Tier 2 Fee Legislation Defeated in Committee
Late yesterday at the State Capitol, HB 5559 which proposed to establish fees as high as $450 per facility for companies who submit annual Tier 2 chemical inventory reports was defeated in the House Environment Committee. The vote was 7 in favor, 9 opposed. KJ Johnson, IFCA's Director of Government & Industry Relations provided testimony at the committee outlining the reasons for IFCA's opposition to these fees.
Thank you to all the IFCA members who contacted their legislators about this bill! Your phone calls made a big difference. Those who voted against the bill were:
Representatives Charlie Meier, Brad Halbrook, Dwight Kay, David McSweeney, Bill Mitchell, Tom Morrison, Brandon Phelps, Pat Verschoore and Mike Tryon.
Please find time to thank them with a phone call or note, they were very responsive to the concerns of IFCA and other industry groups who were opposed including the Illinois Petroleum Marketers, Chemical Industry Council of Illinois, Illinois Chamber, Illinois Manufacturers, Illinois Retail Merchants and Illinois Petroleum Council. Illinois Corn Growers Association and GROWMARK also filed slips of opposition to the bill.
On other legislative issues, the sponsors of the GMO food labeling bill have decided to not call the bills for a vote in either the Senator or the House, and the sponsor of the bill that would weaken pesticide preemption laws in Cook County has also decided not to call the bill. This is a result of continued conversations and discussions with these legislators regarding the impact of these bills on Illinois agriculture. IFCA remains very active at the state capitol on your behalf and will continue to work on remaining issues important to our industry.