March 24, 2023 State Capitol Report

The House and Senate were both in session in what was a very busy legislative week. Today marked the House deadline to get bills passed on the floor and sent over to the Senate. Being a deadline week, the House spent most of the time on the floor and even remained in session Thursday night and into Friday morning before adjourning around 1:30 a.m. Just this week the House passed 284 bills, while the Senate passed just 36. Next Friday is the same deadline for Senate bills to be moved out and over to the House, meaning we can expect another high paced, but long legislative week. Following these deadlines, the legislature will begin their “spring break” for two-weeks.

As reported last week, your Illinois REALTORS® Legislative Team has been laser-focused on negotiating several bills to remove their significant negative impact on the real estate industry.  These issues included:

  • Tenant radon protection

  • Electric vehicle charging station mandate

  • Seller disclosures additions

  • Lead pipe replacement notification

  • Automatic sealed eviction records

  • Human rights violations

NOTE: As this report is being sent, the House remains in session and continues to vote on bills. The status of a few of these bills will be updated in the next report.

Bill Considered this Week

Click the bill number to view additional information

House Bills heading to the Senate:

The bill provides for public utilities subject to Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) may not take or damage land through eminent domain without prior approval from ICC after the date of this act. Illinois REALTORS® Legislative Team is monitoring this legislation.

This bill mandates that landlords cannot require only electronic rental payments. Illinois REALTORS® is monitoring this legislation.

Initially, this bill amended the Real Estate License Act and the Appraiser Licensing Act to add new (and potentially duplicative) provisions regarding discrimination in real estate appraisals, or broker price opinions. The introduced bill also created a separate, private right of action under the Real Estate License Act for such discrimination. After numerous negotiating sessions and several amendment drafts, the sponsor agreed to remove the Real Estate License Act provisions from the bill. We appreciate House Dean, Rep. Flowers’ willingness to work with our legislative team on this important change. As passed in the House, the bill now focuses on appraisers only.

This bill provides “clean-up” language to the Residential Real Property Disclosure Act by clarifying that the “seller” does not include a beneficiary who has both never occupied the property and has never had management responsibilities for the property. Illinois REALTORS® SUPPORTS this bill.

This bill amends the Homeowners Energy Policy Statement Act by making several changes paving a clearer path for homeowners seeking permission from homeowners’ associations (HOA) regarding solar panel installation regardless of the HOA’s current policy. Illinois REALTORS® is monitoring the bill.

This bill makes changes to the Auction License Act, Home Inspector Act, Real Estate License Act, and Real Estate Appraiser Licensing Act regarding continuing education. Illinois REALTORS® SUPPORTS this bill.

This bill creates the Tenant Radon Protection Act to allow tenants to test for radon and break the lease if radon is found in their rental until. Illinois REALTORS® OPPOSES this legislation and continues to work with the sponsor and American Lung Association to make acceptable changes.

This bill amends the Residential Mortgage License Act to provide that each full-service office (rather than office, place of business, or location) at which a residential mortgage licensee conducts any part of his or her business must be recorded with the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR). It provides that licensees may allow mortgage loan originators to work from a remote location if specified conditions are met. Illinois REALTORS® is monitoring this legislation.

This bill amends the Residential Real Property Disclosure Act. It requires the seller to disclose on the real estate disclosure form any discovered concentration of or unsafe conditions relating to lead paint, lead water pipes, lead plumbing pipes or lead in the soil on the premises (rather than unsafe concentrations of or unsafe conditions relating to lead paint, lead water pipes, lead plumbing pipes or lead in the soil on the premises). Illinois REALTORS® Legislative Team worked with the sponsor to amend the bill to remove all language regarding the real estate disclosure form. House Amendment 1 was filed with no language pertaining to the disclosure form and the Illinois REALTORS® was NEUTRAL on the amendment which passed the House with a 108-0-0 vote.

This bill prohibits IDFPR from using criminal background information in cases where the Department has already stated that information cannot be used against an applicant for licensure. Illinois REALTORS® is monitoring this legislation.

This bill codifies the Governor’s COVID Executive Order establishing a Homelessness Task Force with members being selected by the Governor and legislative leaders. Illinois REALTORS® SUPPORTS this legislation.

This bill allows a landlord to accept reusable tenant screening reports and provides requirements to be included in the reusable tenant screening report. Illinois REALTORS® is monitoring this legislation.

Bills that failed to move out of the House before deadline:

This bill mandates the automatic sealing of eviction court records prohibiting landlords from learning if prospective tenants have a long record of evictions. For several months, Illinois REALTORS® has been engaged in negotiations with Rep. Ford and other interested parties. Despite the hours spent in discussions, the parties were not able to reach an agreement. Illinois REALTORS® continues to OPPOSE.

This bill mandates manufactured housing park owners to notify and justify any rent increases over 3% or the CPI. Illinois REALTORS® OPPOSES this bill which is essentially rent control for manufactured housing communities. The bill remains on 2nd Reading in the House.

This bill creates rent control for manufactured home communities. Illinois REALTORS® OPPOSES this legislation that failed to receive the necessary votes to pass in the House.

This bill provides several new regulations for the Clean Air Act Permit Program (CAAPP) and/or Federally Enforceable State Operating Permit (FESOP) applicants in Environmental Justice areas. Additional regulations involve local siting approval requirements for permits, additional public hearings before a permit is issued, the requirement to complete an environmental justice assessment identifying the potential environmental and health impacts and the requirement to pay a $200,000 permitting fee. There are many concerns with this bill. Illinois REALTORS® is monitoring this legislation.

Bills that failed to move out of the House before deadline:

This bill creates the Electric Vehicle Charging Act. Originally as proposed, this legislation would have mandated developers to provide all residential single family and multi-family dwelling parking spaces with a fully-wired, very 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. Illinois REALTORS® is happy to report that after four 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 a developer converting property from a rental building to a condominium association to make EV-ready or EV-capable if it necessitates excavation in order to retro-fit the parking lot. This bill is expected to pass in the Senate next week.

This bill removes language that requires a lessor of residential real property who is restricted from withholding any part of a security deposit from a lessee without furnishing an itemized statement to the lessee to be a lessor of a residential real property containing 5 or more units. Illinois REALTORS® is monitoring this legislation.

This bill amends the Residential Real Property Disclosure Act by clarifying that the “seller” does not include a beneficiary who has both (i) never occupied the residential real property and (ii) never had management responsibility for the residential real property. Illinois REALTORS® SUPPORTS this legislation which is expected to pass in the Senate next week.

Next Week: At-A-Glance

Next week, the House and Senate will both be in session. The Senate will consider the passage of bills in the Senate as they face their Friday, March 31 deadline to pass Senate bills out of the Senate. It will be another busy week in Springfield.

GET READY FOR OUR BIGGEST ADVOCACY EVENT OF THE YEAR!

BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER! Join us Tuesday, April 25 at the Bank of Springfield Center in Springfield to visit your legislators at the Illinois State Capitol.

This year’s FREE, members-only event includes a keynote address from David Axelrod, national political strategist.

Come in early for the pre-show at 8 a.m. on April 25 to hear business growth expert Jeff Havens.

Cap your day with the first-ever Lobby Day Block Party featuring the Lakeshore Encores.

Thank you for reading the March 24, 2023 State Capitol Report. Click here to read previous reports.