ISACo

Today, President Biden and Vice President Harris announced their support for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, the largest long-term investment in our infrastructure and competitiveness in nearly a century – an investment that will make our economy more sustainable, resilient, and just.

On Wednesday, June 23, 2021, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) Office of Broadband announced its second cohort of the Illinois Connected Communities grant program, created to assist some of the most underserved areas of the state with building broadband capacity. Through a unique cross-sector collaboration, participating communities will have the opportunity to embark on a 12- month program to help them complete a community-driven, broadband strategic plan. To help communities improve broadband access and utilization, the State and its partners are providing up to $15,000 in state- funded small grants, access to best-practice curriculum, and more than 50 hours of consultation and community planning facilitation.

On Thursday, June 17, 2021, Governor JB Pritzker signed SB 825 into law further expanding access to the ballot box for Illinoisans by increasing access to curbside voting, establishing permanent vote by mail registries, establishing a central polling location in counties across the state, strengthening cybersecurity standards for election authorities in Illinois, and providing viable voting opportunities for justice-impacted individuals. The legislation also establishes June 28, 2022 as the new 2022 general primary election date. The new law grants sheriffs outside of Cook County the ability to establish polling locations at local county jails, a practice already in place in Cook County. Individuals awaiting trial and sentencing who are residents of the community surrounding the county jail will now be permitted to vote at the jail's polling place.

On Wednesday, June 16, 2021, Governor JB Pritzker signed legislation declaring June 19, Juneteenth, an official state holiday. To commemorate the abolition of slavery throughout the United States and its territories in 1865, Juneteenth will be recognized as National Freedom Day in Illinois.

Governor Pritzker released the provisions of his most recent energy legislation in a June 10, 2021, memo to the Energy Legislation Working Group. The text of the memo is available by clicking on the title to this story. The General Assembly is set to return to Springfield next Tuesday and Wednesday to debate and vote on energy legislation following the inability to reach agreement prior to the adjournment of the spring legislative session last week. Now that the June 30 deadline has passed, it will require a three-fifths vote of each chamber to approve legislation and send it to the Governor. Key sticking points in the debate over an energy bill concern the amount of the subsidy offered to Exelon for its nuclear fleet and whether or not to exempt coal plants owned by municipal utilities from closure. It has also been reported that a second version of energy legislation has surfaced. Of primary concern to counties is whether an approved energy bill includes provisions restricting local control over siting wind and solar facilities. ISACo opposes such restrictions.