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March 19, 2010
Volume 24 - Issue 11
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BRADY TO SPEAK AT CICI LEGISLATIVE DAY – APRIL 27
Mark your calendars and reserve your rooms. CICI will be holding its Annual Legislative/Regulatory Day in Springfield, Tuesday, April 27, 2010, at the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel, with an evening reception of legislators and key government officials at the Sangamo Club. To register, follow this link: http://www.cicil.net/events/calendar/event.asp?EVENT_ID=41&
State Senator and GOP Candidate for Governor Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) will be the luncheon speaker this year. Senator Brady will discuss the state’s finances, its business climate, and his campaign for Governor.
This event is a great opportunity to mingle and get to know some of the key people in state government. Attendees include members of the Illinois General Assembly, Constitutional Officers, IEPA officials, the members of the Pollution Control Board, and other key government officials. At the 2009 reception, close to 200 legislators and government officials attended.
The President Abraham Lincoln Hotel has a discounted block of rooms reserved for CICI. Reservations can be made by calling the hotel at 1-866-788-1860. CICI’s block of rooms will be available until Monday, April 5, 2010, so please make your reservations accordingly. |
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FLOOR ACTION THIS WEEK
Illinois House Opposes USEPA’s Climate Rules
The Illinois House of Representatives this week approved of a CICI/American Chemistry Council–sponsored resolution, HR 933 (Reitz, D-Sparta), urging the U.S. Congress to postpone USEPA’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from stationary sources. The resolution urges Congress to adopt legislation to block the USEPA from regulating industrial source emissions until Congress adopts a balanced approach to address climate and energy supply issues without crippling the economy. The USEPA’s pending rules would actually burden the progress on the nation’s environmental improvement and economic recovery efforts by imposing onerous permitting requirements on industry and already cash-strapped state regulators.
The Obama administration issued its proposed climate rules after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the USEPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases as pollutants under the Clean Air Act. According to news reports, the USEPA is expected this month to finalize greenhouse gas standards for automobiles, which would trigger Clean Air Act permitting requirements for stationary sources.
Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate have already introduced several measures to postpone or block EPA's greenhouse gas regulations.
Enterprise Zone Extensions Move to the House
In good news for the many CICI members which are located in Enterprise Zones, a couple of measures, SB 3659 (Frerichs, D-Champaign) and SB 3662 (Noland, D-Elgin) to extend the life of Enterprise Zones by an additional 20 years passed the Senate unanimously this week and now head to the House for further action.
CICI will keep you updated as to the progress of these bills. |
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COMMITTEE ACTION THIS WEEK
BPA Bans, Labeling Advances
The Senate Environment Committee this week advanced SB 3750 (Kotowski, D-Park Ridge), which bans the use of Bisphenol A (BPA) in many different applications, most notably baby bottles, sippy-cups, sports bottles, thermoses, canned infant formula and baby food, but also enacting an Illinois-only labeling requirement for all canned food and beverages. Even though all the Democrats on the committee voted for the measure, without any GOP support, several of Democrat legislators urged the sponsor to negotiate a compromise with CICI and the other opponents.
So far, there have been no attempts from the sponsor or the proponents of the legislation to negotiate a settlement.
The bill now awaits further action on the Senate Floor where its future or any amendments are uncertain. In the House, a companion bill HB 6088 is also in the same position on the House Floor.
Quinn’s $2,500 “Job Creation” Tax Credit Sails out of Committee
The House Revenue & Finance Committee this week unanimously voted to advance SB 1578 (Noland, D-Elgin), to provide for Governor Quinn’s Small Business Job Creation Tax Credit that Quinn touted in his budget address last week. This tax credit would provide a maximum $2,500 credit against an employer's tax for every new full-time job created between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011. However, only small employers with less than 50 employees are eligible and the whole program is capped at $50 million. Also, the net number of new jobs must be maintained for 12 continuous months and pay at least $13.75 per hour.
This bill now awaits further action on the House Floor.
IPCB Actions, Stays Passes Committee
The measure, SB 2812 (Harmon, D-Oak Brook), that once authorized the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) to stay the effectiveness of certain actions taken or permit conditions imposed by the IEPA in the course of administering the Clean Air Act Permit Program (CAAPP) was amended in the Senate Energy Committee this week and advanced to the Senate Floor for further action. This bill, at one time, could have been construed to provide 3rd parties the option of being able to stay a permit.
The bill as amended now provides that, if requested by the applicant, the IPCB may stay the effectiveness of certain final IEPA actions. In the introduced bill, there was not a requirement that a permit applicant request the stay. The amended bill also now provides that, if requested by the applicant and no one else (rather than if simply requested by anybody including a 3rd Party), the IPCB shall, rather than may, stay the effectiveness of all contested conditions of a CAAPP permit, rather than any or all contested conditions of a CAAPP permit. The amended bill also authorizes the IPCB to stay the effectiveness of any or all uncontested conditions of a CAAPP permit if they determine that the uncontested conditions would be affected by its review of the contested conditions. If the Board stays any, but not all, rather than any of conditions, as opposed to the contested conditions of a CAAPP permit, then the applicant for that permit shall continue to operate in accordance with "any" related terms and conditions of any other applicable permits until final IPCB action in the review process. Further, if the IPCB stays all conditions, then the applicant shall continue to operate in accordance with "all" related terms and conditions of any other applicable permits until final IPCB action in the review process. Any stays granted by the IPCB shall be deemed effective upon the date of final IEPA action appealed by the applicant and further provides that these provisions supersede a particular provision in the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act. |
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LOBBYIST REGISTRATION BEGINS, NO FEES … YET
For those of who are registered lobbyists with the state, the Secretary of State’s office has officially begun accepting registrations, and at this time, there is no fee. Those who need to register must do so by the end of March.
Due to a recent Federal court decision in an ACLU lawsuit on the new lobbyist registration fees, indicating that the $1000 fee was an unconstitutional tax on the first amendment, and with the estimate from the Secretary of State’s (SOS) office as to the costs to run the program at $311 per lobbyist & entity, an agreement is set to be included in a piece of legislation to begin registering lobbyists and organizations at a registration fee of $300 each, for all. For business lobbyists, this is a $700 savings from current law and even a $50 savings from previous years’ fees. Reporting for 2010 will be at the twice a year schedule as done in previous years. Also, no money will be transferred to the general fund.
The SOS expects that it will take several months to develop the new reporting program that would allow for twice monthly reports while the legislature is in session and once a month otherwise. They will begin development of this program immediately with the plan to institute new reporting requirements in 2011.
Please note that the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois Legislator is not intended to convey legal advice or set forth all legal requirements applicable to particular circumstances.
Headquarters: 1400 E. TOUHY AVE., SUITE 110, DES PLAINES, IL 60018 · TEL :(847) 544-5995 · FAX :(847) 544-5999
Springfield: 400 W. MONROE, SUITE 205, SPRINGFIELD, IL 62704 · TEL :(217) 522-5805 · FAX :(217) 522-5815 |
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