Clark Kaericher | Vice President of Government Affairs | 618-806-1501

Next week is the deadline to get bills out of committee (or get an extension).  Expect long days and nights under the dome.  A U of I basketball player overdosed on caffeine last week, many of us will test whether that’s possible next week.  

Awful Rideshare Bill Advances from House Judiciary 

HB 2231 (Gong-Gershowitz) misapplies the “common carrier” doctrine to rideshare companies, like Uber and Lyft. Normally, I’d start here with the importance of rideshare to the state and its economy, but I’m going to assume Tech Council members understand that portion and skip to the troubling aspects of the bill.  

HB 2231 modifies an act that has served as a national model since its inception a decade ago.  This bill would make Illinois an outlier, out of step with every state legislature that has considered this issue. Misapplying common carrier standards, which would open Uber and Lyft to a brand new cottage lawsuit industry, would skyrocket insurance costs and, therefore, prices to end users.  

The proponents argued for public safety, but common sense tells us that any public safety events this would help would be dwarfed by the harm of the increased number of drunken driving incidents when rideshare becomes unaffordable to a wide swath of the state.  

The bill was opposed by chambers of commerce, tech industry groups and the insurance industry.  It was supported by the trail lawyers bar, which eyes a future cash cow. I testified against this bill in House Judiciary Committee Wednesday morning.  Sadly, the bill passed out of committee on a partisan roll call of 10-5.  It now heads to the House floor.  

This Week’s Committee Recap 

Only the House was in session this week.  

House Elementary Ed, with the tech training bill, was canceled this week.  It was reposted for next week (see below).  

House Judiciary met Wednesday morning.  We already discussed the passage of HB 2231 (above).  HB 1230 (BIPA healthcare exception) and HB 2123 (digital forgeries act) were both held.  

HB 1122 (Guzzardi) was held in committee as well.  We are awaiting a second amendment that incorporates all of the Chamber member feedback we received, which will take our position to neutral.  

Chamber Day Information. Sponsors Wanted.

We still have a few sponsorship slots available. Chamber Day is a great way to get in front of lawmakers and meet local business leaders. The Chamber is grateful to all our sponsors- We can’t do what we do without your support. Sponsorship information can be found HERE  

Please remember to register for Chamber Day on April 18th. We have confirmed all four legislative leaders will be on hand to give their thoughts on this session and answer a few questions from those present. Registration information is here:

Register Today - Chamber Day 2023

When: Tuesday, April 18, 2023 from 9:30 AM to 1:00 PM CDT

Where: President Abraham Lincoln A Double Tree by Hilton

701 East Adams Street

Springfield, IL 62701

Register Here

Posted for Next Week 

Senate Judiciary Tuesday 1:30 

SB 40 (Feignholtz) - Creates the Electric Vehicle Charging Act. Provides that the Act applies to new single-family homes and newly constructed or renovated multi-unit residential buildings that have parking spaces and are constructed or renovated after the effective date of the Act. Provides that a new single-family residence or a small multifamily residence shall have at least one electric vehicle capable parking space for each residential unit that has dedicated parking, unless any subsequently adopted building code requires additional electric vehicle capable parking spaces or installed electric vehicle supply equipment. Includes electric vehicle parking space requirements for a new, large multifamily residential building or a large multifamily residential building being renovated by a developer converting the property to an association. Includes electric vehicle parking space requirements for affordable housing and for an existing multi-unit residential building subject to an association that undertakes renovation. Includes electric vehicle charging station policies for unit owners and for renters. 

SB 328 (Glowiak Hilton) – Automatic Contract Renewals. Provides that the clear and conspicuous disclosure of an automatic renewal clause displayed during the contract formation process must require the consumer to affirmatively consent to the renewal terms. Provides for additional notice requirements concerning contracts that automatically renew for a specified term of more than one month unless the consumer cancels the contract. Provides for additional notice requirements concerning contracts that allow the consumer to accept a free gift or trial as part of an automatic renewal offer before the consumer makes any payment, or where such contract entitles the consumer to an introductory reduced, promotional, or discounted rate before the customer begins paying the full rate. Provides that a person, firm, partnership, association, or corporation that allows consumers to accept an automatic renewal or continuous service offer online shall allow a consumer to terminate the automatic renewal or continuous service exclusively online, at will, and without engaging any further steps that obstruct or delay the consumer's ability to terminate the automatic renewal or continuous service immediately. 

House Consumer Protection Committee Tuesday 4 pm  

HB 3305 (Davidsmeyer) – Domain Name Grace Period. Provides that a person who hosts or registers an Internet domain name to a person located in this State shall not sell or lease the Internet domain name to another person for a period of 5 years after the buyer or lessee ends his or her ownership or lease of the Internet domain name. Provides that a buyer or lessee who ends his or her ownership or lease agreement shall have the right to repurchase or renew the lease for the Internet domain name during the 5-year period for the cost the buyer or lessee would have owed to the host or registrar if the ownership or lease agreement had not ended. Provides that any person who violates these provisions commits an unlawful practice within the meaning of the Act. 

HB 3478 (Hanson) – Automatic Contract Renewal- not the same as SB 328. Provides for additional violations, notification, and cancellation requirements for a person, firm, partnership, association, or corporation that makes an automatic renewal offer or continuous service offer to a consumer. Provides that a person, firm, partnership, association, or corporation that makes an automatic renewal offer or continuous service offer shall provide a toll-free telephone number, email address, a postal address if the seller directly bills the consumer, or it shall provide another cost-effective, timely, and easy-to-use mechanism for cancellation. 

HB 3593 (Mussman) – Right to Repair for electronics  

HB 3601 (Mussman) – Education Technology Right to Repair 

HB 3602 (Mussman) – Wheelchair Right to Repair 

House Elementary & Secondary Education Wednesday 8 am 

HB 1631 (Didech) – Creates a grant program for computer science educational professional development.  I’m leaning towards supporting this bill if any of the membership likes the idea.  

House Judiciary Committee Wednesday 8 am  

HB 1230 (Jones) – BIPA Healthcare exemption. The Chamber supports.  

HB 2252 (Ugaste) – Broad BIPA Reform.  The Chamber supports. 

HB 2259 (Ugaste) – BIPA Security Purpose. Chamber initiative.   

HB 3098 (Rashid) – App Store Bill.  Provides that a provider of a digital application distribution platform for which cumulative downloads of software applications from the digital application distribution platform to Illinois users exceed 1,000,000 downloads in the previous or current calendar year may not: (i) require a software application developer that is domiciled in the State to use a particular in-application payment system as a mode of accepting payments from a user for software application downloads or digital purchases; (ii) require use of a particular in-application payment system as a mode of accepting payments from Illinois users to download a software application or purchase a digital or physical product or service through a software application; (iii) retaliate against a developer that is domiciled in the State or an Illinois user for using an in-application payment system or digital application distribution platform that is not owned by, operated by, or affiliated with the provider; or (iv) discriminate against any developer on account of the developer using a third-party payment system to process payments for in-application payments. Chamber opposes.  

HB 3199 (Keicher) – Broad BIPA reform bill.  The Chamber supports.  

HB 3204 (McCombie) – BIPA one year statute of limitations. The Chamber supports.  

HB 3285 (Kifowit) - Creates the Artificial Intelligence Consent Act. Provides that if a person creates an image or video that uses artificial intelligence to mimic or replicate another person's voice or likeness in a manner that would otherwise deceive an average viewer, and displays the content for public viewing, the creator must provide a disclosure on the bottom of the image or video that the image or video is not authentic and does not reflect the original voice or likeness of the person being depicted, unless the person whose voice or likeness is being depicted consents to its use. Provides that a person aggrieved by a violation of the Act shall have a right of action against an offending party. 

HB 3603 (A. Williams) - Amends the Protect Health Data Privacy Act. Provides that a regulated entity shall disclose and maintain a health data privacy policy that, in plain language, clearly and conspicuously disclosures specified information. Provides that a regulated entity shall prominently publish its health data privacy policy on its website homepage. Provides that a regulated entity shall not collect, share, sell, or store categories of health data not disclosed in the health data privacy policy without first disclosing the categories of health data and obtaining the consumer's consent prior to the collection, sharing, selling, or storing of such data. Prohibits the collection, sharing, selling, or storing of health data. Describes the regulated entity's duty to obtain consent; the consumer's right to withdraw consent; prohibitions on discrimination; prohibitions on geofencing; a private right of action; enforcement by the Attorney General; and conflicts with other laws. The Chamber opposes.    

Autonomous Vehicles Update

The AV coalition met with the Governor’s legislative staff this week to discuss our concerns with the four autonomous vehicle bills that have been introduced.  We shared our concern with measures that inhibit an industry as it tries to get off the ground and before the technology is ripe for regulation.  The Governor’s staff expressed a desire to make Illinois an AV leader and to slow any measure that presents a threat to innovation and economic development.  

Both AV bills were held in committee this week.  

Illinois Chamber BIPA Webinar- Free to Tech Council Members 

I encourage you to register for our upcoming BIPA Webinar on March 14th from 1:30 to 3.  We have a great panel, you can get CLE or other continuing education requirements and Tech Council members can attend for free.  Contact Kirsten McDevitt at kmcdevitt@ilchamber.org.  More information: HERE  

Articles of Interest  

Introducing Instacart Business: Taking Care of Business So You Can Take Care of Yours 

Tech training center to open in Greater Grand Crossing 

Court rulings supercharge Illinois' strongest-in-nation biometric privacy law 

Lightfoot is out, Vallas and Johnson are in — the April runoff 

Joe Cahill: Chicago makes space for biotech 

‘Take It Down’ Tool Helps Young People Remove Explicit Online Images 

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