The Senate Appropriations II Committee held the second of seven hearings on the proposed lease of the Illinois Tollway System, in Joliet on June 13. Under the proposal, the Illinois Tollway System would be sold or leased to a private company. Profits from the sale would purportedly be used for additional transportation funding and for repayment of a part of the state’s unfunded pension liability.

Concerns were raised at the hearing over what the money from the sale would actually be used for, where it would be used, and how a private entity could be held accountable, for maintenance and other issues, by voters and government officials.

The Committee is expected to have five more hearings – in Springfield, Chicago, Carbondale, a community in Lake County and a community in DuPage or Kane counties. The first meeting was May 31 at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago.

In other news, the Governor signed legislation to hold nuclear power plants to stricter environmental standards.

Drafted in response to reports of tritium leaks at several of Illinois’ Exelon Nuclear generating stations, House Bill 1620 requires the owner or operator of a nuclear power plant to report to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) any “unpermitted release” of a contaminant within 24 hours; including any illegal spilling, leaking, emitting, discharging, escaping, leaching or disposing of a contaminant into groundwater, surface water, or soil.

Rutherford explained that in an effort to stop future leaks, the bill also requires the EPA and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency to inspect every nuclear power plant in Illinois for unpermitted releases at least once quarterly.

House Bill 1620 takes effect immediately.

Another piece of legislation recently signed into law will require the inclusion of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) program in agricultural education programs in Illinois schools.

House Bill 4986 requires a school district that offers an agricultural education program in high school, that is funded at the state or federal level, to provide courses approved by the State Board of Education, and offer a state and nationally affiliated FFA chapter as part of course work, not as an extracurricular activity.

Other bills signed into law include:

Financial exploitation (SB 2763/P.A. 94-0851) – Provides that the Office of Inspector General designated by DHS has the power to subpoena witnesses in cases of financial exploitation of an elderly or disabled person and compel the production of books, papers, and documents.

Nursing homes (SB 2782/P.A. 94-0852) – Provides that a person making a report of alleged abuse, neglect, or exploitation functioning as a licensed professional may be entitled to the result of the report and of the investigation.

Nursing homes (SB 3010/P.A. 94-0853) – Makes it a Class A misdemeanor for “required reporters” to willfully fail to report allegations of long-term care abuse or neglect.

Performance fraud (HB 4172/P.A. 94-0854) – Provides that it is unlawful for a person to advertise or conduct a live musical performance or production through the use of a false, deceptive, or misleading affiliation, connection, or association between the performing group and the recording group.