Government Affairs Roundup
“Your Timely Roundup of Local, State, and Federal Updates”
Chamber members:
Big news on the mask front announced yesterday. Full details are below. A new high with inflation as we’ve not seen in decades. Check out the story below and plan to join us next week for our member luncheon as we welcome new President & CEO of the Will County Center for Economic Development, Doug Pryor. Doug will talk give an economic forecast and touch upon items like housing, transportation, and more. Click here for more details and to register to join us!
*Government Affairs Roundup brought to you by CITGO & Silver Cross Hospital*
Gov. Pritzker Announces Illinois Plan to Lift Statewide Indoor Mask Requirement on Monday, February 28
With statewide COVID-19 hospitalization rates declining faster than any other point in the pandemic, Illinois is on track to lift the statewide indoor mask requirement on Monday, February 28, 2022. Mask requirements will continue where federally mandated, such as on public transit and in high-risk settings including healthcare facilities and congregate care. Masking requirements will also continue to apply in all daycare settings. The state intends to continue masking requirements in P-12 schools subject to pending litigation which impacts a number of schools. As the CDC reaffirmed just today, masks remain a critical tool to keep schools safe and open.
“We are now seeing the fastest rate of decline in our COVID-19 hospitalization metrics since the pandemic began. If these trends continue — and we expect them to —then on Monday, February 28th, we will lift the indoor mask requirement for the State of Illinois,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “I want to be clear: Many local jurisdictions, businesses and organizations have their own mask requirements and other mitigations that must be respected. Throughout this pandemic, we’ve deployed the tools available to us as needed. Our approach has saved lives and kept our economy open and growing.”
“While masks will no longer be required in most indoor locations beginning February 28, they are still recommended,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “Masks offer a layer of protection and for people who have an underlying health condition or who are around those who do, you may choose to continue wearing a mask. Similarly, if you find yourself in a crowded, indoor setting, a mask can still help protect you. We will continue to recommend masks.”
Illinoisans can resume activities without wearing a mask indoors on February 28th except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance. Federal requirements, in effect through at least March 18, include all transportation systems such as airports, planes, trains, and buses.
To account for the risk of community spread among more vulnerable populations, and in accordance with CDC guidance, Illinois will continue to require masks in the following settings:
• Healthcare Settings: Continue mask requirement
• Long Term Care Facilities: Continue mask requirement
• Congregate Settings (prisons, shelters, etc.): Continue mask requirement
• Transportation: Follow federal guidelines
• Daycare: Follow Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) guidelines
Municipalities and businesses in most industries may choose to continue to implement more strict public health mitigations as they deem appropriate, including requiring masks.
House passes stopgap bill to prevent shutdown
The House on Tuesday passed a stopgap measure to extend federal government funding until March 11 to prevent a shutdown next week while negotiations over a longer-term package remain ongoing.
The chamber voted 272-162 to pass the short-term funding bill on Tuesday evening, just one day before the House is set to be out of session until the week of Feb. 28. A total of 51 House Republicans joined all but one Democrat in support of the measure.
Negotiators reach ‘breakthrough’ in government funding talks
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced Wednesday that negotiators have reached “a breakthrough” agreement on the framework for an omnibus spending package that he predicts will help the two sides agree to the spending toplines very soon.
“We have reached an agreement on framework,” Shelby told The Hill shortly before noon on Thursday. He said the top-line spending numbers for defense and non-defense discretionary programs, which have been a major sticking point in the talks, “will come from that” framework.
He called the development “big.”
Shelby later confirmed the breakthrough development in talks with Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Rep. Kay Granger (Texas), the ranking Republican on the House panel.
“We have reached an understanding on the framework, which lets us go to the next step,” he told a group of reporters in the Senate subway. “I believe this is a breakthrough in a bipartisan way.” Shelby, however, declined to go into more detail or comment specifically if the disagreement between Democratic and Republican negotiators over policy riders had been resolved.
U.S. Inflation Accelerates to 7.5%, a 40-Year High
U.S. inflation accelerated to a 7.5% annual rate in January, reaching a four-decade high as strong consumer demand and pandemic-related supply constraints kept pushing up prices. The Labor Department on Thursday said the consumer-price index—which measures what consumers pay for goods and services—was last month at its highest level since February 1982, when compared with January a year ago, and higher than December’s 7% annual rate. Inflation has been above 5% for the past eight months as a U.S. rebound from earlier in the Covid-19 pandemic created imbalances in the economy.
The so-called core price index, which excludes the often-volatile categories of food and energy, climbed 6% in January from a year earlier. That was a sharper rise than December’s 5.5% increase, and the highest rate in nearly 40 years. On a monthly basis, the CPI increased a seasonally adjusted 0.6% last month, holding steady at the same pace as in December.
Prices were up sharply for a number of everyday household items, including food, vehicles, shelter and electricity. A sharp uptick in housing rental prices—one of the biggest monthly costs for households—contributed to last month’s increase.
Used-car prices continued to drive overall inflation, rising 40.5% in January from a year ago. However, prices for used cars moderated on a month-to-month basis, increasing by 1.5%. That was down from a 3.3% increase in December and the smallest gain since September—a possible sign that a major source of inflationary pressure over the past year could be easing.
Food prices surged 7%, the sharpest rise since 1981. Restaurant prices rose by the most since the early 1980s, pushed up by an 8% jump in fast-food prices from a year earlier. Grocery prices increased 7.4%, as meat and egg prices continued to climb at double-digit rates.
Energy prices rose 27%, easing from November’s peak of 33.3%. But the jump in electricity costs was particularly sharp when compared with historical trends, with prices up 10.7% from a year ago and 4.2% from December. The latter was the sharpest one-month rise since 2006.
The January number includes a once-a-year revision that affects seasonally adjusted data for the past five years. The Labor Department also updated the list of goods included in the calculation, known as a spending basket, to reflect consumer habits in 2019 and 2020.
Prices for autos, household furniture and appliances, as well as for other long-lasting goods, continue to drive much of the inflationary surge, fueled by pandemic-related supply-and-demand imbalances. Most economists expect the dynamic to fade as businesses adapt and demand normalizes. But it isn’t clear when supply snarls will ease enough to take pressure off prices, particularly because of recent disruptions from the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
Food inflation also is raising consumers’ grocery bills, pushed up by steady price increases for meat, eggs and citrus fruits. Energy-price gains had shown signs of easing after climbing steeply last year. But a recent sharp rise in crude oil prices threatens to keep gasoline prices elevated.
High inflation is the dark side of the unusually strong economy, posing a challenge to the Federal Reserve as it prepares to raise interest rates.
“Inflation is at a new 40-year high and it isn’t just the rate that should be worrying the Federal Reserve, but also the breadth of corporate pricing power,” said James Knightley, chief international economist at ING. “With wages, commodity prices and supply-chain strains all contributing, the Fed will need to respond aggressively.”
He added that the Fed could raise interest rates by half a percentage point at its March policy meeting, increasing them from the level of nearly zero set early in the pandemic.
The economy expanded 5.5% last year, the fastest pace since 1984. That brisk growth is powered by a strong labor market. Employers added 1.6 million jobs over the past three months, putting upward pressure on wages. With inflation well above the Fed’s target, the steady gains in hiring leave the Fed on track to raise interest rates next month and could prompt further increases in May and June.
Mounting wage pressures related to the nation’s tight job market also could start feeding into inflation. Annual wage growth was running at 4.5% in December, the fastest pace since 2002, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s wage tracker, which makes adjustments for changes in the composition of workers. However, inflation continues to outpace wage growth for most workers, eroding their spending power.
In December, some 47% of small businesses said they planned to raise prices in the next three months, on net, according to the National Federation of Independent Business, a trade association. That figure is down slightly from the last three months of 2021, but close to the highest share since monthly records began in 1986.
Illinois Senate Republicans float an anti-crime package that features a “two-strikes-and-you’re-out” clause and more police funding.
Illinois Senate Republicans tightened the screws another notch on what the GOP thinks will be a winning issue this election year, introducing a tougher-than-tough anti-crime package that features a “two-strikes-and-you’re out” clause.
Senators outlined a package that, among other things, boosts funding for police, requires those convicted of assaulting a police officer to serve at least 85% of their sentence, sets a minimum 10-year sentence for anyone convicted of selling a gun to a felon, and automatically transfers cases of aggravated carjacking or armed robbery that involve a minor to adult court.
The core of the package would be a blast from the past. Instead of proposing a “three-strikes-and-you’re-out” law of the type that was popular a couple of decades ago, the GOP wants 10 years for a first conviction and life for any others in cases of aggravated carjacking, possessing a gun as a felon, aggravated discharge of a firearm, or use of a stolen or illegally obtained gun in committing a crime. Such measures nationally have faded with time, amid charges that they ended up imprisoning too many people for too long and were very costly to enforce.
Republicans introduced similar bills last year and they made little progress as Democrats instead passed a major criminal justice reform page. Initial reaction from Democrats is that such ideas won’t make much more progress this year. “We hope to see the same level of support when it comes time to vote for state budgets that actually fund state and local police,” said John Patterson, spokesman for Senate President Don Harmon. But with rising crime rates continuing to make lots of headlines statewide, the senators said they’re moving ahead.
For instance, Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Champaign, noted that in recent months, one police officer was killed, a second was attacked in his district and a school bus was hit with bullets. “This criminal plague, this scourge of violence” must end, he said. “The General Assembly’s back at work. It’s time for action. In fact, it’s past time.”
Sen. Steve McClure of Jacksonville contended that the number of new arrests for people awaiting trial in Cook County has gone up 45% since the county moved toward a no-cash bail policy. He even quoted Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who has been quite vocal on the subject of releasing people accused of violent offenses on electronic monitors: “The (criminal justice) system is fundamentally broken.”
Some Democrats privately are suggesting that these items are more about primary election politics than true reform, with some incumbents facing challenges from the political right. Still, both Harmon and House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch say they’re working on tweaks to last year’s bill, perhaps dealing with organized retail theft and carjackings. House Republicans have called for total repeal of that measure.
Building Blocks of Success: IDOT announces February dates for DBE program workshops
The Illinois Department of Transportation is hosting free virtual workshops in February as part of its continuing Building Blocks of Success series for firms interested in participating in the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program, strengthening their skills and bidding on state construction projects.
The workshop dates and topics are:
Feb. 14, 10 a.m. to noon: Meet the RE, Construction Supervisor and the Bureau Chief of Construction
Feb. 22, 10 a.m. to noon: What Banks Look for: Basic Requirements
Feb. 23, 10 a.m. to noon: Understanding How Banks Make Lending Decisions
Future topics covered include financing, QuickBooks training, estimating and bidding, insurance, management, steps needed to be certified as a DBE firm and more.
Building Blocks of Success will continue through April. Workshop information, including dates and times, is available through Eventbrite at bit.ly/DBEworkshops. Advance registration is required.
Questions can be directed to IDOT’s DBE Resource Center at (312) 939.1100.
As part of Gov. Pritzker’s historic and bipartisan Rebuild Illinois program, IDOT is helping to deliver the largest capital program in state history. IDOT strives to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the implementation of this program, including contracting and workforce participation.
Administered by IDOT, the DBE program provides minorities, women and other eligible small businesses opportunities to participate in highway, transit and airport contracts that are federally and state funded. For more information on becoming a certified DBE and learning more about IDOT resources that are available, visit www.idot.illinois.gov/dbe.
Stay well,
Mike Paone
Executive Vice President
Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce & Industry
mpaone@jolietchamber.com
815.727.5371 main
815.727.5373 direct