AFL-CIO. Major Workers Compensation Reforms to Governor. House & Senate Pass $15 Minimum Wage NEWS UPDATE - 06/02/17

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1 Illinois AFL-CIO NEWS UPDATE - 06/02/17 The Illinois General Assembly spring session has come to an end. Governor Rauner completed his mission to ensure the state has no budget AGAIN this year. It has been 702 days for the state without a budget. The Illinois House and Senate passed major reforms that the Governor demanded, including: property tax freeze, workers compensation reforms, authorization to sell the Thompson Center, state procurement reforms, and local government consolidation authorization. Yet, that is not good enough for Rauner. His path to destruction of the state continues the Governor failed once again to submit a truly balanced budget and despite the Senate Democrats attempting all session to work on a compromise with Senate Republicans - he routinely interferred in negotiations to prevent a bi-partisan agreement. Rauner has repeatedly, according to multiple sources, threatened lawmakers to get his way. The state is facing a lack of funding for elementary, secondary, and higher education schools - which could prevent some opening this fall. The House and Senate passed an adjournment resolution before leaving, stating that they would be in continuous session during the summer. Additionally, the House will hold appropriations hearings throughout June. No decision has been made regarding when legislators will return to Springfield. Major Workers Compensation Reforms to Governor The House and Senate approved workers compensation reforms this year. One of Governor Rauner s main demands for a budget. HB 2525 (Hoffman/ Raoul) included workers compensation insurance rate regulation by the Department of Insurance. It will provide employers with a compensation insurance rate reduction if they have a bona fide safety and return to work program in place. It also allows for penalties on an employer when they don t authorize medical treatment for an injured worker. HB 2525 would further require transparency for self-insured employers, like Caterpillar, to report the financial losses they have due to injuries on the job. The legislation will authorize a task force to look at the feasibility of creating a non-profit state fund to provide workers compensation insurance to employers. This would result in a free market for workers compensation insurance, bringing prices down, saving employer s money, and reinvesting that money back into Illinois and its workers. The Illinois General Assembly also passed HB 2622 (Fine/Biss). This was an initiative of LIUNA Midwest Region, and supported by the IL AFL-CIO. This legislation would create a state chartered work comp insurance fund to compete with the for-profit insurance companies, creating free market competition to drive down the costs of work comp insurance for employers. HB 2622 offers Illinois employers an alternative to padding the profits of insurance companies. State-chartered workers comp insurance companies provide long-term savings and a high level of service to their policy holders. Both bills now will go to the Governor so that he can provide workers compensation relief for businesses around Illinois. House & Senate Pass $15 Minimum Wage The Illinois General Assembly passed a minimum wage increase for the first time in nearly 11 years. SB 81 (Lightford/ Guzzardi) would increase the wage to $15 over five years. The wage for those under 18 years of age would increase to $12 over five years. The legislation includes tax credits for businesses that pay employees the minimum wage. Passage of the bill took some intense lobbying at the end of session, but many Democrats stood up for a progressive approach to lifting up the middle class. We thank those House and Senate Democrats who stood with working families. We call upon Governor Rauner to sign the bill as is, to help infuse our economy with higher wage earners. Call For More Information On These And Other Important To Working People -

2 06/02/17 Page 2 Responsible Jobs Creation Act HB 690 (Ammons/Martinez), the Responsible Jobs Creation Act, passed the Senate 41-9, and cleared a House committee unanimously on concurrence. The House needs to approve the bill to be sent to the Governor. It would require staffing agencies to report demographic information about the workers that they hire to the Illinois Department of Labor. The information would then be aggregated by the Department for the public. Student Loan Bill of Rights SB 1351 (Biss/Guzzardi) creates a Student Loan Bill of Rights to protect student loan borrowers in Illinois. The bill ensures borrowers receive clear and accurate information about their loans and repayment options if they are struggling to make payments; creates a Student Loan Ombudsman in the Office of the Attorney General. The bill passed the House , and will be sent to the Governor. TRUST Act SB 31 (SP Cullerton/Welch) passed the House , and the Senate this week. It prohibits law enforcement agencies and officials from detaining or continuing to detain an individual solely on the basis of an immigration detainer or non-judicial immigration warrant or from otherwise complying with an immigration detainer or non-judicial immigration warrant. Requires law enforcement training on compliance with the Illinois TRUST Act. It will now go to the Governor. Fire Chief Qualifications SB 1304 (Anderson/Willis) passed the House this week. It was an Associated Firefighters of Illinois initiative to essentially require fire chiefs to have an (1) Office of the State Fire Marshal Firefighter Basic Certification or Firefighter II Certification; Office of the State Fire Marshal Fire Officer I and II Certifications; and an associate degree in fire science or a bachelor s degree from an accredited university or college; or (2) a minimum of 10 years experience as a firefighter at the fire department, or fire protection district, in the jurisdiction making the appointment. It now goes to the Governor. School Funding SB 1 (Manar/W. Davis) the Evidence-Based Funding for Student Success Act, was approved by the legislature in the final hours of session. The bill makes comprehensive reforms to the Illinois school funding formula, including: Creates an evidence-based formula based on individual weights for student needs, such as special education and bilingual education. Establishes mechanics for a property tax swap which is intended to provide tax relief for high-tax, lowwealth districts. Each district could apply for state funds to replace local property tax dollars. The total amount a district can receive from the state would be capped at 1 percent of the district s equalized assessed value (EAV). A separate appropriations bill would be needed to fund the tax swap fund. SB 1 creates a new mechanism for funding schools, but does not actually appropriate FY18 funding. The K-12 budget would occur through a separate appropriations process. Republicans and Democrats disagree on whether SB 1 reflects the recommendations of the Governor s appointed school funding commission, and it is likely that he will veto it. Property Tax Freeze Senate President Cullerton advanced two property tax freeze bills to the House, SB 482 applies a two year property tax freeze, but exempts local school districts and city of Chicago. SB 484 applies a statewide two year property tax freeze, unless a school district has a hardship exemption. Both bills are in the House Rules Committee. Sick Leave Stalls in the House HB 2771 (C Mitchell/Hutchinson) to require five paid sick days for employees in Illinois stalled in the House as time expired to pass the bill. A late amendment by the railroad industry stripped rail and airline employees from receiving the sick days in the bill. With an immediate effective date, the bill will require 71 votes for passage in the House between now and December 31st.

3 06/02/17 Page 3 Unemployment Insurance Agreed Bill HB 2699 (K.Wheeler/Weaver) was unemployment insurance agreed bill requested by the IL Department of Employment Security (IDES) that: Allows IDES to electronically communicate with employers and beneficiaries using UI Account numbers; Restores UI Act to pre-2015 policy to provide employers with quarterly credit statements and specifies that an employer has 3 years from the date of an overpayment to request a refund; Allows IDES Director to determine if an employer has engaged reorganizing or transferring portions of a business to escape higher UI experience factor taxes; Relieves an immediate past employer of higher UI taxes if the employer is not the chargeable employer in an unemployment claim and if the claimant quit or refused work to enroll in a training program approved under the Federal Trade Adjustment Assistance Program. The agreed bill did not address the speed bumps in the UI Act. The speed bumps, which will take effect on December 31, 2017, will increase UI taxes on employers and reduce claimant benefits. The purpose of speed bumps is to allow business and labor to negotiate on needed changes (if any) in the UI Act. House Passes Corporate Tax Reduction The House passed HB 160 (Zalewski) by a vote of It would have lowered the corporate income tax rate from 5.25% to 2.625% after It included an apprenticeship program tax credit. In addition, another $500,000 is earmarked for investments made in qualified new minority and female owned business ventures in counties with a population of less than 250,000 inhabitants. A motion to reconsider the vote was filed by Leader Currie, keeping this bill in the House for the time being. Chicago Elected School Board Bill Nears Final Passage HB 1774 creates an elected representative school board for the City of Chicago. Currently, the mayor appoints the school board, unlike every other school district in the state. The House needs to take one more vote to concur with amendments made in the Senate, and then this bill can be sent to the Governor. Prevailing Wage Bills Advance Both chambers advanced HB 3044 (Hoffman/Silverstein) to the Governor s desk. The bill would change the date by which the Illinois Department of Labor would post the prevailing wage rates on their website to August 15th (currently it is July 15th). Legislation to tie the prevailing wage rate to collectively bargained rates in a locality was attached to SB 1904 (Biss/ Hoffman). The bill cleared the House , but still needs Senate approval before being advanced to the Governor. Wage Theft Bill Goes to Governor SB 1720 (Biss/Hernandez) passed the House It would increase the penalties on employers who steal wages from employees. For unpaid amounts of $5,000 or less increases the penalty to a Class A (currently Class B) misdemeanor instead of increasing the penalty to a Class 4 felony. For unpaid amounts of more than $5,000 increases the penalty to a Class 4 felony (currently Class A misdemeanor) instead of increasing the penalty to a Class 3 felony. Importantly, this bill applies to the following labor statutes: Illinois Wage Payment & Collection Act; Minimum Wage Law; WARN Act; Employee Classification Act; Day & Temporary Services Act; Fair labor Standards Act of 1938; And any other state law relating to wages. Illinois Department of Labor Joseph Beyer was appointed officially on May 27th to be Director of the Illinois Department of Labor. On Friday, May 26th, the Illinois Department of Labor finally began posting prevailing wage rates that are effective June 5, 2017 at this site:

4 06/02/17 Page 4 Automatic Voter Registration SB1933 (Manar/Gabel) passed the Senate 55-0 and the House It reforms current registration laws so that whenever an eligible Illinois resident applies for, updates or renews a driver s license or state ID, he or she will be automatically registered to vote or have their registration updated, unless they opt out. It also creates a similar program for other state agencies, which include: the Department of Human Services, Department of Healthcare & Family Services, Department of Employment Security, Department on Aging, Department of Financial & Professional Regulation and Department of Natural Resources. Republican Health Plan Leaves 23 Million Uninsured According to a report released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the GOP plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act would leave 23 million more people uninsured by The report, released last week, scored the Republican plan the American Health Care Act recently passed by the House on a partisan roll call. The plan would also seriously cut Medicaid while offering tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the highest-income Americans in addition to effectively ending the mandate assuring that pre-existing conditions are covered by allowing states to issue waivers to insurance companies. The CBO reports that older and lower-income Americans would pay significantly more under the plan. These cuts to health care for the sick, poor and elderly are coupled with giving billions of dollars in tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans. Coal Mine Safety Maintained SB 1839 was initiated by the coal operators and would have attempted to weaken mine safety laws in Illinois. Specifically, the bill would have placed the number and the positioning of Self-Contained Self Rescuers (SCSR s) under the direction of the weaker federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). SCSR s are the first line of defense for underground miners in the event of a mine disaster and the UMWA and the IL AFL-CIO were strongly opposed to the bill. The bill, as introduced, was passed out of the Senate on a 3rd Reading parliamentary maneuver. In the House the language to diminish mine safety was removed and the bill was eventually amended to include the telecommunications bill. Privatization Protection Bill Passes House Bill 3216, which aims to curb reckless privatization and ensure accountability to taxpayers passed out of the Senate on May 25 with a vote of The bill had passed out of the House on April 27 with a vote of and now goes to the governor s desk. Sponsored by Rep. Litesa Wallace, the legislation prevents the state from privatizing services currently performed by state employees without first meeting rigorous requirements. According to the bill which was sponsored by Sen. Andy Manar in the Senate the state can only enter into third-party contracts when those contracts are in the best interest of Illinois. SAVE THE DATE - August 25, 2017 WHEN: Sat., August 25, with Registration at 8:30 a.m. sharp! Shotgun start at 10:00 a.m. WHERE: Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation 14N322 IL-Route 25, Dundee, IL DETAILS: Sponsorships available for $5,000, $3,000, $2,500, $2,000 and $750. Individual shooters are $200. For more information go to:

5 06/02/17 Page 5 Trump Budget Cuts Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid The Trump budget cuts Social Security s earned benefits by up to $64 billion over 10 years. It makes direct cuts in Social Security benefits, including a 50% cut in the maximum retroactive benefit a worker can receive after she is first approved for disability benefits. This means an average cut of $7,000. It also targets benefits for people with severe, long-term disabilities by forcing participation in test projects designed to keep or stop workers from getting benefits. It ties these projects to a requirement that total Social Security disability benefit payments be cut by 5% by The Trump budget cuts Medicare by $59 billion over 10 years. This cut is part of the House-passed American Health Care Act (AHCA), which has been endorsed by Trump and is incorporated into his budget. It repeals the additional Medicare tax on individuals earning more than $200,000 a year and couples earning more than $250,000 a year. This Medicare cut depletes the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund two years sooner than expected and increases the fund s long-run shortfall by more than half. The Trump budget cuts Medicaid by as much as $1.5 trillion over 10 years.this includes more than $850 billion in cuts that are part of the House-passed health care bill and $610 billion in new cuts on top of those. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the provisions in the AHCA will cut off 14 million people from Medicaid within 10 years. With its new funding cuts, the budget likely will cut off millions more people from coverage. (From the AFL-CIO blog) WHEN: Saturday, July 15, 2017 with Registration 7:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. and a Shotgun start at 9:30 a.m. WHERE: Downers Grove Sportsmen Club, Illinois and Michigan Canal Trail, 4700 Old Stage Rd, Morris, IL phone $175 per Shooter Sponsorships Available DETAILS: Shooter registrations include lunch & drinks, 12- or 20-guage shotgun shells and clay targets. There will be awards, door prizes and premium raffle drawings For more details,