Eye On Illinois: Since when are this state’s business regulations ‘toothless’?

Illinois has a reputation for being excessively burdensome on businesses with laws that favor consumers (if you ask the politicians) and trial lawyers (if you ask those politicians’ opponents).

So it came as quite a surprise to read a Capitol News Illinois quote from Douglas Heller, insurance director for the Washington-based Consumer Federation of America, describing Illinois’ home insurance regulations as “among the most toothless in the nation.”

CNI’s Peter Hancock reported “Illinois is the only state in the country that does not prohibit rates from being ‘inadequate, excessive or unfairly discriminatory,’ which means it has no authority to reject a rate filing on those grounds.”

State Farm customers are now facing sticker shock over an announced 27.2% rate spike (but probably consoled by all the cute commercials) with some certainly hoping Gov. JB Pritzker can convince lawmakers to tighten the reins. Average premiums in Illinois increased 50% from 2021 to 2024.

All that red tape and homeowners still can’t catch a break.

DO THE MATH: A hat-tip to WTVO’s Tylor Sorensen, who last week took a new approach to the grocery tax debate. The context was the Belvidere City Council, which appears actively opposed to reinstating the 1% tax on grocery items sold in the city. Most communities earning headlines in this arena are opting to continue the tax after the state stops collecting it in 2026.

The last time I ran numbers, I noted that when Illinois suspended the tax statewide for all of fiscal 2022, it agreed to cover the shortfall for local governments, which ended up costing $252 million. With 12.5 million Illinoisans, that’s $20.16 per person – almost 39 cents per week.

Sorensen did his own practical math by figuring out how much it would cost Rockford residents to avoid their city’s tax. He reported it’s about 7 miles from an East State Street Aldi to the chain’s Belvidere location and calculated about 98 cents in gas. A shopper would have to spend $99 on groceries to come out a penny ahead. That’s excellent context for an individual consumer.

I’m not passing any value judgments on the tax itself; just a reminder that a little time with a calculator can be illuminating.

REFORMS IDLING: On April 23, I wrote about Senate Bill 1784, a proposal to increase the age – from 10 to 12 – at which children accused of most crimes could not be held in a detention center. I neglected to mention SB 2418, which would take a slightly different approach to the same destination. The issue is freshly relevant with new reporting on dozens of lawsuits alleging widespread sexual abuse at such centers, reinforcing the importance of lawmakers actually addressing these challenges during the fall veto session.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.