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Afternoon roundup

Thursday, Feb 2, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* This decision is not a suprise. At all..


Also not a surprise, Darren Bailey urged his followers today to pay $200 and sign up for DeVore’s third lawsuit. The TRO is here.

…Adding… From Attorney General Kwame Raoul…

“Over the last few years, my office has become accustomed to facing a barrage of challenges to newly-enacted state statutes and executive orders. The Protect Illinois Communities Act is an important tool in our fight to protect Illinois residents from gun violence, and as with past matters, we recognize that the act’s constitutionality will ultimately be decided by a higher court. We are reviewing the circuit court’s decision and continue to review the 5th District’s decision. We will seek the Illinois Supreme Court’s review of challenges to the Protect Illinois Communities Act, and we will ask the court for an expedited schedule.”

* From End Citizens United…

Hi Rich,

Hope you’re doing well. Reaching out from End Citizens United. Saw your coverage of the letter we sent to Rep. Mary Miller calling on her to donate the money she received from George Santos. Wanted to flag for you that it appears Rep. Miller showed no sign of disbursing her Santos money in the most recent FEC filings she submitted this week.

All the best,
Arik Wolk

* Press release…

The Justice Department announced today that the village of Hinsdale, Illinois, has agreed to pay $800,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging that the village violated the Fair Housing Act when it refused to allow the operation of a sober living home for persons in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction in a residential neighborhood.

The settlement, which still must be approved by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, resolves a lawsuit that the Department filed in November 2020. This settlement also resolves a related suit brought by the sober living home’s owner and operator, Trinity Sober Living LLC.

“Individuals with disabilities – including those recovering from drug and alcohol addiction – should not be excluded from living in residential neighborhoods,” said John R. Lausch Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “Such discrimination by local governments is forbidden under the Fair Housing Act.”

“Local governments do not have the right to use zoning laws and restrictions as a vehicle to discriminate against people with disabilities,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice is committed to vigorous enforcement of federal law to ensure that individuals in recovery have access to the housing and support they need to maintain their sobriety and lead productive lives.”

The Department’s lawsuit alleged that the village of Hinsdale violated the Fair Housing Act after it denied a reasonable accommodation request by Trinity Sober Living LLC to operate a sober living home with ten residents and a house manager in a residential neighborhood. The complaint alleged that, one day after Trinity requested an accommodation, the village sued Trinity in state court for violations of the zoning code, including that the home was a “commercial use” and would have more than three unrelated adults.

Under the settlement, the village will amend its zoning ordinance to comply with federal anti-discrimination laws, including permitting homes for persons with disabilities in residential districts, with the same size limitations applied to families of similar size, and implementing a reasonable accommodation policy. The village will also pay $790,000 in monetary damages to Trinity as well as a civil penalty of $10,000 to the United States. The village also agreed to take a number of other actions to guard against housing discrimination, including training village officials and employees about their obligations under federal law, designating a fair housing compliance officer and reporting periodically to the Justice Department.

* Rockford Register Star

Neighbors of the city’s new abortion clinic at 611 Auburn St. have filed a lawsuit in Winnebago County Court claiming the clinic is improperly zoned and that the clinic’s operation is negatively impacting the neighborhood. […]

The suit says the Rockford Zoning Board of Appeals “abdicated their solemn duty to enforce the City of Rockford Zoning Ordinance” by allowing a medical clinic to operate as a home business and allowing the clinic’s operator to live elsewhere.

The lawsuit also claims that the controversial nature of the business has caused disruption to the neighborhood, attracting protesters, traffic and noise.

* Paul Vallas education plan highlights

• Opening schools well into the evening, weekend and holidays to provide academic support, recreational activities and community-based services
• Creating paid High School Work Study programs in place of non-essential electives to build the competence, confidence and life skills
• Expanding the Alternative Schools network and opening Adult High Schools to reclaim the thousands of students who left during the pandemic.
• Empowering and trusting local communities through elected Local School Councils and redirecting funds there instead of the Central Administration
• Systematically identifying at-risk students and providing early intervention and support
• Expanding quality school options by converting failing or under-enrolled schools into magnet schools or other models directed by the local community

* Update on recent story…


* Isabel’s roundup…

  14 Comments      


Study finds Illinois’ local governments ranked second in nation for fines and fees per capita

Thursday, Feb 2, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Reason Foundation

In 2020, local governments across the United States collected just under $9 billion in fines and fees. Local governments in three states—New York ($1.4 billion), California ($1.26 billion), and Texas ($1.17 billion)—collected well over a third of the $9 billion in fines and fees in 2020.

Local governments in New York, California, Texas, Illinois, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, New Jersey, Washington, and Pennsylvania collected the most fines and fees in 2020. In all, 20 states saw their local governments bring in more than $100 million in fines and fees in 2020.

On a per capita basis, local governments in New York, Illinois, Texas, and Georgia collected more than $35 per resident in fines and fees in 2020. In contrast, local governments in New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, Nebraska, and Kentucky collected less than $3 in fines and fees revenue per resident in 2020. […]

At least 482 local governments derived 10% or more of their general revenue from fines and fees in 2017.

Illinois ranked second at $50 per capita. Locals imposed $641.6 million in fines and fees overall.

Sangamon County derived 15.8 percent of its revenue from fines and and forfeits in 2020, according to the study. That’s $14 million, or $70 per capita. Menard County was the worst offender, at 30 percent of revenues and $422 per capita.

Ten Illinois counties received at least ten percent of their revenue from fines and fees in 2020: Ogle, Mercer, Ford, Fulton, DeWitt, Menard, Sangamon, Cumberland, Richland and Massac.

Grundy was one of 15 counties which received at least 5 percent of revenues from that source ($1.9 million at $37 per capita).

* And a ton of suburban and exurban towns also received at least 5 percent of their revenues from fines and fees

* Among their recommendations

Develop standardized tools to determine the ability to pay and scale fines accordingly

Determination of a defendant’s ability to pay fines should not be left solely to the subjective assessment of an individual judge. This can result in wildly different outcomes for otherwise comparable defendants. Establishing standard practices would ensure that individuals are treated equally under the law. Scaling fines according to an individual’s ability to pay would also reduce the administrative costs associated with pursuing uncollectable debts.

Affidavits, bench cards, or ability-to-pay calculators may be used to standardize ability-to-pay determinations. Income-based fines, or day fines, could also be used to scale penalties according to an individual’s financial status. There is room for experimentation among the states in this area. Still, state law should clarify the factors that are considered when determining an individual’s ability to pay. Defendants should be made aware of these factors and what documentation they will be expected to provide.

Provide alternatives to monetary sanctions

Indigent defendants should be able to receive alternatives to monetary sanctions. Community service is one possible alternative to fines but it may prove overly burdensome for some. For example, community service may conflict with work schedules or family obligations. Such conflicts should be avoided, as maintaining employment and social ties are critical to reducing the risk of recidivism. Courts should be able to consider a range of alternatives, including waivers, job training, and drug or mental health treatment. Incarceration should never be considered an alternative to monetary sanctions, and fees should never be charged for alternatives to monetary sanctions.

Discuss.

…Adding… From comments…

As soon as the secret was out that duplicating state laws as local ordinances was something that could be done by municipalities to increase the percentage of fines they would keep from writing tickets, all bets were off with this.

Almost nobody looks at their ticket to see if it was written under a state law violation, or an identical local ordinance violation. More people should though. An example would be a ticket for not wearing a seat belt. When that state law is duplicated into a local ordinance, the tickets written locally are then written under the ordinance instead of the state law. That allows the locality to keep almost all of the fines, instead of those fines being paid to the state.

I don’t see that mentioned anywhere in the analysis.

The incentive to generate revenue through fines would go away quickly if that revenue from writing tickets was being primarily being generated for the state instead of the locality.

But I won’t be holding my breath any municipality will willingly change this practice, without legislation forcing them to.

  28 Comments      


Illinois Supreme Court strengthens state biometric privacy protections

Thursday, Feb 2, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Seyfarth Shaw analysis last September of Tims v. Black Horse Carriers

 Following an Illinois appellate court’s decision that a one-year limitations period applies to certain sections of the [Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act] while a five-year period applies to other sections, the sole issue on appeal for the Supreme Court is to identify the proper statute of limitations for claims under the BIPA. […]

This case originated in March 2019, when plaintiffs Jerome Tims and Isaac Watson filed a class action lawsuit against their employer, logistics company Black Horse Carriers, Inc. Plaintiffs alleged that the company unlawfully collected, possessed, and disclosed their fingerprints in violation of BIPA when the employees clocked in and out of work using a finger scanning timeclock. The company moved to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims as untimely, arguing that, because the BIPA does not contain its own statute of limitations, the court should apply the one-year limitations period for privacy actions set forth in § 5/13-201. The plaintiffs countered that the five-year “catch-all” limitations period contained in § 5/13-205 was more appropriate for actions under the BIPA.

In a somewhat unique ruling on interlocutory appeal, the Illinois First District Appellate Court effectively “split the baby” by holding that both the one-year and five-year limitations periods applied to different sections of the Act. Specifically, the Appellate Court reasoned that the one-year period from § 201 applies to BIPA Sections 15(c) and 15(d) because these sections involve “publication” of biometric data, which is a term explicitly used in § 201. Conversely, since the Appellate Court found that Sections 15(a), (b), and (e) of the BIPA do not involve publication of an individual’s biometric data, it applied the five-year limitations period from § 205 to these sections. The defendant subsequently appealed this decision to the Illinois Supreme Court. […]

Given the flood of BIPA class action lawsuits filed against Illinois businesses after the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision in Rosenbach v. Six Flags Ent. Corp., 129 N.E.3d 1197 (Ill. 2019), employers should pay special attention to the decision in Tims. The Illinois Supreme Court Justices did not suggest that they would rule in a certain way during oral arguments, but one takeaway was evident: the Supreme Court may not uphold the Appellate Court’s decision in its entirety. Nevertheless, while a decision in Black Horse’s favor would not fully curtail this recent wave of BIPA filings, it would certainly help limit the number of plaintiffs eligible to sue under the BIPA, as well as the potential amount of damages owed to these plaintiffs. [Emphasis added]

* Bad news for the defendants today at the Illinois Supreme Court

(W)e find that, because the Act does not have its own limitations period; because the subsections are causes of action “not otherwise provided for”; and because we must ensure certainty, predictability, and uniformity as to when the limitations period expires in each subsection, the Act is subject to the default five-year limitations period found in section 13-205 of the Code. […]

In light of the extensive consideration the General Assembly gave to the fears of and risks to the public surrounding the disclosure of highly sensitive biometric information, it would thwart legislative intent to (1) shorten the amount of time an aggrieved party would have to seek redress for a private entity’s noncompliance with the Act and (2) shorten the amount of time a private entity would be held liable for noncompliance with the Act. […]

(T)he full ramifications of the harms associated with biometric technology is unknown, and absent the Act’s protections, it is unclear when or if an individual would discover evidence of the disclosure of his or her biometrics in violation of the Act. Moreover, a shorter limitations period would prejudice those whom the Act is intended to protect. Therefore, we find that a longer limitations period would comport with the public welfare and safety aims of the General Assembly by allowing an aggrieved party sufficient time to discover the violation and take action.

For the aforementioned reasons, we find that the five-year limitations period contained in section 13-205 of the Code controls claims under the Act. Therefore, we affirm in part and reverse in part the judgment of the appellate court and remand the cause to the circuit court for further proceedings.

…Adding… ATRA…

The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) is disappointed in today’s decision out of the Illinois Supreme Court to expand the statute of limitations to five years for Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) claims, reversing an intermediate appellate court that put a one-year limit on claims.

This decision will have far-reaching consequences for businesses in Illinois and across the country, and will only exacerbate Cook County’s status as a “Judicial Hellhole®.”

“This decision is a setback for any businesses that operate in Illinois,” ATRA President Tiger Joyce said. “Expanding the statute of limitations for BIPA claims will only encourage more lawsuits and create an environment of legal uncertainty for businesses which will be exposed to an undue risk of litigation for an extended period of time.”

Trial lawyers have cashed in on the existing ambiguity in BIPA by targeting businesses that use this technology. They’ll often find a business that didn’t follow a small, technical portion of the law, then use that as a basis for a class action lawsuit, even though their clients didn’t suffer any harm or injury.

The large monetary penalties associated with BIPA have led to a surge in lawsuit filings under BIPA in recent years, and the expansion of the statute of limitations will only add fuel to the fire.

The climate for lawsuit abuse in Illinois is already bad, as demonstrated by the $228 million verdict delivered in the first-ever BIPA case that went to trial last year. The case was originally filed in Cook County and ended with a federal jury delivering the massive verdict, even though the plaintiffs didn’t claim any actual injury.

“The decision by the Illinois Supreme Court to expand the statute of limitations for BIPA claims will only increase the number of frivolous lawsuits and make it even harder for businesses to defend themselves,” Joyce said. “It’s time for the state to rein in these excessive penalties and put a stop to the endless cycle of lawsuit abuse that is driving up costs for consumers and businesses alike.”

In the recent annual report from the American Tort Reform Foundation, Cook County, Illinois was named the fifth-worst “Judicial Hellhole®” in the nation. The report cites the prevalence of no-injury lawsuits filed under BIPA.

  4 Comments      


Question of the day

Thursday, Feb 2, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From the Guardian

The sweet smell of green chile roasting on an open flame permeates New Mexico every fall, wafting from roadside stands and grocery store parking lots and inducing mouth-watering visions of culinary wonders.

Now one state lawmaker says it’s time for everyone to wake up and smell the chile.

Senator Bill Soules’ visit with fifth grade students in his southern district sparked a conversation about the savory hot peppers and the potential for New Mexico to become the first state in the nation to proudly have an official state aroma, a proposal now being considered by lawmakers.

“It’s very unique to our state,” the Las Cruces Democrat said of roasting chile. “I have tried to think of any other state that has a smell or aroma that is that distinctive statewide, and I can’t think of any.”

For New Mexico, chile is more than a key ingredient for every meal. It’s life. It’s at the center of the official state question – “red or green?” – and is one of the state’s official vegetables.

I hesitate to do this, but…

* The Question: Your Illinois nomination(s) for official state aroma? Make sure to explain yourself. Also, keep it clean, people. Thanks.

…Adding… A buddy ran a version of this question through ChatGPT twice today…

Suggest an official state smell for the state of Illinois and write 25 words defending the choice

“The official state smell of Illinois should be corn. Corn is an integral part of Illinois’ history and economy, as it is one of the largest producers of corn in the United States. It represents the state’s commitment to agriculture and its important role in feeding the nation. The sweet, distinct smell of corn symbolizes the abundance and prosperity of Illinois.”

Suggest an official odor for the state of Illinois and defend the choice in 25 words

“The official odor of Illinois should be the scent of blooming lilacs. Lilacs symbolize the arrival of spring and bring feelings of renewal and rejuvenation to the residents of Illinois. Their sweet fragrance represents the state’s natural beauty and the hope that comes with each new season. The scent of blooming lilacs is a reminder of the state’s rich history and enduring spirit.”

I’m partial to lilacs.

  77 Comments      


« NEWER POSTS PREVIOUS POSTS »
* Pritzker traveling to Tokyo in two days to recruit businesses
* Isabel’s afternoon roundup
* Caption contest!
* Showcasing The Retailers Who Make Illinois Work
* Pritzker on challenge to the interchange fee law, sports betting
* A walk down memory lane
* Open thread
* Uber’s Local Partnership = Stress-Free Travel For Paratransit Riders
* Isabel’s morning briefing
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition and some campaign stuff
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