By Illinois REALTORS® Statehouse Lobbyists

Early Wednesday evening, the Illinois House passed SB 3502 on a roll call of 63 YES votes, 48 NO votes, and 4 PRESENT votes (with 3 members not voting).  Sixty votes were needed for passage.  The bill now goes to Gov. Bruce Rauner for his consideration.

The REALTORS® waged an excellent battle on this legislation that we opposed (as you know from our Capitol Reports and Calls for Actions).  A huge thanks to all REALTORS® who called, visited, emailed or texted their legislator to express our opposition – legislators and other lobbying groups are always amazed at the power of our grass roots mobilization!

Your Illinois REALTORS® staff, from your Statehouse lobbyists, to our communications and outreach staff, to our local GADs all contributed to an excellent effort on this legislation!

In short, we had the bill beat in one House committee, so it was moved to another, and then we beat it there when it was actually called for a vote (an unusual feat!).  Using a parliamentary procedure, it was called for a vote again, and some of our allies on the committee were replaced. The bill was then voted out.  All indications were that we had it beat on the House floor, but the sponsor and proponents pressured labor organizations to get involved and that put the measure BARELY over the top.  But it was a good fight.  Thank you for your support!

BOTTOM LINE: the Democrats generally voted YES (with the unions and the Democratic sponsor Rep. Arroyo), and the Republicans generally voted NO, given their pro-business, limited government stance and support of us.

The Democrats who voted with us: Carroll, Crespo, Drury, Ford, Halpin, Rita, Sente, Welch, and Yingling.
The Republicans who voted against us:  Bryant, McAuliffe, Olsen, Keith Wheeler, Winger.

Now, the bill goes to the Governor for his consideration.  It’s likely he won’t act on this until July or August… we’ll be in touch with you between now and then to continue our efforts to stop this bill from becoming law!

The General Assembly will return on Nov. 13.

The REALTORS® had a great and successful year in the legislature!  Thank you for all of your time and participation – it makes a huge difference!