November 30, 2018 Update

The Illinois General Assembly concluded its second week of the two-week Veto Session. The General Assembly remains adjourned until January 7th. The 100th General Assembly is scheduled to be in session for two days to conclude its work before the 101st General Assembly takes office at noon on January 9th.The General Assembly had 73 vetoes (46 total vetoes/27 amendatory vetoes) pending during the Fall Veto Session. Of those, the Legislature overrode 13 amendatory vetoes, 16 total vetoes and accepted 1 amendatory veto.Failed Veto Override Attempts:The following veto overrides were debated this week and failed to garner enough votes for passage.SB2332 (Morrison/Lilly) which would raise the legal age to buy tobacco, including electronic cigarettes and vaping devices, in the state from 18 to 21. The House fell short of overriding this veto by a vote of 62-45.SB2376 (Harris/Ford) which creates the Cook County Water Infrastructure Fund as a special fund in the State treasury. The Fund will be used by the Environmental Protection Agency to make grants to municipalities to fund infrastructure improvements to facilitate water supplies from Lake Michigan for residents of Cook County. The vote fell three votes short in the House.HB5481 (Guzzardi/Acquino) fell short by two votes in the Illinois House. HB 5481 addresses goals for K- 12 class sizes.SB65 (Hastings/Williams) which allows for the bifurcation of title insurance. The House fell short of overriding this veto by a vote of 65-39-5.HB1262 (Currie/Bertino-Tarrant) which requires school waiver requests to come before the General Assembly if the waiver could result in a property tax increase. The Senate voted twice on the measure and fell one vote short both times.HB5175 (Hoffman/Cunningham) which prevents a charter school from appealing to the Charter’s School Commission a denial or revocation by a local school board. The Senate fell short of overriding this veto by a vote of 31-14.Amendatory Vetoes acceptHB5177 (K. Burke/Cunningham) which deals with establishing credit in the Chicago Pension Fund. Both chambers voted to accept this amendatory veto and it now becomes law.Legislation Overridden in both chambers:The following vetoes have been overridden by both chambers and will now become law, the veto of the Governor notwithstanding.SB34 (J. Cullerton/Hernandez) which creates the Voices Act dealing with immigrant crime-victim visas.SB427 (Raoul/Currie) which extends from 2 to 3 the number of terms a person may serve on the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority Board.SB904 (Hastings/Hoffman) which makes changes to the medical billing rules under the worker’s compensation system. Two trailer bills were passed addressing worker’s compensation. They are highlighted below.SB1737 (Munoz/Unes) which is the omnibus insurance legislation passed last Spring.SB1830 (Hastings/Turner) which deals with informant testimony.SB2297 (Hutchinson/Reick) which provides that rescue squads can levy a special tax to provide for ambulance service.SB2345 (Lightford/Currie) which provides that a school report card shall include the most current data possessed by the State Board of Education relating to whether or not a school has participated in the Illinois Youth Survey.SB2407 (Clayborne/Hoffman) which amends the Child Death Review Act to allow certain professionals to review child deaths.SB2589 (Harris/Davis) which deals with the Midlothian Park District.SB2419 (Martinez/Burke) which addresses surgical assistant certifications.SB2481 (Hastings/Riley) which increases the cap from $100,000 to $2 million on tort awards issued with the court of claims. The measure allows relief for the victims of the Legionnaires outbreak at the Quincy Veterans Home among others.SB2619 (Anderson/Willis) which requires paid fire departments to hire Chiefs with certain fire related qualifications.SB2629 (T. Cullerton/Willis) which provides that a member of the board of trustees of a fire protection district may satisfy the training requirements of the Open Meetings Act by participating in a course of training sponsored or conducted by an organization that represents fire protection districts.SB2662 (Murphy/Mussman) which creates the Task Force on Human Services Contracting Act.SB3041 (Holmes/Moeller) which expands the County Care for Persons with Developmental Disabilities Act to municipalities and townships.SB3136 (J. Cullerton/Currie) which allows employers to use discretion regarding termination of state troopers or corrections officers who are found to have used cannabis.HB126 (Willis/Holmes). The legislation gives 58 full-time paramedics in 6 units of local government the same rights as firefighters under the Public Labor Relations Act.HB127 (Willis/Holmes) which protects paramedics under the Public Safety Benefit Act if they are catastrophically injured in the line of duty.HB3418 (Harper/Hunter) which allows counties and municipalities to create Urban Agricultural Zones.HB4282 (K. Burke/Cunningham) which prohibits the disconnection of private property from a municipality if the property is located within a TIF district.HB4284 (Chapa LaVia/Bertino-Tarrant) which requires 3 of the 9 members of the Illinois State Board of Education to be from the educator community.HB4514 (Olsen/Connelly) which provides that only persons licensed and endorsed as a school counselor under the Code may use the title “school counselor”.HB4645 (Davis/Harris) which extends for 10 years the sunset date for the certificate of need process for the Health Facilities Services Review Board.HB4657 (Manley/Sims) which creates the Emotional Intelligence Education Task Force to develop curriculum guidelines on emotional intelligence.HB4743 (Ford/Lightford) which amends the Equal Pay Act to prohibit employers from discriminating in wages for African Americans from other employees in similar jobs.HB4771 (Hammond/Mulroe) which is designed to eliminate the backlog of Medicaid expedited long-term care eligibility determinations.HB5195 (Greenwood/Clayborne) which addresses Safe Passage to Schools in high crime areas.HB5221 (Willis/Holmes) which puts paramedics under the Public Employee Disability Act.HB5342 (Martwick/Mulroe) which allows firefighters who are elected to office and are members of the Fireman’s Annuity Benefit Fund of Chicago to continue with the Fund.Additional Legislation:The House approved two worker’s compensation trailer bills this week. HB3452 (Soto/Hastings) limits the ability to go to circuit court only for collection of the 1% interest and HB200(Hoffman/Hastings) clarifies that the explanation of benefits that is required to go to the medical provider and the injured worker. Both bills now head to the Governor’s desk.The Senate Executive Committee voted to concur with the House amendments on SB 482 (Zalewski/J. Cullerton) which deals with sales tax on jet fuel and how the taxes may be used. The concurrence motion is now pending before the full Senate.The General Assembly approved legislation, HB4637(Link/McSweeney), that allows road district dissolution by referendum in Lake and McHenry counties. The sponsor indicated that this applies to 5 road districts in Lake and McHenry. The bill now heads to the Governor’s desk.The General Assembly approved SB1469 (Steans/Harris) which reflects negotiations with stakeholders to make some corrections related to the hospital assessment previously passed. The bill corrects errors that resulted in decreases to rural critical access hospitals, makes corrections to the hospital assessment, extends rates for psychiatric hospitals, makes changes to the SMRF Act, extends and sunsets the Hospital Transformation Committee and provides for a 5-year sales tax exemption for not-for-profit hospitals. A procedural hold has been placed on the bill in the Senate. Once removed, the bill will head to the Governor’s desk.The General Assembly approved legislation, SB3051(Clayborne/Hoffman), which allows municipalities to sell their water systems. The bill now heads to the Governor’s desk.The General Assembly approved legislation, SB849(McGuire/Zalewski), to extend by two years the sunset to prohibit home rule units from taxing sources of electric generation. The bill now goes to the Governor’s desk.Other News:Republican Senator Chris Nybo, who lost his re-election bid to his Democratic opponent Suzy Glowiak, resigned at the end of the first week of veto session. Nybo is temporarily being replaced by Republican Milton Township Trustee Nick Nathwani. Glowiak will be sworn in January 9th.The ballots in three undecided races are now counted. Democrat Mary Edly Allen defeated appointed Republican Representative Helene Miller Walsh. Republican Representative Tom Morrison barley survived a tight race winning by 37 votes over Democratic challenger Maggie Trevor. And in the Senate, Democratic challenger Mary Ellman defeated incumbent Republican Senator Michael Connelly.With November ballots counted, the House of Representatives will contain 74 Democrats and 44 Republicans in the 101st General Assembly while the Senate will contain 40 Democrats and 19 Republicans. The Democratic House supermajority represents the most Democratic House members since Speaker Madigan assumed leadership over the chamber in 1982. The Democratic supermajority in the Senate ties with the year 2012 for the greatest number of Democratic Senators. The Senate will contain 20 women, the most in the state’s history. The Illinois House has a net loss of 3 women from the current General Assembly.The Illinois House is forming a “Progressive Caucus” for the 101st General Assembly. According to Representative Guzzardi, “the members of the caucus will determine what’s progressive and what they want to push forward, but he cited popular support for issues like a hike in the minimum wage and a graduated income tax, as reflected in a statewide poll released last month with the launch of the Forward Illinois umbrella group of progressive organizations.”Democratic Comptroller Susan Mendoza, who earlier this month won her re-election bid, officially filed petitions to run for Mayor of Chicago. She joins a crowded field of 21 candidates seeking the chance to replace Chicago Mayor Emmanuel.Governor Elect JB Pritzker announced the formation of additional transition committees. The 25-member Committee on Quality, Equity and Opportunity will be chaired by Access Living President and CEO Marca Bristo, Casa Central interim President and CEO Marty Castro, and Pride Action Tank Executive Director Kim Hunt and consist of 25 members. The Committee on Equality, Equity, and Opportunity will tackle civil rights issues and work to ensure Illinois can protect children and families from policies from the federal government.The Educational Success Committee will be chaired by Senator Andy Manar, Representative Emanuel “Chris” Welch, Chicago Public Schools CEO Dr. Janice Jackson, and Illinois Education Association President Kathi Griffin and consist of 35 members.The Powering Illinois’ Future Committee will be chaired by Illinois Environmental Council Executive Director Jennifer Walling, Exelon Utilities CEO Anne Pramaggiore, and IBEW Local 51 Business Manager John Johnson and consist of 30 members. In announcing the committee’s formation, Lt. Governor elect Stratton indicated investing in infrastructure will be a top priority in the new administration. Stratton believes this committee will bring both advocacy and industry stakeholders together to put our state on a path toward mutually agreed upon projects that move us toward a clean energy economy.Key Session Dates:January 7th/8th – Lame Duck 100thJanuary 9th -101st General Assembly InaugurationJanuary 14th – Executive Branch InaugurationFebruary 1 – DEADLINE – Senate and House LRB RequestsFebruary 15 – DEADLINE – Introduction of Substantive Senate and House BillsFebruary 20 – Governor’s Budget AddressFebruary 26 – Consolidated Primary ElectionMarch 22 – DEADLINE – Substantive Senate Bills out of Senate CommitteeMarch 29 – DEADLINE – Substantive House Bills out of House CommitteeApril 2 – Consolidated ElectionApril 12 – DEADLINE – Third Reading Substantive Senate Bills and Substantive House BillsMay 10 – DEADLINE – Substantive Bills out of Committee in 2nd chamberMay 24 – DEADLINE – Third Reading Substantive Bills in 2nd chamberMay 31 – ADJOURNMENTThe Spring 2019 General Assmebly Calendars were released. Here is a link to the Senate Calendar, and here is a link to the House Calendar.