Bill
HB 2790
Gives municipalities the power to license and regulate all commercial operations within their borders, while prohibiting new local taxes; excludes many agricultural activities.
Status: Introduced in the Illinois House (2025). Passed the House (3rd Reading) 4/10/2025; transmitted to the Senate 4/14/2025 and placed on the Senate calendar. Multiple House floor amendments were filed; House Floor Amendment No. 2 was adopted. Co‑sponsors added through May 15, 2025.
Purpose
- To add Section 11‑42‑10.3 to the Illinois Municipal Code clarifying municipal authority to license and regulate commercial operations within municipal boundaries while limiting municipal taxing authority over those operations.
Key provisions
- Municipal licensing and regulation: The corporate authorities of a municipality are expressly authorized to license and regulate all "commercial operations" within the municipality’s boundaries, regardless of whether they are for‑profit or not‑for‑profit.
- Tax limitation: Municipalities may not impose any tax upon the operations of such commercial operations except as otherwise authorized by law. (In other words, the section does not create a new municipal taxing power.)
- Exclusions from “commercial operations”: The bill (as introduced and in subsequent amendments) excludes various agricultural and related activities from the definition of “commercial operations.” Specifically excluded (by cross‑reference to existing state law) are:
- Agritourism operations and agritourism activities (as defined under the Illinois Income Tax Act, Section 232),
- Agricultural property (Section 232, Illinois Income Tax Act),
- Agribusiness (as defined under Section 205‑15 of the Department of Agriculture Law),
- Agricultural experiences (as defined under the Agricultural Experiences Act and related Environmental Protection Act definitions),
- Pollution control facilities (as referenced in the amendments).
(Note: amendment text varies slightly among versions; the core intent is to exempt a range of agricultural and certain environmental/pollution control facilities from the municipal “commercial operations” definition.)
Who is affected
- Municipal governments: gain explicit authority to license and regulate commercial operations but remain limited in taxing those operations except where state law already authorizes a tax.
- Businesses and nonprofit commercial operators located inside municipalities: subject to municipal licensing/regulatory requirements (permit fees, operating conditions, inspections, etc.), but not subject to new municipal taxes created by this section.
- Agricultural operators and certain related entities: generally excluded from the bill’s definition of “commercial operations” and therefore not subject to the municipal licensing/regulation authority created by this section (subject to the specific statutory cross‑references).
Procedural / next steps
- House passage occurred 4/10/2025. The bill was sent to the Senate (4/14/2025) and referred to Senate assignments/calendar. Further Senate committee consideration, possible amendments, and final passage (and gubernatorial signature) would be required before the provision becomes law. The bill text does not specify an effective date; that would be determined in final enrolled language or by statute.
Note on source document
- The provided materials include text from another distinct bill (an Arizona draft concerning heat illness prevention, Title 23, §23‑207). That Arizona text appears to be unrelated to the Illinois Municipal Code measure summarized above and is not part of the Illinois bill’s substance; the summary above pertains to the Illinois HB 2790 (commercial operations / municipal authority).
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
Sign in to ask a question.
