Governor’s Highlights:
Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation, HB0961 (Crespo/Ellman), accelerating the multi-year senior homestead exemption in Cook County.
Illinois Department of Agriculture Director John Sullivan resigned over the weekend. He is being replaced by Acting Director Jeremy Flynn who was serving as the agency’s Chief of Staff.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation announced one more “Same Site” adult use cannabis license, which will allow an existing medical cannabis dispensary to obtain an adult use dispensing license. In addition, the Department announced the second “Secondary Site” adult use cannabis license, which will allow an existing medical cannabis dispensary to obtain an adult use dispensing organization license within a limited geographic area. These recent approvals raise the total number of approved adult use cannabis dispensary licenses to 48.
The medical dispensaries that received early approval adult use licenses are:
Rise – Quincy
**Adult Use Only; Secondary Site**
2703 Broadway St.
Quincy, IL 62301
The Green Solution
2021 Goose Lake Road
Sauget, IL 62206
The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority announced areas across Illinois that are eligible for Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) Program grant funding. The R3 program was established as part of the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act as part of the overall social equity focus work to invest in communities that were disproportionately damaged by the war on drugs. Areas designated as R3 program areas are here.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Division of Banking issued a permit to organize a state-chartered bank to FWBank, which will do business as First Women’s Bank. This is the first permit to organize issued by the IDFPR since 2007.
Gov. Pritzker made the following appointments:
- John Herrmann will continue to serve on the Illinois State Board of Health.
- Charles Knell will serve on the Workers’ Compensation Advisory Board.
- Tanya Triche Dawood will serve on the Workers’ Compensation Medical Fee Advisory Board.
101st General Assembly Highlights:
Edgar Gonzalez, Jr., a community activist, organizer and constituent services staffer for Congressman Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, was appointed to replace State Rep. Celina Villaneuva who was appointed last week to replace Sen. Marty Sandoval.
Sen. Castro is sponsoring legislation (SB2456) initiated by Comptroller Susana Mendoza to change Illinois law regarding how lawmakers’ pay is calculated when they resign and/or are appointed to office. Under current law, members of the General Assembly are paid for the entire month regardless of when their resignation was effective or what date they were appointed. Under the proposal, lawmakers would be paid on a prorated basis meaning they would be paid for actual days in office and not for the entire month. SB 2456 heads to the SenateAssignments Committee.
The Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform held its second hearing this week. The hearing focused on lobbyist registration. More information on the Commission and its hearings is here. House Republicans announced their own property tax reform ideas this week. Republicans in both chambers are dissatisfied with the draft ideas and report prepared by the Property Tax Relief Task Force. House Republican ideas include:
- Providing mandate relief to school districts to help them make their own spending choices and control their costs;
- Expanding property tax relief for seniors; and
- Allowing greater consolidation of units of local government so resources can be shared.
coming up:
The Illinois Senate is scheduled to convene on Sunday, Jan. 19th at noon to formally elect a new Senate President. Senate Democrats will caucus at 11am Sunday to choose their candidate for Senate President and the full chamber will convene afterwards to finalize the selection.
The 101st General Assembly will reconvene for the 2020 Spring Legislative Session on Tuesday, Jan. 28th, 2020.
Friday, Jan. 24th is the House deadline to submit legislation to the Legislative Reference Bureau for drafting of house bills for the spring session.