IAR Director of Government Affairs Greg St. Aubin and Assistant Director of Legislative & Political Affairs Julie Sullivan celebrate on Thursday, April 23, 2015 the death of two bills Illinois REALTORS® thought would infringe on private property rights.

A controversial Senate bill which would have allowed municipalities to attach liens for nuisance code violations on non-offending properties died Thursday as lawmakers rushed to meet a key legislative deadline.

In the first attempt to pass the the lien bill, several senators spoke out about why they thought it was a bad idea.

Sen. Jim Oberweis, R-North Aurora, questioned if the bill would not just result in property owners titling properties in a variety of ways to shield property from lien attachments. He said it might actually make it harder for municipalities to recoup costs of cleaning up property.

“This is another example of where we make life more complicated and more confusing in Illinois,” Oberweis said.

Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, said he was worried about the broad powers the bill might give to municipalities. He echoed IAR’s stance that placing liens on non-offending properties was a bad idea.

“It seems to me before we walk forward (with this) we need to check these powers a little bit,” he said.

SB1380 initially was called for a floor vote, but due to a parliamentary procedure was later recalled. The bill was not re-introduced before the Senate adjourned on Thursday, missing a deadline that requires bills to be voted on from the chamber of origin.

The bill was the subject of a Call for Action issued earlier this week by IAR. More than 2,000 REALTORS® took part in responding to the Call for Action.

It was the second Call for Action issued so far this year by IAR.  The association learned Wednesday that a bill mandating sewer inspections (HB1376) before property sales also died without reaching a floor vote.

The vote was targeted for the Call for Action because it could have added more than $500 to each property transaction.