May 19, 2023 State Capitol Report

To Be Continued …

Today was the scheduled adjournment date set at the beginning of the first year of the 103rd General Assembly. Legislative leaders wanted to appease their House and Senate members hoping for an early adjournment. The official adjournment date set by the Illinois Constitution is May 31, which always coincides with Memorial Day weekend family gatherings, graduations and weddings. Often several legislators need to miss the final days of session due to family obligations so this year, the leaders tried something different by moving the date. As of the writing of this report neither chamber has passed any appropriations or other budget related bills, so it looks like the General Assembly will be returning to Springfield next week.

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 and Senate remain in session.

Bills of Interest

Click the bill number to view additional information

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. It 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. This week, the amendment was adopted and the bill, as amended, was passed by the Senate on a vote of 48-7. The bill passed in the House on concurrence, 77-45-0, and will now head to the Governor for signature.

Again, 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 to all members who immediately responded to the Call For Action.

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 passed both houses this week and now will head to the Governor for his consideration.

This comprehensive bill would change the landscape for communities throughout Illinois, significantly increasing construction permitting fees in addition to rules and regulations.  For example, a supplemental fee of $100,000 for each construction permit application would be assessed for all projects in a environmental justice community.  The bill provides for many other requirements placing higher and higher hurdles on the cost of construction projects in communities.  On a second try to pass the bill, the bill failed to pass in the House by three votes.  ILLINOIS REALTORS® will continue to watch this legislation closely.

This bill mandates municipalities to make information available regarding service lines containing lead. HB 2776 was introduced it would have amended the Residential Real Property Disclosure Act and 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). 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, the Illinois REALTORS® moved from Oppose to Neutral on the bill which was passed by both chambers this week and now heads to the Governor.

Next Week: At-A-Glance

As of this writing, the big question is how long will the legislature BE in session next week? As always, stay tuned for updates on last minute legislation that affects the real estate industry and the state budget negotiations.

Thank you for reading the May 19, 2023 State Capitol Report. Click here to read previous reports.