On Tuesday, the Illinois Association of REALTORS® issued a Call to Action against SB1155. The bill, which was sponsored by Sens. Thomas Cullerton, D-Chicago, and Linda Holmes, D-Aurora, could give counties and municipalities statewide the authority to force landlords to obtain licenses to rent property, mandate safety training for landlords and also could force background checks for those renting property. If passed, this could add thousands of dollars to the amount of money a REALTOR® would have to pay just to do business.

IAR’s members sprang into action, and many of them called legislators to oppose this bill because of the potential impact it would have on REALTORS®’ businesses. On Wednesday the bill was pulled from consideration by the sponsors. This does not mean the bill is dead, however, and it could come up at a future date. A similar measure, HB2437 (Rep. Emily McAsey) was not called by the sponsor. IAR expects further meetings on the issue during the spring session.

HB1244, a bill IAR opposes which would add another fee on real estate documents that are required to be recorded in Lake County, made it out of the Local Government committee and is pending in the Senate.  Although the bill is very much alive, it received testimony in the committee that was favorable to REALTORS®. IAR will continue to strongly oppose this measure in the full senate. The bill was filed by Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, and co-sponsors include Sen. Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake, Sen. Pamela J. Althoff, R-Crystal Lake, and Sen. Julie Morrison, D-Deerfield. The duplicate bill, HB 2255 (Rep. Joann Osmond) was not called by the sponsor prior to the deadline.