(The Center Square) – Business leaders from around Illinois met with lawmakers and policy experts Wednesday to brainstorm on how to spur economic growth.
The Illinois Manufacturers Association and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association hosted Business Day in Springfield. Illinois Manufacturers Association President and CEO Mark Denzler said updating the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act is crucial for Illinois businesses.
“Too many employers, nearly 2,000, are facing lawsuits because they simply used time clocks or face scans for security,” said Denzler.
IRMA board chair Art Potash said many of the bills coming out of the 103rd General Assembly are anti-business.
“Quite frankly, much of the legislation presents additional challenges to the business community,” said Potash. “Thankfully the respective teams at IRMA and IMA have done a great job of containing most of the harm.”
Several Republican lawmakers recently introduced bills to improve the business climate in Illinois, including tax credits if a business stays in Illinois.
“We don’t have to look any further than recent departures of Stellantis, Caterpillar, Boeing, Tyson Foods and others, to understand that Illinois needs to do a better job in retaining our large employers,” said state Sen. Don DeWitte, R-St. Charles.
State Sen. John Curran, R-Downers Grove, is hopeful the upcoming budget negotiations will include more business-friendly measures.
“There are real consequences to these past budget initiatives that the Democratic majority has put in unilaterally in this state, and we’ve seen a response from the business communities,” said Curran.
A recent report by the American Legislative Exchange Council ranked Illinois 46th in the country for economic competitiveness and ranked the state a dismal 44th in the corporate income tax rate category.
