Article Summary
- Many key bills discussed in the General Assembly this year failed to move forward before lawmakers adjourned on June 1.
- Bills banning Glocks, creating a prescription drug board and regulating algorithmic pricing advanced in the final days of session, but not to the governor’s desk.
- A sweeping election reform bill was also filed but didn’t get called for a vote.
- The measures are expected to continue being discussed and negotiated throughout the summer and could advance during the fall veto session or possible January lame duck session.
This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
SPRINGFIELD — While hundreds of bills are heading to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk, several key measures debated during this spring’s legislative session failed to move forward and will be put off to future months or years.
The stalled issues range from long-discussed proposals to create a prescription drug board and allow composting of human remains to bills banning Glocks or reforming election laws that surfaced in the final days of session. Though the bills didn’t move this spring, negotiations could continue throughout the summer, allowing lawmakers to move them during the November veto session or January lame duck session.
Data centers
Despite months of committee conversation and advocacy from environmental groups, a massive bill to regulate data centers. failed to advance.
House Bill 5513, or the POWER Act, would have required data centers to pay for and supply their own renewable energy, track and report how much water they use, and enter community benefits agreements in the places where they’re built.
During committee hearings, lawmakers heard about the massive demand data centers put on the electric grid, risks posed to water sources and impacts on communities.
They also heard warnings from labor unions and the data center industry that onerous regulations might lead to developers pulling their projects from Illinois, meaning communities could miss out on property and utility tax benefits.
Lawmakers said negotiations will continue over the summer.
Glock ban
Illinois did not become the fourth state legislature to pass a bill banning the firing mechanism design of Glock guns. Despite passing it through a House committee on May 20, the General Assembly did not take up House Bill 4471.
The bill would have banned the sale of any semiautomatic pistol with a cruciform trigger bar in Illinois, though current Glock owners would not be subject to any restrictions. Gun rights advocates and Republicans vigorously opposed the bill, arguing it would have no effect on public safety.
Supporters said the design could be easily modified with already illegal switches and essentially turned into a machine gun. Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Orland Park, said Chicago police have recovered 1,300 modified Glocks used in crimes. The city sued Glock two years ago, alleging the company makes guns that it knows can be easily modified with illegal switches. The lawsuit is still making its way through the courts.
Prescription drug board
A yearslong push to establish a board limiting the prices of certain prescription drugs fell short in the Senate after the House narrowly passed it May 21.
In a news conference on May 29, bill sponsors Rep. Nabeela Syed, D-Inverness, and Sen. Graciela Guzmán, D-Chicago, said they were still talking with senators, suggesting Senate Bill 3496 didn’t have the 30 votes needed to pass in the upper chamber. They confirmed it wouldn’t move forward in the final hours of session but said they will continue working on the bill.
Advocates and lawmakers of both parties had varying concerns about the bill, including accountability and oversight. But they were most concerned that while other states have taken steps to pass similar legislation, none have implemented the maximum selling price, so it’s hard for lawmakers to know what this board would do in practice —including whether it would actually create savings.
Election law changes
A late-arriving amendment to House Bill 1832 would have changed several election rules, particularly around mail voting, but it wasn’t called for a vote in either chamber.
The bill would allow Illinois election authorities to begin counting mail-in ballots seven days before Election Day rather than after polls close. It also has a provisional measure that would go into effect if the U.S. Supreme Court rules that states can’t count mail-in ballots that are received after Election Day. Such a ruling would invalidate a state law allowing ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if received up to two weeks after the election.
If the high court doesn’t indicate when a ballot is considered received, the bill would provide that definition and consider a federal ballot received when it’s in the custody of the election authority by the close of polls on Election Day.
The bill would also require clerks to establish websites to post election results and allow voters to request vote-by-mail ballots.
The State Board of Elections and county clerks would also be required to implement a statewide service for voters to track their mail-in ballots so they can see when their ballot is accepted and, if not, why it was rejected.
Algorithmic pricing
It’s becoming increasingly common for companies to alter their prices based on data stored in a consumer’s device. Lawmakers tried to ban that process, known as surveillance or algorithmic pricing, but fell short.
House Bill 4248 would’ve banned companies from using a person’s personal data — like zip code, age, income and browsing history — to create a personalized price for them. It would not apply to things like loyalty programs or any algorithms that use that data for a specific purpose like credit checks.
“They (consumers) cannot comparison-shop fairly if the price itself is changing based on hidden surveillance of their personal behavior,” bill sponsor Rep. Maura Hirschauer, D-Batavia, said at a news conference May 21. “Consumers should know that when they enter the marketplace, they are competing on equal footing, not against invisible algorithms trained on their personal lives.”
The measure originally passed 78-19 in the House and 41-16 in the Senate, but a Senate amendment did not receive a vote in the House before adjournment.
Downtown Springfield development
After a wide-ranging megaprojects bill that included plans to help redevelop downtown Springfield blew up in the Senate, Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, separated a Springfield-centric proposal into House Bill 4496. The bill would create the Capital Area Tourism Authority to facilitate economic development in downtown Springfield, including building a new hotel and expanding the Bank of Springfield convention center.
“I’ve lived in Springfield all my life, I love this city, and as much as I hate to say it, it pains me to go, or even drive, through downtown,” Turner said.
Downtown Springfield has increasingly suffered economically in recent years from numerous business closures, including the city’s largest hotel.
The bill would also allow Sangamon County to impose a 3% tax on hotel stays, which would give Springfield the second-highest combined state and local hotel tax rate in Illinois at 14% behind Chicago’s 19%.
Republicans slammed the bill for its high tax rate and said it fails to address the root causes of downtown Springfield’s economic issues.
“The reason why downtown Springfield struggles is because all the jobs that have been shifted to Chicago or to the west side of Springfield,” Sen. Jason Plummer, R-Edwardsville, said. “State government needs to reinvest in downtown Springfield.”
The bill passed the Senate shortly before midnight on Sunday and was not considered in the House. There it is sponsored by Rep. Mike Coffey, a Springfield Republican who owns a restaurant near the convention center and proposed hotel site.
Human composting
A bill allowing human composting as a burial option stalled yet again. House Bill 5425 would have established a lengthy series of regulations for composting human bodies that cemeteries, crematories and other funeral service providers would follow.
The bill has struggled to move forward in Springfield despite years of debate. But despite new changes to the proposal this year, the bill is still opposed by the Catholic Church, Cemetery and Funeral Home Association and comptroller’s office — which enforces cemetery regulations in Illinois. The latest amendment to the bill shifted sole responsibility for regulations to the comptroller rather than the Department of Public Health.
The bill passed the House 64-36 in April but was not considered by the Senate.
Abortion fund
An abortion access measure that would allow people with limited or no insurance to get financial assistance for abortion care in Illinois also failed to advance.
House Bill 5408 would take advantage of an under-used provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires insurance plans that offer coverage for abortions in instances that go beyond rape, incest and life of the mother to collect at least $1 a month from enrollees to cover the cost of abortion claims.
Federal law requires the insurers to segregate that money and use it only for abortion care, and Illinois’ bill would have allowed the state to exert greater authority over the funds and directly state how insurers should use the collected money.
It passed the House in early April with a vote of 69-36, but it didn’t get a committee hearing in the Senate.
Sexual assault in schools
Senate Bill 939 sponsored by Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, would have require students who initiate sexual assault to be expelled for at least one year and at least six months for initiating nonconsensual sexual acts. The bill would apply to incidents that happen at school, school property such as buses, and school-related events.
The bill was filed last year after an incident in Taylorville where a 10-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by a 14-year-old male student on the bus, who then chased the girl from the bus stop and raped her, according to the girl’s mother. She obtained an order of protection, and the student was removed from the school for the rest of the semester but later returned.
The bill passed the Senate in May 48-3, with two voting present, but never progressed in the House where it is only sponsored by Republicans.
Home for Good
Despite passing in the House in mid-April, legislation establishing secure, affordable housing and community services for those exiting the prison system languished in the Senate.
House Bill 624 would have provided rental assistance and established reentry housing developments to help the formerly incarcerated establish accessible housing. It would also provide reentry services and establish the Home for Good Institute, aimed at helping them access job training, health and behavioral services, transportation, food, furniture, childcare and more.
It carries an up-front cost of $50 million, a cost which bill sponsor Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, said would have been mitigated by helping these individuals reenter the community and therefore reducing rates of reoffending.
State sandwich
The Senate apparently had a beef with a bill to establish an official state sandwich. Rep. Rick Ryan, D-Evergreen Park, filed House Bill 4669 to bestow the honor on the Italian beef as the official sandwich and the horseshoe as the official open-faced sandwich.
The bill was a result of a compromise between Chicago-area lawmakers who favored the beef and Central Illinois representatives who like the horseshoe — a Springfield creation of meat on a slice of bread with cheese fries on top. Though the bill passed the House in April, the Senate had no appetite for it.
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