February 26, 2007

Welcome to the NFIB/Illinois’ Capitol Roundup. Capitol Roundup is an e-mail newsletter on news being made at the Illinois Statehouse and on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C, as it happens. This e-mail is provided to our activist members who have shown an interest in promoting the voice of small business to state and federal policymakers. Capitol Roundup will appear regularly during legislative sessions.

Last week the House and Senate met and held legislative committee hearings. Bills continue to be introduced. Some of the new legislation NFIB/Illinois is tracking is listed below with regards to prevailing wage, health care and independent contractor. For more information on any of the bills listed below, go to http://www.ilga.gov/ which is the official website of the Illinois General Assembly. To track bills you find on this Capitol Roundup, you can visit www.nfib.com/il.

This week the House is holding a Committee of the Whole, a rare form of committee where all members participate on the floor of the House, to deal with the electricity rate issue. As well, this week will be filled with committee action in both chambers.

Governor Blagojevich will be giving his budget address on March 7. It is expected that he will call for a 1% Gross Receipts Tax. NFIB is adamantly opposed to such a tax, with 97% of our members voting “NO” on our recent ballot. Other ballot results include:

1. Should the Illinois General Assembly extend the electric-rate freeze?

Yes 36% No 49% Undecided 15%

2. Should the Illinois General Assembly require the electric-utility companies to phase in their rate hikes over a few years?

Yes 75% No 18% Undecided 8%

3. If you said yes, should the utility companies be able to charge consumers interest during the phase-in?

Yes 6% No 89% Undecided 5%

4. Should employers in Illinois be assessed a percentage of their payroll if they currently do not offer health insurance to their employees (or they currently do not spend enough on health insurance for their employees) with the assessment being used to offset costs for a health-insurance program for the working uninsured?

Yes 7% No 89% Undecided 4%

5. Should employers in Illinois be required to offer, but not pay for, health insurance to their employees?

Yes 18% No 71% Undecided 11%

6. Should Illinois pass a gross-receipts tax?

Yes 5% No 95% Undecided 4%

NEW LEGISLATION INTRODUCED

Prevailing Wage

HB 1298 Rep. Patrick Verschoore (D-Milan)

Amends the Prevailing Wage Act. Provides that "public works" includes any construction, demolition, remediation, or renovation that requires a permit issued by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency with an aggregate amount of work in excess of $250,000. Effective immediately

Status: Labor Committee NFIB Position: Oppose

HB 1854 Rep. Dave Winters (R-Shirland)

Amends the Prevailing Wage Act. Provides that a public body or entity covered by the Act that contracts for work with a contractor or subcontractor without a public bid or project specification shall provide the contractor or subcontractor with a prevailing wage notice on the project on the purchase order or on a separate document. Provides that, if the Department of Labor determines that a violation of the Act has occurred, the Department shall determine whether a proper notice was given to the contractor, and, if a notice was not given, shall order the public body to pay back wages, interest, penalties, or fines owed by the contractor to its employees. Provides that a contractor is not in violation if a notice is not given to the contractor. Provides that the failure to provide a notice does not diminish the obligation of a contractor to pay the prevailing wage. Provides that a contractor who has awarded work to a subcontractor without a contract or a contract specification may provide a lower tiered subcontractor with a written prevailing wage notice. Provides that a contractor with a business location where workers regularly visit may, instead of posting a prevailing wage notice on a job site, post at that business or give a written notice to those workers. Provides that information made available under a Freedom of Information Act request regarding certified payrolls shall be used only to enforce the Act prohibits misuse of the information. Sets forth criminal and civil penalties. Provides for handling of complaints. Makes other changes.

Status: Rules Committee NFIB Position: Support

HB 1855 Rep. Dave Winters (R-Shirland)

Amends the Prevailing Wage Act. Provides that an employee may not use, possess, attempt to possess, distribute, deliver, or be under the influence of cannabis or a controlled substance, or use or be under the influence of alcohol, while performing work on a project covered by the Act. Requires an employer to have a substance abuse prevention program in place with specified elements. Provides for discipline of employees upon reasonable suspicion that the employee is in the possession of or under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Contains provisions regarding: drug and alcohol testing; presence of employees on job sites; employees commencing or returning to work under specified circumstances; rehabilitation programs; applicability; and other matters. Effective January 1, 2008.

Status: Rules Committee NFIB Position: Support

HB 1948 Rep. Brandon Phelps (D-Norris City)

Amends the Prevailing Wage Act. In the definition of "public works", includes fixed works "paid for wholly or in part out of public funds or anything of value" (instead of "paid for wholly or in part out of public funds or anything of value").

Status: Rules Committee

Health Care

HB 1324 Rep. Mary Flowers (D-Chicago)

Amends the Illinois Insurance Code. Adds drug dependency to the definition of "serious mental illness". Provides that a group health benefit plan is not required to provide coverage for the treatment of an addiction to a controlled substance or a mental illness resulting from the use of a controlled substance (now, an addiction to a controlled substance or a mental illness resulting from the use of a controlled substance used in violation of law).

Status: Insurance Committee NFIB Position: Oppose

HB 1432 Rep. Fred Crespo (D-Hoffman Estates)

Amends the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971, the Counties Code, the Illinois Municipal Code, the School Code, the Illinois Insurance Code, the Health Maintenance Organization Act, and the Voluntary Health Services Plan Act to provide coverage for eating disorder treatments.

Status: Rules Committee NFIB Position: Oppose

HB 1560 Rep. Kathleen Ryg (D-Vernon Hills)

Amends the Illinois Insurance Code, the Health Maintenance Organization Act, the Limited Health Services Organization Act, and the Voluntary Health Services Plans Act to require coverage for (1) prescription enteral and oral formulas for home use for which a physician has issued a written order and that are medically necessary for the treatment or management of phenylketonuria or other inherited diseases involving amino acids or other organic acids; (2) up to $2,500 per year worth of food products modified to be low in protein for which a physician has issued a written order and that are medically necessary for the management of phenylketonuria or other inherited diseases involving amino acids or other organic acids; and (3) nonprescription amino acid based elemental formulas, regardless of delivery method, that are medically necessary for the management of phenylketonuria or other inherited diseases involving amino acids or other organic acids. Effective immediately.

Status: Rules Committee NFIB Position: Oppose

Utilities

HB 1383 Rep. William Black (R-Danville)

HB 1750 Rep. George Scully, Jr. (D-Flossmoor)

SB 70 Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago)

Amends the Electric Service Customer Choice and Rate Relief Law of 1997 in the Public Utilities Act. Changes the definition of "mandatory transition period" to include the period from the effective date of the amendatory Act through January 1, 2008 for residents with all electric residential service offered in the service areas of all electric utilities that, on December 31, 2005, served at least 100,000 customers. Requires the Commission to order certain utilities to file and implement tariffs to reinstate all residential rates paid by the electric utilities' residential customers with all electric residences on December 31, 2006 within 10 days after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Prohibits the Commission from taking certain actions prior to 2008 with respect to (i) initiating, authorizing, or ordering any change by way of increase or (ii) in approving an application for a merger, imposing a condition requiring any filing for an increase, decrease, or change in or other review of a utility's rates or enforcing such a condition. Provides that the Commission shall only declare the class of service to be competitive according to certain criteria (now, the Commission is required to declare the service to be competitive if the service or a reasonably equivalent substitute is available at a reasonable price from other providers other than the utility or an affiliate and the utility has lost or is reasonably likely to lose business for service to other providers). Makes other changes. Effective immediately.

Status HB 1383: Rules Committee

Status HB 1750: Electric Utility Oversight Committee

Status SB 70: Rules Committee

Paid Family Leave Issues

HB 1683 Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston)

Creates the Family Leave Insurance Program Act. Establishes a Family Leave Insurance Program, administered by the Department of Employment Security, to provide paid leave to an employee who is unavailable to work: because the employee has to care for a newborn child or a newly-placed adopted or foster child; because the employee has to care for a family member (a child, spouse, parent, or parent-in-law of the employee or a person with whom the employee has resided in the same household for 6 months or longer) who has a serious health condition; or because of the employee's own serious health condition. Contains provisions regarding: applications and qualifications for benefits, certification by a healthcare provider of the need for leave; confidentiality; notices of intention to take leave; disqualification from benefits; duration of benefits; determination of benefit amounts; deductions from benefits; relationship of the Program to other benefits, programs, and contracts; rights of employees; opting out of participation in the Program; elective coverage under the Program; recordkeeping; successor employers; creation of a FLIP Account in the custody of the State Treasurer; payments by employers and employees; limits on expenditures; adoption of rules; taxation of benefits; discrimination; required postings regarding the Act and information pertaining to the filing of a charge; severability; and other matters. Effective January 1, 2008.

Status: Rules Committee NFIB Position: Oppose

Labor Issues

HB 1770 Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago)

Creates the Labor Organization Member Notice Act. Provides that, when a meeting is scheduled between a labor organization and an employer regarding the employment status or discipline of an employee represented by the labor organization, the labor organization must notify the employee by certified mail of the time and place of the meeting and give a copy of that notice to the employer. Provides that if there is insufficient time to notify the employee by certified mail, the labor organization must give the employee notice of the time and place of the meeting by some other appropriate method. Provides that if the labor organization does not give the employee the required notice of the time and place of such a meeting and any adverse action is taken against the employee at the meeting or as a consequence of the meeting, that action is void and the meeting must be rescheduled with proper notice to the employee.

Status: Rules Committee

HB 1941 Rep. Harry Osterman (D-Chicago)

Amends the Equal Pay Act of 2003. Provides that an employer subject to the Act shall preserve specified records for not less than 5 (rather than 3) years. Provides that an action to collect a wage claim under the Act shall be brought within 5 years from the date of the underpayment (rather than within 3 years from the date the employee learned of the underpayment). Effective immediately.

Status: Rules Committee NFIB Position: Watch/Oppose

SJR 22 Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago)

Urges the Congress of the United States of America to enact the Employee Free Choice Act. This resolution supports the “card check” issue being debated in Congress that would allow organized labor to certify a workplace as union with only a majority of organizing cards signed. Current law allows for an employer to ask for a secret ballot so employees can vote without fear of harassment or retribution from labor.

Status: Rules Committee NFIB Position: Oppose

Independent Contractor

HB 1795 Rep. Harry Osterman (D-Chicago)

Creates the Employee Classification Act. Provides that an individual performing services for a contractor is deemed to be an employee of the employer. Provides that an individual performing services for a contractor is deemed to be an employee of the contractor unless it is shown that: (1) the individual has been and will continue to be free from control or direction over the performance of the service for the contractor, both under the individual's contract of service and in fact; (2) the service performed by the individual is outside the usual course of services performed by the contractor; and (3) the individual is engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business; or (4) the individual is deemed a legitimate sole proprietor or partnership. Provides that subcontractors or lower tiered contractors are subject to all provisions of the Act. Provides that he Department of Labor shall post a summary of the requirements of this Act in English, Spanish, and Polish on its official web site and on bulletin boards in each of its offices. Provides that it is a violation of the Act for an employer or entity not to designate an individual as an employee under the Act unless the employer or entity satisfies the provisions of the Act. Provides for civil remedies and civil penalties. Amends various Acts to make conforming changes. Effective January 1, 2008.

Status: Rules Committee NFIB Position: Oppose