In Illinois, with every new year comes new laws, and on January 1st, 2019, several new laws will go into effect that could impact industry. The following laws will take effect on the first day of January:
P.A. 100-0679 (HB 4858)
Public Act 100-0679 is an IMA initiative that is designed to support statewide efforts to prepare a high quality workforce for 21st Century manufacturing. Under the new law, high schools and community colleges with programs of study in Industrial Arts would be able to receive grants authorized by the Industrial Development Assistance Act to pay for updated facilities and equipment. This new law is seen as critical to Illinois’ efforts to keep pace with manufacturing’s technological advancements and to better prepare students for the modern manufacturing sector.
P.A. 100-0688 (HB 5253)
In taking an important step in realizing that every new regulation in the state has the potential to impact small businesses in big ways, Public Act 100-0688 modifies the provisions requiring State agencies to issue an economic impact analysis when proposing new rules or amendments to rules that affect small businesses. Among other requirements, economic impact analysis must now include a list of the industries that will have to comply with the proposed rule or amendment and an identification of the types of impact that the proposed rule or amendment will have based on specified categories.
P.A. 100-0792 (SB 2527)
Under Public Act 100-0792, qualified students will be allowed to enroll in an unlimited amount of dual credit courses and earn an unlimited amount of academic credits from dual credit courses if the courses are taught by an Illinois instructor, as provided under the Dual Credit Quality Act. This law will allow students to complete school at a quicker pace and ideally, at a lesser cost. Dual credit courses are often taken advantage of by students in vocational and industrial arts who are working towards a degree in order to enter the workforce with a higher skillset.
P.A. 100-0925 (SB 2524)
In an effort to combat the ceaseless issue of how to properly dispose of pharmaceutical products, Public Act 100-0925 creates the Pharmaceutical Disposal Task Force to coordinate a statewide public information campaign to highlight the benefits of and opportunities to properly dispose of pharmaceutical products. The Task Force, which brings together the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Department of Public Health, as well as representatives from environment and pharmaceutical groups, will highlight opportunities to properly dispose of pharmaceutical products through local police departments and local governments, pharmacies, long-term hazardous waste facilities, and hazardous-waste collection events, to name a few.
P.A. 100-1094 (SB 2999)
Codifying what is already widely practiced among manufacturers, Public Act 100-1094 seeks to protect employees by requiring an employer to reimburse an employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee directly related to services performed for the employer. Necessary expenses include “all reasonable expenditures or losses including, but not limited to, uniforms, equipment, vehicle expenses, electronic devices such as cell phones, tablets, and computers, and any other expenditures or losses an employer requires an employee to incur in direct consequence of the discharge of employment duties.” An employer is not liable under this law unless the employer knew or had reason to know that the employee incurred the expenditure or loss.
