Legislative sessions can often be unpredictable and take on a life of their own as thousands of bills move through the process at the Illinois State Capitol. Going into the 103rd Illinois General Assembly, your Illinois REALTORS® Legislative Team was expecting unpredictability following a historic election cycle where many new legislators had been elected. That meant building relationships with new legislators, assigning new State Legislative Contacts for all 177 state legislators and tracking down the “why” behind hundreds of bills. As always, Illinois REALTORS® met the challenges. Here is a summary of the highlights and key issues from the Spring Legislative Session.

Highlights and key issues from the Spring Legislative Session

• REALTOR® Tony McCombie chosen as first female Republican Minority Leader in the House
• About 700 Illinois REALTORS® attended Capitol Conference, which included in-person visits to the statehouse
• Another record year with more than 7,000 bills introduced
• More than 300 of those bills directly impacted the real estate industry

• General Assembly returned to in-person session, while allowing for some virtual participation
• Due to massive Capitol Complex construction, Senate met in nearby Howlett Building
• Record number of progressive legislators elected

A severe shortage of housing continues to cause overwhelming issues including homelessness, inflated prices and lack of inventory. Current high housing demands began more than 10 years ago and have been accelerated due to COVID-19 and a rapidly changing economic climate. The result of this high-speed, textbook case of supply and demand has been exacerbated statewide, where there is now an underproduction of single-family homes and new apartments. Despite the severity of the current inventory crisis, REALTORS® continue to support and offer positive solutions to reverse the tide and bring back balance.

We SUPPORTED Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s “Home Illinois” budget initiative to take on the multi-faceted issues surrounding homelessness, backed by a total of $350 million for a variety of policies and programs to address the entry-level rung on the housing ladder.

Outcome—The legislature approved a budget which included this requested appropriation. Gov. Pritzker signed the state budget into law June 7.

We SUPPORTED House Bill 2831 (Rep. LaPointe, D-19th, Chicago and Sen. Johnson, D-30th, Waukegan), which creates the Illinois Interagency Task Force on Homelessness.

Outcome—This bill passed and is expected to be signed into law soon.

House Bill 3152 (Rep. Evans, D-31st, Chicago) and Senate Bill 2413 (Sen. Hunter, D-3rd, Chicago and Senator Castro, D-22nd, Elgin) was supported, written and introduced at the request of Illinois REALTORS®. The Workforce Housing and Housing Stability Act proposed a revised First-Time Homebuyer Program and suggests a program discussed with Gov. Pritzker, establishing a new housing construction incentive to create “workforce housing” around Illinois’ Electric Vehicle Oriented manufacturing facilities that are proliferating under the Reimagining Electric Vehicle Act (REV). Because of the bills significant changes, many questions were raised.

Outcome—Discussions are expected to continue this summer and fall.

We SUPPORTED Senate Bill 1476 (Sen. Gillespie, D-27th, Arlington Heights and Rep. Rashid, D-21st, Berwyn), which reorganizes, updates and strengthens the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeals Act, which requires and monitors the establishment of affordable housing plans by certain local governments.

Outcome—This bill passed and is expected to be signed into a law soon.

Rent control, which was HALTED this year, remains a huge issue for the Illinois REALTORS® Legislative Team, as rent control advocates continue numerous attempts to repeal the 1997 statewide ban, a move we strongly OPPOSE. This year, attempts were made to implement rent control in manufactured housing communities through House Bill 2727 (Rep. Moeller, D-43rd, Elgin). Rent control supporters planned to expand rent control in all areas of residential rentals if their plan outlined in House Bill 2727 was successful. Their plan was halted in the Senate, but they will continue efforts to implement rent control in Illinois.

 Outcome—The Illinois REALTORS® Legislative Team remains focused and OPPOSED to this issue, and with our highly effective grassroots operation, we will work together to keep rent control out of Illinois.

We OPPOSED House Bill 1569 (Rep. Ford, D-8th, Chicago). Illinois REALTORS® appreciates the thorough debate that occurred regarding this renewed attempt to seal eviction records. Several members of the House Judiciary Committee shared our concern of how this legislation might hurt especially small, community landlords who could be devastated by just one or two tenants not paying rent, and the sealing of records would leave landlords unable to properly assess whether a tenant represents a good risk. There was also a general concern about “hiding” public court records.

 Outcome—The bill was held in committee.

NEUTRAL, AS AMENDED on House Bill 2217 (Rep. Ann Williams, D-11th, Chicago, and Sen. Laura Ellman, D-21st, Naperville) – As introduced the bill created the Tenant Radon Protection Act to allow tenants to test for radon and break the lease if radon is found in their rental unit. The bill would have put unnecessary burdens on landlords regarding disclosures, testing and mitigation, but the main concern with this legislation was the ability to break a lease at any time a radon hazard level was discovered. We believe that the original language went above and beyond what is required in current law, but also interferes with a private contract.

The amendment offered by Illinois REALTORS® was ultimately accepted due to our member engagement and it became the bill. The bill no longer creates a “new act”, but instead amends current statue regarding radon disclosure for prospective tenants to allow for a specific 90-day period upon entering a lease that testing and mitigation can be requested from the tenant if a radon hazard level is discovered. Also, the amendment allows a tenant to break a lease if they were never disclosed the required material of the dangers of radon or the documented existence of radon on the property and their unit was discovered to be above the “Radon Hazard Level” and the property owner refuses to mitigate. The amendment allows for more fairness to both parties involved in the contract and is better public policy than the original bill and strengthens both the housing provider and the tenant’s ability to discover and eventually mitigate any dangers from radon.

Outcome—The bill passed both chambers and now heads to the Governor for signature.

This bill was changed, and a better law was created because of YOU. As a member of the 55,000 member Illinois REALTORS®, you made a difference. A huge thank you goes out to all members who immediately responded to the Call for Action.

NEUTRAL, AS AMENDED on Senate Bill 40 (Sen. Feigenholtz, D-6th, Chicago and House Majority Leader Robyn Gabel, D- , Chicago) – Creates the Electric Vehicle Charging Act. As originally proposed, this legislation would have mandated that developers provide all residential single-family and multi-family dwelling parking spaces with a fully wired, specific circuit electric vehicle charging receptacle for possible future use, which would have increased housing costs significantly at a time when housing costs are at an all-time high and supply is extraordinarily low. Illinois REALTORS® strongly opposed this legislation as introduced. After years of negotiations, the proponents accepted our amendment making it clear: 1) that developers will not be required to install wire from an electrical panel through the conduit and 2) requiring developers converting properties from rental buildings to condominium associations to make EV ready or EV capable if it necessitates excavation to retrofit the parking lot.

Outcome—With our amendment, the bill passed and was signed into law on June 9 as Public Act 103-0053. It goes into effect on January 1, 2024.

We continue to OPPOSE Senate Bill 664, Senate Amendment #1, as currently drafted (Sen. Ventura, D-43rd, Joliet) This legislation is a statewide version of the “Just Housing” ordinance enacted in Chicago. The bill sets up a specific written review landlords must do in assessing whether to rent to a formerly incarcerated person. Our concern is that this law puts brokers/ landlords/housing providers in the position of rendering a decision in writing about a person’s past criminal history suitability for tenancy without any guidance or knowledge of criminal justice offenses and issues. The Illinois Re-Entry Council, of which we are a member, is looking at this issue in the context of the multi-disciplinary, multi-agency approaches of supportive services (Department of Corrections, Health and Human Services, Housing Services, Probation Department, Prisoner Review Board) that offer the best chance of success for returning individuals.

 Outcome—Illinois REALTORS® looks forward to discussions through the summer as the bill remained in the Senate.

We SUPPORT House Amendment #5 to House Bill 1020 (Rep. Flowers, D-31st, Chicago), which removes any references or changes to the Real Estate License Act. Initially, this bill amended the Real Estate License Act to treat broker price opinions (BPOs) or comparative market analyses (CMAs) as if they were appraisals, and would have established a new civil, or Attorney General’s cause of action for engaging in illegal discrimination in preparing a BPO or CMA. We appreciate Rep. Flowers’ agreement to remove the Real Estate License Act provisions. House Bill 1020 now deals exclusively with adding fair housing provisions within the Appraisal Licensing Act.

 Outcome—As amended, the bill passed the House, but was stalled in the Senate so the debate may continue.

We SUPPORTED House Bill 2098 (Rep. Tarver, D-25th, Chicago and Sen. Preston, D-16th, Chicago) Agreed technical clean-up bill regarding the Residential Real Property Disclosure Act.

 Outcome—The bill passed both houses and will be sent to the Governor for his consideration.

We SUPPORTED Senate Bill 1866 (Cervantes, D-1st , Chicago) the Illinois REALTORS®-supported omnibus license law bill making various updates to the real estate professions under IDFPR.

 Outcome—The bill passed both houses and is expected to be signed into law soon.

We continue to OPPOSE House Bills 1287 and 1288 (Rep. Will Davis, D-30th, East Hazel Crest) as currently written. Illinois REALTORS® is part of a coalition of 16 other business organizations that expressed concerns with this bill as an ongoing proposal spearheaded by Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi.

 Outcome—Illinois REALTORS® pledges to continue to work with our coalition to discuss this proposal with the sponsors and the Cook County Assessor with the goal of working out an agreed bill.

About the writer: Greg St. Aubin is Illinois REALTORS^® Senior Vice President of Governmental Affairs.