Bill Tracking
Legislative Bill Tracking Latest Update November 4, 2019
Legislative Session News/October 30, 2019
Public Act Highlights
2019 House & Senate Session Calendars
CANNABIS REGULATION & TAX ACT White Paper
Legislation Sponsors' Summary of Legalization Law & Policy
Illinois Equal Pay Act (Public Act 101-0177)
Spring Session 2019 Legislation Summaries
Prevailing Wage UPDATE
Criminal & Traffic Assessment Act/Waiver of Courts Assessments
(Governor's Preliminary Draft of the Capital Plan Released)
(Governor Pritzker Celebrates 100 Days in Office)
(Minimum Wage Bill Signed by Governor)
Other News of Interest
United Counties Council of Illinois (UCCI) tracks legislation pending before the Illinois General Assembly that is of interest to county government. Access to currently proposed legislation being tracked is available through the reports listed below. A schedule, by date, of those pieces of legislation being tracked by UCCI that are currently set for committee hearing is provided for your review and information, as well as, a listing of all bills that have passed both chambers.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION NEWS ... October 29, 2019 Update
PUBLIC ACT HIGHLIGHTS
UCCI Tracked Legislation Recently Signed into Law
Public Act 101-0177 Illinois Equal Pay Act NOTICE
Public Act 101-0544 (SB1236) Legislation Summary
Public Act 101-0419 (SB1806) Audits
GENERAL ASSEMBLY VETO SESSION ... Lawmakers returned to Springfield for the start of the fall veto session which is scheduled for October 28-30 and November 12-14.
Legislation introduced in the 101st Illinois General Assembly that is of interest to units of local government is tracked and updated on a regular basis by UCCI. A listing of both House and Senate bills is available in the Legislative Tracking section above, as well as a schedule, by date, of UCCI tracked legislation currently set for committee hearing.
See the 2019 Session Calendars above for a complete listing of both the House and Senate Spring Session events.
SENATE 2019 Session Calendar HOUSE 2019 Session Calendar
NEW LAW PROHIBITS EMPLOYERS FROM ASKING FOR WAGE HISTORY (10-3-19)
Pursuant to Public Act 101-0177, the Illinois Equal Pay Act now bans employers and employment agencies from asking about applicants’ past wage and compensation histories.
This law became effective on September 29, 2019
Employers can be penalized for asking the applicant or the applicant’s current or former employers for wage or salary history. If they have not yet done so, employers should review their employment applications to make sure they do not ask for salary and wage history. They should also train those involved in hiring on the new law.
For more information you may contact the Illinois Department of Labor at the Equal Pay Hotline 866-372-4365.
Cannabis Regulation & Tax Act ... Public Act 101-0027 (8-28-19)
On Tuesday, June 25th, Governor Pritzker signed House Bill 1438 into law, legalizing adult-use of cannabis in Illinois effective January 1, 2020.
A white paper prepared by UCCI on Public Act 101-0027, The Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, is available for your review here.
A summary of the recreational cannabis legalization law and policy recently prepared by its legislative sponsors to provide answers to questions that have been raised by local government is available for your review at the link below.
It should be noted, during the 2019 Fall Veto Session it is anticipated and expected that lawmakers will propose various changes to the language as currently contained in Public Act 101-0027. UCCI will be closely tracking this law during the Fall Veto Session, and updates will be posted.
Following the conclusion of the Fall Veto Session, UCCI plans to schedule a seminar to review the regulations and responsibilities all counties will need to be familiar with and have in place prior to the January 1, 2020 effective date of this law.
Other details and information can be found below.
Summary of Legalization Law & Policy - Prepared by Sponsors of Legislation
June 25, 2019 Press Release - Office of the Governor
Overview of Key Elements - Excerpt from Press Release
Summary of House Bill 1438 - Detailed Fact Sheet referred to in Press Release
Senate Bill 2023, a related bill which includes the tax rate counties can impose for cannabis sales, was sent to the Governor on June 12th. The bill was signed into law by Governor Pritzker on August 9, 2019. Public Act 101-0363.
Prevailing Wage UPDATE (5-23-19)
Amendments to the Illinois Prevailing Wage Act made by Public Act 100-1177 become effective on June 1, 2019. Some of the changes to the Act can be found in this May 23, 2019 Prevailing Wage Update prepared by UCCI Legal Counsel.
All prevailing wage information can be found on the Illinois Department of Labor’s website. https://www2.illinois.gov/idol/Laws-Rules/CONMED/Pages/prevailing-wage-act.aspx.
You will note on the Department of Labor's website, how they post the prevailing wage rates has changed from fixed text on a page to an interactive table.
Criminal & Traffic Assessment Act/Waiver of Courts Assessments (5-24-19)
A subsidiary body of the Supreme Court's Access to Justice Commission has drafted forms relating to the waiver of courts assessments (the new terminology for fines and fees that flow to the units of local government, law enforcement agencies, and other public bodies/officials). These assessments arise under the Criminal and Traffic Assessment Act (705 ILCS 135/) and the process for seeking waiver in a criminal matter can be found in Section 124A-20 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (725 ILCS 5/124A-20), of which the pertinent parts go into effect on July 1.
The draft proposed order for a judge to grant or deny a waiver can be found here:
http://www.illinoiscourts.gov/Forms/drafts/fee%20waiver/FeeWaiverOrderv1D4FinalforPublicComment.pdf
You may find this useful to see under what types of circumstances a judge may decide to grant a waiver and how easy or difficult the forms makes either decision.
2019 SPRING SESSION 101st Illinois General Assembly
Review UCCI Legislation Summaries from Close of 101st General Assembly Spring Session here.
Legislative Highlights
'Historic' Spring Session ... Get the 'End of Session Highlights' here.
SUCCESSFUL END TO LEGISLATIVE SESSION FOR GOVERNOR ... Read more at this link.
Minimum Wage Bill (SB1) Signed by Governor .. Public Act 101-0001
Senate Bill 1, which increases the minimum wage across the State of Illinois to $15 per hour by 2025, sent to the Governor's desk just last Friday, was signed into law by Governor Pritzker on Tuesday, one day before he delivers his Budget Address scheduled at noon on February 20th.
Illinois law now provides that the minimum wage will increase gradually to $15 by 2025, with the first increase from $8.25 to $9.25 going into effect on January 1, 2020. On July 1, 2020, the minimum wage will increase to $10.00, followed by one-dollar increases on January 1st each year until it hits $15 in 2025.
Illinois now joins New Jersey, California, New York, Massachusetts and Washington D.C. in phasing in a $15.00 minimum wage.
Illinois Noxious Weed Law
A topic of discussion at the January 28, 2019 UCCI Membership meeting was the Illinois Noxious Weed Law, Administrative Provisions and Forms. As a follow-up to that discussion, we are pleased to provide for your review the following references/information:
SCOTUS Rules Against Unions ... Janus vs AFSCME Council 31
On June 27th, in a 5-4 ruling, the United States Supreme Court dealt a major blow to labor unions. In a landmark decision, the high court ruled that non-members cannot be forced, in certain states, to pay fees to unions representing public employees.
The case, challenging the constitutionality of fair share union fees, was brought by Illinois state worker Mark Janus. Plaintiff argued, and the Court agreed, that forcing workers to subsidize unions through mandatory fees violated government workers' First Amendment rights to freedom of speech.
Government workers will now be able to choose whether they want to financially support their unions.
Anticipated FOIA requests due to SCOTUS decision ... UCCI has recently received reports from membership that outside entities, separate and apart from their respective counties, have provided input on the handling of FOIA requests that are anticipated in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Janus versus AFSCME Council 31.
In order to help membership comply with the requirements of this anticipated FOIA request, or any FOIA request, UCCI would like to provide the following general principles of FOIA.
CLICK HERE for Brief Refresher on FOIA Requirements.
ACCESS TO MEMBER LEGISLATIVE SERVICES