May 12, 2023 State Capitol Report

What A Week It Was!

Beginning last Sunday evening, we believed negotiations had wrapped up on HB 2217 (Tenant Radon – see more below) with an amendment that was agreed upon by the sponsor and Illinois REALTORS®. However, the Illinois REALTORS® Legislative Team was informed Tuesday that the other stakeholders, and ultimately the sponsor, were now rejecting the amendment and the senator was going to move forward with the original bill, which we were strongly opposed to.

A full court press was put into play for us to oppose the bill because without the once agreed to amendment, the bill would have mandated new radon disclosures, be applied to all floors of a building and not the standard third floor and above radon exemption. But most importantly the bill would have allowed tenants to break their lease at any time during the duration of their contract when a radon hazard level was discovered. With no agreement in place we sent out a Call for Action to members urging a “No” vote. At the same time, your Legislative Team fought hard all day in the Senate chambers, reaching out and discussing the bill with countless members of the Senate and staff.

The power of the REALTOR® voice was heard loud and clear and the bill was not called on the floor on Wednesday and by Thursday morning the sponsor and stakeholders agreed to our original amendment (more below). The reactions and responses we received from legislators during the Call for Action were overwhelming and it was a proud and inspiring moment knowing our members were involved at the level you were. This week the influence and impact of REALTORS® was on full display and we cannot thank you enough for your prompt responses to our Call For Action and the overall engagement by our REALTOR® members.

In addition, we had a couple of surprise amendments pop up and were placed on unsuspecting school education bills that would have been detrimental to REALTORS®, but the IR Legislative Team was able to “correct” the misguided amendments. Below is a highlight of Bills of Interest that your Illinois REALTORS® Legislative Team are currently involved in.

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

Bills of Interest

Click the bill number to view additional information

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. As mentioned above the original bill would have put extra unnecessary burdens on a landlord 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 that the Illinois REALTORS® offered and due to our member engagement, will now ultimately become the bill, does not create 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. The amendment is expected to be filed today and on the Senate Floor next week for a vote.

This bill prohibits landlords from requiring tenants to use electronic payments for rent.  Illinois REALTORS® is monitoring this legislation that passed both houses this week and now heads to the Governor for his consideration.

This bill provides that licensees may allow mortgage loan originators to work from a remote location if specified conditions are met. Provides that “full service office” does not include a remote location. Defines “remote location”. Illinois REALTORS® is monitoring this bill that was passed both houses and heads to the Governor for his expected signature.

After the adoption of Amendment 1, the bill provides that a property owner may not be required to utilize specific technology, including, but not limited to solar shingles rather than traditional solar panels.  HOAs may impose reasonable conditions so long as such conditions are not more onerous than the association’s analogous conditions for non-solar projects.  The Illinois REALTORS® Legislative Team is monitoring this legislation that was amended and passed the Senate.  The bill must now return to the House for concurrence of the Senate amendment.

As amended, HB 2562 to provide that when a common interest community building, condo building, or residential rental building has a cooling/heating system serving the entire building, including individual units, the building owner is to comply with the specified standards. If there is no heating/cooling system in common areas, then the owner is required to provide at least one indoor common gathering space allowing tenants/condo owners to utilize free of charge. This legislation only applies to buildings where occupants are 55 and older. Illinois REALTORS® is monitoring this legislation that passed both houses and now heads to the Governor for further consideration.

This bill mandates municipalities to make information available regarding service lines containing lead. HB 2776, as introduced, would have amended the Residential Real Property Disclosure Act and required that the seller 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, under current law, “unsafe concentrations of or unsafe conditions relating to lead paint, lead water pipes, lead plumbing pipes or lead in the soil on the premises”). The 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 adopted at the suggestion of Illinois REALTORS® to contain no language pertaining to the disclosure form. With the amendment, Illinois REALTORS® moved from OPPOSE to NEUTRAL on the bill which is now back in the House and on the Calendar Order of Concurrence with Senate Amendment 1.

This bill provides that beginning July 1, 2024, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) shall supplement all paper-based certificates and licenses (rather than certificates, licenses, and authorities) with a digitally verified electronic credential. Illinois REALTORS® monitored this legislation. The bill passed both houses.

This bill creates an advisory committee to determine which homes contain windows or doors that cause offensive odors and are eligible for replacement pursuant to the Residential Sound Insulation Program created for municipalities to mitigate aircraft noise.  Illinois REALTORS® is monitoring this legislation that passed both houses.   

This bill requires housing authorities to collect data on their rental vacancies and waiting lists and to report this information to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority to include in their report to the Illinois General Assembly annually. Defines “federally assisted housing” to mean any housing units or subsidized housing programs funded in whole or in part by the federal government including all properties owned or finance by a housing authority, or a subsidiary or partnership in which the housing authority is a member. Illinois REALTORS® monitored this legislation, which passed both houses.

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. We monitored this legislation that passed both houses.

This bill provides that nothing shall prohibit a financial institution from considering immigration status in a real estate transaction in compliance with State or federal law.  As this bill went through the legislative process, Illinois REALTORS® monitored the bill. 

This bill makes changes to the Real Estate License Act, Auction License Act, Home Inspector Act, Leasing agents, and Real Estate Appraiser Licensing Act regarding continuing education. Illinois REALTORS® SUPPORTS this clean-up legislation that passed both houses.

Next Week: At-A-Glance

We are down to the final five days of the scheduled session! As mentioned above, the negotiated Senate Amendment 1 to HB 2217 (Tenant Radon) is expected to be offered and added to the bill, allowing Illinois REALTORS® to change from a position of strongly opposed to neutral. Your Illinois REALTORS® Legislative Team will be watching closely to ensure this important amendment is adopted. Stay tuned for updates if this does not happen.

In addition, next week most of the focus in the House and Senate will be final action on bills that have made it to 3rd Reading (passage stage) and budget discussion. Clearly, these issues will dominate news headlines. Session is always a demanding experience, and during the end of any session, demands and chaos increase. Your Illinois REALTORS® Legislative Team will maintain a constant vigil on all legislative action as we all hope to see adjournment next Friday, May 19, 2023 as scheduled.

Thank you for reading the May 12, 2023 State Capitol Report. Click here to read previous reports.