There are many ways that we as a Chamber influence legislation in Springfield. For example, we have personal meetings with area legislators and their staff, we work in partnership with other associations and chamber groups in joint advocacy efforts such as sign-on letters to key leaders in the General Assembly, and we take visits toContinue reading
Business Works Steering Committee Strategic Planning Process Continues Our Business Works Committee continues work on finalizing the committee’s policy review process to ensure transparency in our efforts to determine when to take a formal NACC position on policy issues. This final document will be completed in early March. Food Trucks Operations Questionnaire to our FoodContinue reading
January brings new beginnings and predictions of what the new year may have in store. I am very excited about two upcoming events to help you keep abreast of what challenges and opportunities lay ahead at both the federal and state level impacting your business. Tuesday, January 11, 2022 10:00 am U.S. Chamber “State ofContinue reading
Spoiler Alert… It’s Complicated! The federal vaccine mandate has been met with many roadblocks which put employers in a major dilemma on how to proceed. Here is what we know at this time (12/1/2021): In early October, President Biden issued a vaccine mandate which required all federal workers and businesses who have federal contracts toContinue reading
The OSHA Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) for the federal vaccine mandate were released on November 5th. Under these new regulations, employers who have one hundred or more employees are required to do the following: Create a Written Policy on Vaccines for OSHA Review. The two choices in this policy per the ETS are to requireContinue reading
Takeaways from the Second Chance Employees Webinar on Oct. 19 We have had an overwhelming response to our webinar hosted on Oct. 19 where we explored hiring workers with a criminal record and/or formally incarcerated individuals re-entering the community. Here are some general takeaways from the event and links to the resources presented. JOB TRAININGContinue reading
Workforce Development Webinar: Exploring Second Chance Employees to Meet Workforce Needs To address the workforce shortages of our Chamber Members, Business Works is hosting a complimentary webinar on second chance employees (those with a past criminal record). Topics will include discussion of area programs in which members can tap to create a pipeline of theseContinue reading
Illinois Back to Business B2B Grant Opens You should have received an announcement from us earlier that the Governor’s Office Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) has announced a $250 million Back to Business (B2B) grant program. It opened Wednesday, August 18th and closes October 11th. We encourage all Members to get their applicationsContinue reading
The NACC’s Business Works presented a webinar on June 15th to unpack the complexities of employer’s navigation of how to set policies regarding vaccines in the workplace. Some key takeaways: It is legal for employers to require employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine. However, many factors go into making vaccines mandatory including the impact onContinue reading
Springfield Session Ends After late night sessions over the Memorial Day weekend, the 2021 General Assembly ended its session (sort of) on Monday, Monday, May 31. The Senate reconvened Tuesday, June 1 at 11:00 and there is talk of the House reconvening at some point in the coming weeks. I will be discussing in detailContinue reading
