I hope you’ve been enjoying the waning days of summer! It’s been a very heavy week following the loss of K-9 Odin, but I wanted to provide you an update with my thoughts on the Alton Police Department, share my summer legislative update, economic development, the DuQuoin state fair, and what events I’ve got coming up.
ODIN
This has been a very sad week for the Alton Police Department and the city of Alton as we learned of the death of K9 officer Odin in a shooting last Thursday. The news could have been even worse had his handler officer not been wearing his vest. Odin served the APD with bravery until the end and he received an honorable escort to Gent Funeral Home from the animal hospital. Multiple departments assisted with this escort and I was there at Gent Funeral Home to see the procession arrive and was able to salute Odin and his handler.
As much as I try, I don’t really know what to say sometimes, in situations like this, except I’m sorry and I’m here if you need me. It doesn’t feel like enough, but I hope our officers know I care so much about their safety and well-being. One officer said to me last week, “You just never know”, and I said, “and that’s why we appreciate you all so much.” Because they never know, and their families never know, and you and I never know, when they will have a day like last Thursday, so you can bet I’m going to appreciate each and every one of our men and women in blue, even though I can’t always find the words to say it. Rest in Peace Odin.
SUMMER LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
I wrote my seventeenth update to the citizens of the 111th district! It’s been a busy summer, with lots happening throughout the state. You can read my latest update here.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
General Assembly makes a small, but potentially valuable, change to the job-threatening Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The BIPA law, enacted in 2008, purports to protect the privacy of an individual’s biometric information from misuse in Illinois. Biometrics are the biologically unique identifiers that differentiate each individual human being, including eye and fingerprint markings. Illinois Democrats have a long record of alliances with law firms that issue contingent lawsuits for big-money damages. Especially in years that followed 2008, the BIPA law was interpreted by the courts to grant ‘standing’ to file enormous lawsuits against any business firm in Illinois that had collected biometric information about its employees, such as using biometric locks or time clocks.
After some of these lawsuits began to move to trial and massive verdicts, the Illinois business community began to warn the General Assembly that BIPA was becoming a deadly threat to job creation and retention. House Republicans sponsored bills to reduce or eliminate the threats created by BIPA misuse. Many Democrats, faithful to their alliance with the trial bar, did not want to take action. Under pressure, the leadership of the House and Senate Democrats partially gave in. In the 2024 spring session, they allowed a bill to come to the floor of the House and Senate. As passed by both houses, SB 2979 allowed many of the job-threatening features of BIPA to remain untouched: trial lawyers will continue to be able to use BIPA to file big lawsuits. However, SB 2979 also says that if a firm collects biometric information two or more times from one individual without explicit permission – as, for example, if a security camera repeatedly takes a picture of an individual reporting to work, and the same picture is taken every day – then only one act of alleged damage has taken place. No plaintiff or law firm can claim that two or more pictures, or fingerprints, create two or more episodes of damage for which huge sums of money can be awarded.
Even after passage of SB 2979 and its enactment into law, the Biometric Information Privacy Act continues to be highly hostile to job creation and retention in Illinois. Employers and job creators do not face similar lawsuits in any of the other states that compete with Illinois for jobs. Firms that use facial recognition, fingerprint-scans, or any of the other identification methods pinpointed by BIPA continue to be potentially liable for lawsuits and damages. House Republicans would have preferred a much more equitable biometric privacy law that would have balanced the interests of business and labor. Two House Republican bills, HB 2335 (Keicher) and HB 5635 (Keicher) are good examples of what an equitable BIPA bill looks like. Many House Republicans voted against the 2024 law because it fell far short of true BIPA reform.
However, the 2024 law is better than nothing and marks a rare partial defeat for the trial bar in Illinois. The SB 2979 biometric law modification statute was signed into law in August 2024.
DUQOIN STATE FAIR
The DuQuoin State Fair opens on Friday. The annual Du Quoin State Fair will kick off with a ribbon cutting and Twilight Parade this Friday, August 23. Learn about all the activities, events, and performers at this year’s fair!
The DuQuoin State Fair has announced their theme days for 2024.
Theme days at the Du Quoin State Fair really capture the essence of what makes this fair special. I want to extend my gratitude to everyone involved in the fair for consistently providing the community with such enjoyable summer experiences!
What’s Next?
I’m hosting a Senior Fraud Seminar at Meridian Village in Glen Carbon on September 3. I’ll be joined by experts at the Illinois Attorney General’s office and we will discuss common fraud schemes and ways to protect yourself.
On October 5th, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., I will hold a shred event in Granite City, next to the Granite City School District offices. If you have any questions about these events, please call my office at 618-433-8046.
Thank you for taking the time to read this week’s Capitol Update! I’ll be writing to you again soon. Enjoy the rest of summer and stay cool this week during the heat wave!