re trying to come up with legislation by the end of the month.

* Sun-Times…

Also on Wednesday, the Senate failed to override the governor’s veto of a measure that would remove the state from the Crosscheck voter registration system. But senators are expected to try again for an override. Democrats say the measure would help protect voter information, but Republicans say the extra check is needed to make sure voters aren’t also registered elsewhere.

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*** UPDATED x1 *** Subpoenas fly from Adams County grand jury

Thursday, Nov 15, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* One bit thing grand juries do is issue subpoenas. So this was bound to happen…

A downstate grand jury has subpoenaed records from Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office and at least two more state agencies as part of a criminal investigation into fatal Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks at the Quincy veterans’ home, WBEZ learned Wednesday.

Rauner’s administration surrendered copies of the Adams County grand jury subpoenas in response to a series of open-records requests.

The grand jury’s demand for Legionnaires’-related records tied to outbreaks at the Illinois Veterans Home went to the governor’s office and to the Illinois Departments of Veterans’ Affairs and Labor. Last week, WBEZ reported that the grand jury had also subpoenaed the state public health department.

The subpoenas, which went out Oct. 25, demand that Rauner’s administration turn over the documents by Thursday. No one has been charged with any wrongdoing relating to the outbreaks.

* From the IDPH story ten days ago…

The subpoena sought a sweeping array of public health records about Legionnaires’ cases at the Illinois Veterans Home, where nearly 70 residents and staff have been sickened since 2015, with 14 deaths linked to the illness.

The query for records also sought information about, among other things, agency procedures for providing notice about Legionnaires’ at the facility and any communications by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration and officials in other locales that have experienced big Legionnaires’ outbreaks, including Flint, Mich.

*** UPDATE *** I should’ve included this story in the post…

Illinois senators have rejected Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of legislation allowing for larger damage awards in lawsuits against the state.

Sen. Michael Hastings is the sponsor of the measure which would raise the $100,000 limit on damage awards to $2 million. The Orland Park Democrat and military veteran noted the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at the Quincy veterans’ home where 14 residents have died in the past three years. Families of several deceased victims have filed lawsuits against the state.

Hastings contended that the administration fell short in preventing the problem and notifying the public about what was happening. Rauner has repeatedly said his staff did everything it could and followed national experts’ advice.

Rauner rewrote the bill in an amendatory veto and suggested a $300,000 limit.