April 8, 2022 State Capitol Report

Final Week!

With today (Friday, April 8th) being the scheduled adjournment date for the 2022 Legislative Session, both chambers were extremely active with committee hearings and floor action. With consecutive long legislative days (and nights), significant legislation saw final action this week. Both the House and Senate spent several hours of floor debate on issues such as crime, education and ultimately the State’s budget. Below is a recap of bills of interest that moved during the final week of session, including a review of the state’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget.

Bills that advanced this week

After the Senate Executive Committee adopted the amendment Illinois REALTORS pressed hard for, which pares down significantly the original bill to only include the traditional source of income language, HB2775 was sent to the Senate floor where it passed on Friday, April 1st with a 30-17 vote. The bill was then sent to the House to concur with the Senate amendment. The House concurred with 62-43-001vote and HB2775 has now PASSED both chambers. The bill now goes to the Governor for his review and action.

Reduces the time period within which a homeowner’s association must provide information to prospective purchasers from 30 days to 10 days and caps the fee that may be charged for the cost of providing the information at no more than $375 (an additional $100 fee for “rush service” within 72 hours is also allowed).  The bill PASSED both chambers and now goes to the Governor for his action.  Illinois REALTORS® SUPPORTED this bill.

Allows condominium associations and homeowner associations to file appeals with the Property Tax Appeal Board. SB3069 PASSED both chambers and now goes to the Governor for his review and action.

Intended to address wage theft issues across the construction industry, the bill provides that if a subcontractor fails to pay its employees, the primary contractor that hired the subs would be liable for a wage claim under the Wage Payment and Collection Act.  As originally written, the term, “primary contractor” would have included homeowners acting as the primary contractor for their own homestead. Following negotiations, the revised bill exempts homeowners acting as the primary contractor on his or her own primary residence.  Illinois REALTORS® were NEUTRAL on the bill, which now goes to the Governor for his action.

The Budget

While thousands of bills are introduced each year in the Illinois General Assembly, the final legislative action is typically centered on the state’s revenue and appropriating those revenue dollars for the upcoming fiscal year beginning on July 1.  This year is no different.

The budget, crafted entirely by the Governor, Senate Democrats, and House Democrats, includes a new tax plan to provide some relief from high gas prices and other increased inflation costs.  Many families will receive direct cash payments and taxes on grocery and gasoline will be reduced.  Next year’s budget also provides additional funding to local governments.  In addition, continued funding is provided for emergency rental assistance grants and for the first time, funding is provided for homeowners.

Highlights of the Fiscal Year 2023 budget

$1.83 BILLION IN TAX RELIEF

  • Suspend the tax on groceries for one year.

  • Freeze the $.02 motor fuel tax for six months.

  • Double the property tax rebate – up to $300 per household.

  • Permanently expand the earned income tax credit.

  • Provide direct checks to working families.

    • $50 per individual;
    • $100 per child, up to three children per family;
    • Income limits: $200,000 for individuals and $400,000 for joint filers.

  • Back to school tax relief for families and teachers.

HOUSING ASSISTANCE

  • Increased funding to reopen IHDA’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program;

  • $198 million to Department of Human Services for continued rental assistance;

  • Funding for homeowners through IHDA’s Homeowners’ Assistant Fund for down payments, mortgage foreclosure prevention, home improvements, late property taxes, utilities and more.  Applications accepted from April 11, 2022 to May 31, 2022 and will provide grants up to $30,000.  For more application information contact www.illinoishousinghelp.org

  • Housing grants for Veterans, Seniors, low-income families, and persons re-entering society.

$1.2 BILLION IN PAY DOWNS

  • $1 billion for the Budget Stabilization Fund (Rainy Day Fund).

  • An additional $200 million pension payment, bringing the total pension payment over what is required to $500 million dollars.

PUBLIC SAFETY FUNDING

  • Invests more than $200 million on top of the Governor’s proposed budget to support local governments’ public safety measures, law enforcement needs, and community violence prevention programs.

2022 Session Recap

With over 3500 bills introduced for the 2022 Spring Session, the Illinois REALTORS® Legislative Team saw a wide variety of issues that affected the Real Estate industry and private property rights. Below is a quick recap of some of the legislation of interest that the Illinois REALTORS® Legislative Team directly worked on during the 2022 Legislative Session.

Bills Supported

Provides clarification to the Residential Real Property Disclosure Act. Illinois REALTORS® worked on this legislation with the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association, and we SUPPORTED this legislation. HB4322 PASSED both chambers.

Bills Opposed

Creates the Electric Vehicle Charging Act to mandate that parking spaces be allocated for electrical vehicle charging in new residential rental and single-family home developments, and to require that charging infrastructure be installed for such parking.  Illinois REALTORS® OPPOSED HB3125 as it committed limited development resources to the existing technology that there is not a high demand for now, and that may change drastically from a technological and design standpoint in the near future.  Our argument that this discussion should continue in the context of implementing the recently passed energy bill were heeded, and the bill was held in the Senate.

The Vacancy Fraud Act would allow for the Cook County Assessor’s office to file a vacancy fraud complaint if a commercial property is receiving vacancy relief and the property owner is not actively attempting to sell or lease the property. The act stated that any property owner in Cook County that received a property tax reduction, due to the property’s vacancy, and is not actively trying to sell or lease the property is committing fraud and will be subject to considerable penalties and fines. The Illinois REALTORS® OPPOSED this legislation. HB4374 was not heard on the House floor.

Meetings were held with the sponsor on this bill that seeks restrict landlords from requiring only electronic transfers for rental payments and not allowing other means of payment. the sponsor reported that the Attorney General wants to add an amendment to her bill removing penalty fee caps for landlord violations. The bill was re-referred to Rules Committee and was not heard on the floor.

The bill would require landlords to pay for mold tests and the removal of mold if found in Senior-living residences. We OPPOSED because no standards exist to determine what constitutes a mold hazard, nor do standards as to what type and what volume of mold would be constitute a hazard.  The sponsor has pledged to work with the Illinois REALTORS® on this issue in the future. The bill was not heard on the House floor.

The bill would add another item to the residential real estate disclosure form to requires sellers to disclose if they are aware of unsafe concentration and/or unsafe conditions due to mold on the premises. The Illinois REALTORS® OPPOSED this bill for the same reasons cited in HB4939 above (no objective standard as to what is a mold “hazard”). HB5131 was re-referred to Rules Committee and not heard on the House floor.

Creates the Tenant Protection Act which includes a comprehensive list including but not limited to rent control, creation of a rental registry and fees, Tenant Bill of Rights, sealing of evictions, “just cause” eviction standard, landlord fines, and much more. Illinois REALTORS® strongly OPPOSED HB5390, the bill was re-referred to the Rules committee and was not heard on the House floor.

Bills Amended

Initially the bill would have added the phrase, “or otherwise make unavailable” to certain provisions of the Illinois Human Rights Act.  The Department of Human Rights wanted this addition as that phrase is used in federal law.  Illinois REALTORS® cited concerns with plucking the term out of federal law without the surrounding statutory and case framework of reference, which might lead to unintended consequences in the interpretation of the law with this addition.  Illinois REALTORS® appreciates the work of Civil Judiciary Chair Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz and the Illinois Department of Human Rights for understanding our concerns and removing this particular provision from the bill before advancing it.  HB4605 PASSED both chambers and awaits the Governor’s action.

Bills Monitoring

The bill creates the Money Laundering in Real Estate Task Force and directs the task force to, among other things, provide guidance to help actors in the real estate sector identify suspicious transactions and report them to the authorities. The Money Laundering in Real Estate task force will consist of 13 members appointed by the Governor, an amendment filed last Thursday provides that two Illinois REALTORS® members will be appointed to the task force. The Task Force will periodically submit reports to the Governor and the General Assembly of any findings made or action taken by the Task Force. HB1293 passed the House but was not heard in the Senate.

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