Splintered Economic Equity Act remains problematic, Illinois Chamber of Commerce says

(The Center Square) – As Illinois’ lawmakers moved quickly in the final days of the lame-duck session to work out kinks in the proposed Economic Equity Act, some problematic measures got cut, but others did not.

Also known as House Bill 5871, the massive act, which dealt with issues like predatory lending, removal of lead water pipes and the use of criminal background checks in employment decisions, did not pass as detailed, but splintered into many smaller bills.

One thing that was left on the cutting-room floor during the dissection was provisions about environmental permitting.

President and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce Todd Maisch said that’s a good thing.

“They were very, very aggressive and essentially would have made it nearly impossible for a business to get an environmental permit, which allows you to go ahead and expand your business, employ more people, employ more people to go ahead and build a construction project,” Maisch said.

Not only would the provisions have impacted major industrials, but they would have prevented bridges and roads from being built, Maisch said.

The elimination of all lead water pipes, another provision from the original bill, was also removed, but for different reasons.

“That was taken out not because it’s not an important issue, but because there’d been an awful lot of work that had been done in another piece of legislation, and the Legislature decided to go ahead and let that effort play out,” Maisch said.

There remained two key issue areas that are very problematic, Maisch said.

Employment law provisions preventing the use of criminal background checks in hiring decisions was one.

The language in the new legislation is too vague, Maisch said.

“That will make it very, very hard for employers to know what elements of a criminal history can be considered in hiring and firing decisions that they make,” Maisch said. “The problem is that all those provisions need to be rewritten.”

Illinois lawmakers didn’t discuss with businesses to find out what was workable for them, Maisch said.

Previously, the Chamber worked with the Legislature to develop similar legislation.

“We found the right balance between individuals who do deserve a chance to go ahead and find employment, but at the same time balancing the needs of employers to know whether or not someone has a disqualifying criminal history,” Maisch said.

New state procurement provisions that prioritize descendants of American slavery in state purchasing decisions also concerned Maisch.

“Employers really don’t know how that’s going to work, and they suspect it’s going to make it much, much harder to go ahead and sell a lot of products and services to the state of Illinois,” he said.

Problems with both the employment law and state procurement provisions must need addressing when the Legislature returns, Maisch said.

Disclaimer: This content is distributed by The Center Square