Here are just some of the stupid and/or pandering, not fully thought-through bills filed the first week of the new 104th General Assembly.
To look up any of the bills, at the home page type the bill number into the search box on the left side of the ILGA home page at this link: https://www.ilga.gov/
- SB 45 – Sen Ventura – Makes it illegal to pull a cow’s tail – NOT KIDDING!
- HB 68 – Rep. Blair- Sherlock – Price control on bottled water sold at an entertainment venue. The bill set a price of $2 for a 16 oz. bottle of water.
- PHB 1292 – Rep. Buckner – Presumed PTSD for firefighters and paramedics as it relates to Work Comp.
- SB 76 – Sen. Holmes, indemnifies government against data breaches.
- SB 13 – Sen. Lightford – Race-based higher education funding.
- SB 2 – Sen. Martwick – Changes Tier 2 Pensions into Tier 1.5, returning many of the Tier 2 changes back to Tier 1. This will massively increase the unfunded liability. Must be stopped.
- HB1027 – Rep. Cabello – panders to veterans; all of these special breaks should be income-dependent.
- HB 1045 – Rep. Cabello – restores Tier 1 Pensions for public safety personnel
- HB 1083 – Rep. Didech – Puts Gender Neutral Language in contracts with joint ownership husband/wife becomes spouses.
- HB 6 – Rep. Ford – takeover of abandoned property. If you report that property in your neighborhood is abandoned for a year, you get the property.
- HB41 – Rep. Ford – Post-conviction voting while still incarcerated.
- HB1155 – Rep. Guzzardi – University of Illinois must divest of Fossil Fuel investments.
- HB1154 – Rep. Guzzardi – Human Rights complaints can lead to massive damages for emotional distress and more.
- HB1227 – Rep. Harper, Requires each contractor that participates in a competitive bid with the State to review its records for evidence of the contractor’s or a related party’s participation in slaveholding or the slave trade and to make certain disclosures with respect to that participation.
- HB1310 – Rep. Hoffman, Adjusts Tier 2 Pensions for Firefighters.
- HB1167 – Rep. Jones – Up to $5,000 off property taxes in south suburbs.
- HB1170 – Rep. Mayfield, Use cannabis revenue for free community college.
- HB1125 – Active Duty pays no vehicle registration fees.
- HB1202 – $1,000 income tax credit for costs of recycling.
- HB1246 – 90% Pension Funding for downstate police and fire moved to 2050 from 2040. This is a kick-the-can-down-the-road move that will not solve our pension problems.
- 1000 shell bills by Speaker Welch – these are bills used after deadlines to get any legislation passed that they want.
- HB 1089 – West – 10 cent deposit on each beverage container, Prohibits the disposal of beverage containers at sanitary landfills.
- HB 1272 – Rep. West – Allow for the importation of drugs from Canada by our healthcare systems. Blago had a similar program that saved a lot of money but the courts shut it down.
Good Bills Filed So Far
- HB 60 – Rep Deluca – Prohibits taxpayer funding of any guaranteed income program.
- HB1084 – Rep. Ford – Chicago Mayor recall.
- Rep. Friess – HJRCA 3 – Parental Notice of Abortion.
- HB1129 – Rep. Meier – Ultrasound shall be offered at abortion clinics.
- HB1133 – Rep. Meier – Spending Reduction Act, no bill to create new taxes or increase existing ones can be passed until there is a budget that reduces spending. All state agencies must submit a list of budget cuts.
- HJRCA 1 – Rep. Meier – Legislative Redistricting Act – Requires Independent Commission and limits the amount counties any one district may have.
- HB1161 – Rep. Miller – No funding for higher ed that doesn’t provide sex segregated personal spaces.
- HB1164 – Rep. Miller – Must build windmills near Cook County if you build them elsewhere. LOVE IT!!
- HB1219 – Rep. Miller – if you propose taking land in another legislator’s district, then private land in your district must be taken. This is a direct hit to Rep. Guzzardi offering to give the Indian Tribe private land in the bill that passed during Lame Duck. You can read my synopsis HERE.
- HB1220 – Rep. Miller – Abortion Informed Consent.
- HR 30 – Rep. Miller – Illinois State Auditor to conduct a forensic audit of all State spending, hiring, procurement, and contracts awarded from January 1, 2022 to January 1, 2024.
- HB1217 – Rep. Niemerg – Repeal Trust Act; this ends the sanctuary state law that Rauner put in.
- HB1214 – Rep. Niemerg – Repeal all manners of sex transition under the age of 18
- HB1304 – Rep. Ugaste – Local Government Recall Act for local officials.
- HJRCA 4 – Rep. Ugaste – This would lead to making the recall of all elected officials part of our Constitution.
- HB1139 – Rep. Weaver – Parental Notice of Abortion.
Here’s an Interesting Bill
HB 1288 – Rep Ford – Convicted felons eligible for elected office. I wonder if Trump’s name will come up in debate on this bill. Ford is a Democrat and it will be interesting if he notes Trump’s bogus convictions.
The lists above are not inclusive. After I looked at the filings mid-week, many more bills were filed. Typically, in the two-year span of a General Assembly, 10,000 bills will be filed, and anywhere from 500-1,000 will become law.
So far, no bills have been filed for a hard freeze on property taxes and a big rebate on property taxes for everyone.
In fairness, many legislators have not gotten any of their bills filed yet. There can be a myriad of reasons for that. So, I will be taking another look at both good and bad bills and report back to my readers.
The filing deadline for the Introduction of both House and Senate Bills is February 7th. Requests to the Legislative Research Bureau for bill writing is January 24th.