Business Advice and Financial Planning

(Silverstein, D-Chicago; Mautino, D-Spring Valley) is a cleanup of the statutes that authorize organizing as a business entity under Illinois law. (1) It provides consistency between the various business entity acts by authorizing filings previously missing from the Acts, particularly the Uniform Partnership Act and Uniform Limited Partnership Act and by standardizing the filing fees. (2) Allows for electronic filing of documents and reports. (3) Establishes procedures for reinstatement of limited liability partnership status. (4) Provides the manner for resignation as agent for service of process and the method of service. (5) Revises the manner by which administrative dissolution, revocation, and reinstatement is accomplished. Effective July 20, 2012.

(Dillard, R-Westmont; McAsey, D-Lockport) amends this Act to exclude certain kinds of agreements from the Act’s regulation. Those excluded would be a financial institution named as an agent for any person if the agreement does not include a durable power of attorney that survives the incapacity of the principal. Clarifies that this kind of agreement is not a “nonstatutory property power” subject to this Act’s provisions pertaining to statutory short form powers of attorney for property such as a notary is not required to attest to the principal's signature. The drop date for the Governor to take action is August 16, 2012, and it would take effect immediately if he signs it.

(Frerichs, D-Champaign; Bradley, D-Marion) extends the enterprise zones for another 25 years. The current 97 enterprise zones expire in 2013. It also created five new zones from the current River’s Edge Zones. Passed both chambers.

(Silverstein, D-Chicago; Mautino, D-Spring Valley) is a cleanup of the statutes that authorize organizing as a business entity under Illinois law. (1) It provides consistency between the various business entity acts by authorizing filings previously missing from the Acts, particularly the Uniform Partnership Act and Uniform Limited Partnership Act and by standardizing the filing fees. (2) Allows for electronic filing of documents and reports. (3) Establishes procedures for reinstatement of limited liability partnership status. (4) Provides the manner for resignation as agent for service of process and the method of service. (5) Revises the manner by which administrative dissolution, revocation, and reinstatement is accomplished. Passed both chambers.

(Feigenholtz, D-Chicago; Steans, D-Chicago) is supposed to eliminate Illinois’ $2.7 billion Medicaid funding gap. Included in Senate Bill 2840 is a repeal of the compromise of the Medicaid eligibility rules negotiated last fall between the Department of Healthcare and Family Services and the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. Some of these changes include the following: (1) A home transferred into a trust after the bill becomes law may not be considered homestead property. If the home was transferred into a trust before the bill becomes law, it prevents a person from being eligible for long-term care if the person’s equity interest in this homestead exceeds the minimum home equity as allowed under federal law. (2) People over the age of 65 can no longer participate in a federally created OBRA Pooled Trust unless the beneficiary is a ward of the county public guardian or the State guardian. (3) A healthy spouse still living at home will receive only the minimum resource allowance instead of the maximum allowance as previously approved by JCAR. ($110,000 decreased to $22,000) (4) Abolishes spousal refusal entirely so that HFS is not limited to how much it can seek when pursing a support order against a community spouse. Senate Bill 2840 will be heard in House Executive Committee this afternoon. The bill has an immediate effective date and will therefore take effect when the Governor signs it. House Amendment No. 3 is at the link below, and these provisions may be found starting on page 75.

The General Assembly is grappling with a $2.7 billion Medicaid funding gap in the as of yet unpublished "SMART" bill. One of the pieces in it may be a reversal of the Medicaid eligibility rules in the compromise last fall between the Department of Healthcare and Family Services' and the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. An excellent and comprehensive summary of that compromise may be found in the January 2012 Illinois Bar Journal (Diana Law and William Siebers). Some of these changes may include the following: (1) A home held in a trust, even an individual’s personal revocable living trust, shall no longer be considered homestead property. (2) People over the age of 65 can no longer participate in a federally created OBRA Pooled Trust. (3) A healthy spouse still living at home will receive only the minimum resource allowance instead of the maximum allowance as previously approved by JCAR. Whatever action the General Assembly may take on this issue will occur in the next ten days, and we'll try to keep you informed to the extent we can.

House Bill 3940 (Jakobsson, D-Champaign) amends the General Not For Profit Corporation Act of 1986 to prohibit an officer or director of a corporation organized under this Act from knowingly hiring or seeking to influence the employment or promotion of a relative for a compensated position within the corporation if the corporation receives any state funds. “Relative” is defined broadly to include anybody that an officer or director is related to. Scheduled for hearing next Feb. 22 in House Judiciary Committee I.

(Biss, D-Skokie) allows a court to award reasonable attorney's fees to the defendant if the defendant prevails in an action to enforce a contract if the contract allows for the recovery of attorney's fees to enforce the contract. Introduced and assigned to House Rules Committee for referral to a substantive committee.

(Rezin, R-Peru) creates an exception to the statute of repose for attorney malpractice that currently limits actions to no later than six years after the date on which the attorney's act or omission occurred. The exception is if the client is still represented by the attorney or the attorney knowingly conceals the act or omission. If that occurs, the limitation does begin to run until the person is no longer represented by the attorney or until the client should have known of the injury. Just introduced and referred to the Committee on Assignments for assignment to a substantive committee.