ISACo

On March 13, Governor JB Pritzker signed SB 208 into law, making Illinois the third state in the nation, and the first in the Midwest, to mandate paid time off to be used for any reason. The new law provides employees with up to 40 hours of paid leave during a 12-month period, meaning approximately 1.5 million workers will begin earning paid time off starting in 2024.

The Illinois General Assembly was in session last week from Tuesday, March 7 through Friday, March 10. March 10 was the deadline for moving bills out of committees in their chambers of origin. Many ISACo tracked bills were among the bills approved by committees last week for consideration by the full House or Senate. ISACo's report listing each of these bills is available by clicking on the title of this story.

On March 3, Governor JB Pritzker signed a new Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamation that extends the state's COVID-19 disaster declaration through April 1, 2023. He also extended the state's disaster proclamation concerning asylum seekers for an additional 30 days.

On January 27, 2023, Governor JB Pritzker signed HB 4412 into law as P.A. 102-1123. The new law imposes limitations on county authority to site wind and solar facilities. It includes statewide standards for siting the facilities as well as unrealistic timetables for public hearings (45 days) and rendering a final siting decision following the public hearing (30 days). ISACo prepared an Issue Brief summarizing the provisions within the new law that impact counties.

Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced that the state has officially repaid the remaining $1.36 billion unemployment insurance (UI) Trust Fund debt. The payment was made possible after an historic agreement was reached between the state, and representatives from business, labor, and bipartisan members of the General Assembly. It was then signed into law by the Governor.