THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All...Pritzker administration keeping revenue options on the table...BIPA reform passes...People who shouldn't have guns
May 20, 2024
Good morning, Illinois.
Welcome to the final (scheduled) week of the spring legislative seat. Hold on to your hats.
If it isn’t a long and stressful enough week, I agreed to host the WMAY Morning Show in Springfield all week. Join me from 6-9am all week by listening online here.
I already need more coffee.
We’re going to be updating paid subscribers all week as news breaks and develops and changes. Become a paid subscriber to get all of the dirt.
The House is in at noon. The Senate is in at 4. Governor Pritzker speaks at the Illinois Law Enforcement Medal of Honor Ceremony in Springfield.
Let’s get to it.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets, because good journalism isn’t free)
With 1 week left in session, Pritzker admin says all revenue options remain on the table (Capitol News Illinois)
While the governor’s office instructed its agency directors to prepare for $800 million in potential budget cuts last week, all facets of his plan to raise $1.1 billion in revenue to avoid those cuts remain under consideration.
“The governor has said that if the legislature doesn't support one or multiple of those individual pieces of his proposal, whether that's revenue or spending, that all ideas should be welcomed,” Deputy Governor Andy Manar said.
There’s a week left before the General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn on May 24 – and two weeks left before more votes are needed to pass an immediately effective budget – but the last-minute budgeting process is nothing new. Budget negotiations in recent years have resulted in late nights and the occasional overtime session but have ultimately ended in agreement among most Democrats, who control the legislature.
“I have no doubt this will come together in the coming week or two,” Manar said. “And we will again pass now our sixth balanced budget.”
Thus far, the negotiations between the governor's office and Democratic leaders have spawned at least one likely addition to the revenue mix that could raise another $30-$50 million beyond what Gov. JB Pritzker had planned.
While other additions could be forthcoming, the ultimate revenue plan is likely to include at least some portion of Pritzker’s initial proposal if state spending is to reach the roughly $53 billion mark he proposed. His revenue plan, and the opposition to it, is summarized below.
Go read the whole thing. It’s a really good, thorough breakdown of how the Governor’s office wants to fill their budget hole.
Related: Budget negotiations continue as Illinois lawmakers enter final week of spring session (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Illinois legislature approves measure to amend state biometric privacy law (Chicago Tribune)
The Illinois House passed legislation aimed at reining in the potential for runaway damages under the state’s biometric privacy law Thursday, more than a year after the Illinois Supreme Court suggested the legislature revisit the law.
Illinois’ biometric privacy law, which the state legislature passed in 2008, requires companies to gain consent before they collect and store biometric information such as fingerprints or retina scans. It’s considered the strictest such law in the country, in part because it allows individuals to sue over alleged violations. Companies that have been caught in the law’s crosshairs include Facebook, which paid out a $650 million settlement over its facial tagging feature, and Google, which settled a case over its facial grouping tool on Google Photos for $100 million.
In February 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court suggested the legislature revisit the language of the law in a much-anticipated split opinion issued in a case involving fingerprint scanners used by employees at fast-food company White Castle.
In that case, the court ruled that damages under the law accrue each and every time a person provides their biometric information without prior informed consent. But in the majority opinion, the court acknowledged its reading of the statute opened the door to “potentially excessive” damages in Biometric Information Privacy Act cases and suggested the legislature revisit the language of the law.
The legislation passed Thursday amends the law to state that a violation of the act occurs — and damages under the law accrue — only once when an entity collects or discloses a person’s biometric information without consent, rather than every time.
Over 80,000 Illinois people banned from owning guns still keep them, report shows (Associated Press)
In Illinois, 114,000 people are banned from owning guns because of legal tangles or mental health issues — three-quarters of them haven’t surrendered their firearms, according to data from Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.
Dart is seeking $10 million from state lawmakers to tackle what he calls in naming the report “A Firearm Regulation Crisis.” The money would train and equip more door-knocking officers to retrieve or ensure the safe storage of weapons from those who have had their state Firearm Owners Identification cards rescinded.
The aim would be reducing the chance potentially volatile people would exhibit the type of violence seen when a shooter who wasn’t allowed to own a firearm carried out a massacre at Henry Pratt Co. in a Chicago suburb.
Otherwise, the menace of revocations of FOID cards from noncompliant gun owners will spiral beyond law enforcement’s control, the Democratic sheriff told The Associated Press in releasing the report in advance. Dart scheduled a news conference Thursday morning to release his findings.
Related: More than 112,000 Illinois residents have lost the right to own guns. The state doesn’t know if 84,000 still have them, sheriff says. (Chicago Tribune)
TOP STORIES LAST WEEK ON THEILLINOIZE.COM
POLITICAL POTPOURRI
State’s reliance on income taxes doubled over past 20 years (Daily Herald)
Pritzker plays coy on presidential ambitions at City Club (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Pritzker pledges to expand access to mental health care in Illinois (Capitol News Illinois)
Lawmakers move bills aimed at addressing opioid crisis (Chicago Tribune)
In written testimony, Lincoln residents urge state to reconsider relocation of Logan prison (Bloomington Pantagraph)
General Assembly passes legislation to dissolve Elk Grove fire district (Daily Herald)
Two bills protecting artists against AI have bipartisan support in Illinois (State Journal-Register)
Illinois House OKs ban on prize contests for killing coyotes, other fur-bearing mammals (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Illinois launches summer food assistance program (Capitol News Illinois)
Sen. Dick Durbin calls on Justice Alito to recuse himself amid report that his home flew a US flag upside down after Trump’s ‘Stop the Steal’ claims (Chicago Tribune)
Editorial: Karina's Bill is an important step to help protect domestic violence survivors (Chicago Sun-Times)
Opinion: Karina’s Bill a smart, but small, step toward solving a mounting FOID problem (Shaw Media)
Opinion: Why increasing funding for Early Intervention is crucial in Illinois (State Journal-Register)
Opinion: Illinois legislators should create a statewide system for public defense (Chicago Tribune)
Opinion: Mandatory driving tests for Illinois' older adults are unnecessary and unfair (Chicago Sun-Times)
Demmer: Tax credits key to filling need for affordable housing in Illinois (Shaw Media)
Opinion: This change to Illinois election law denies voters a choice on their ballots (Chicago Sun-Times)
Opinion: A new program helps Illinois farmers and hungry families — but only if we fund it (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Opinion: Next challenge for busy new Champaign County GOP chair? Rebuilding party (Champaign News-Gazette)
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