IVCA Provides Updates for State Legislative Issues – 10/12/22
Illinois Venture Capital Association Illinois Legislative Report
David Stricklin / Stricklin & Associates
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
IVCA BILL HEARING IN HOUSE REVENUE
The IVCA has been diligently pursuing a change in statute to better define an investment partnership to include a private equity fund. Our bill, SB 2430, was approved by the Illinois State Senate unanimously in April of 2021, then sent to the House for consideration.
SB 2430 Status In the House, the IVCA engaged the Illinois Department of Revenue and House policy makers on the question of whether the bill could be only prospective, as currently written, or could we add an amendment (House Amendment #1 to SB 2430) which would make the statute retroactive.
The issue stems from audits done by the IDOR which say out-of-state taxpayers are liable for income from fund distributions due to the way Illinois law is currently written. IDOR agrees the law should change and has helped create the definition included in the bill passed by the Senate. Significant opposition has developed, however, to the concept of making the bill retroactive. Opponents of that approach contend there is a process for handling disputes such as this, through the Illinois Independent Tax Tribunal IITT. Policy makers have also expressed while sympathetic to the specific issues at hand, the precedent which could be set by enacting a bill which retroactively decides numerous disputes.
Monday the 17th of October at 1:00 p.m., SB 2430 will be heard in the Illinois House Revenue Committee. You may watch and/or listen here:
https://www.ilga.gov/house/committees/hearing.asp?CommitteeID=2710&GA=102Given the opposition to the retroactive component, it is likely the IVCA will ask the committee to move ahead with SB 2430 as passed by the Senate.
TRIBUNE ENDORSES PRITZKER
The days of a newspaper editorial moving very many voters is long over, and some newspapers have dropped the practice altogether. Still, it’s newsworthy, per Politico:
— Gov. JB Pritzker has been endorsed by the Tribune. That’s news given the paper has a history of endorsing Republicans for governor. “It is hard to argue that Pritzker has been fiscally irresponsible or that the state under his leadership has been logjammed or chaotic. For the most part, Illinois has been efficiently run,” the Tribune writes. In 2018, the Trib recommended voters re-elect Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner after also backing him in 2014 over Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. In 2010, the paper endorsed Republican state legislator Bill Brady over Quinn. And in 2006, Republican Judy Baar Topinka won the Tribune’s support over Democrat Rod Blagojevich. The list of Republicans backed by the Tribune goes on and on.
DID YOU SEE THE DEBATE?
Another political standard, the candidate debate, has also been rendered almost quaint by the ways modern campaigns can communicate with voters directly and repeatedly. It is still illuminating to see candidates side-by-side and under the scrutiny of a live debate, Governor JB Pritzker and challenger State Senator Darren Bailey
Crain’sWhen asked about keeping businesses in Illinois, Bailey leveraged the departure of companies like Caterpillar and Tyson to hammer Pritzker on taxes and attacked the governor’s inability to retain HQs despite having four years with a legislative supermajority: “We shouldn’t be having this conversation.” Bailey was also able to slip in another attack on Chicago crime, name-checking McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski’s recent comments about Chicago crime to underscore his point.
Chicago economy – ups and downs
LEADERSHIP FLIP
Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin has a nearly impossible job. Confront the majority Democratic party without the votes to stop anything the Democrats insist they’re going to do, with the support of the Senate Democratic Majority and the governor. The more conservative, downstate members of his caucus have a “MAGA” mindset, while fewer and fewer suburban and exurban Republican House members are more traditional “mainstream” Republicans. Several members of his caucus are running for higher office, several others were defeated in primaries. Long story short, Durkin, who is very knowledgeable and supportive on IVCA issues, has his hands full being re-elected as Leader.