Protecting Illinois small businesses and tech economy from Springfield’s regulatory grip

Cloaked under the description of “privacy” legislation, a package of bills under consideration in Springfield takes solid aim at two of the state’s key economic performers — small businesses and the burgeoning tech industry in Illinois.

These bills include complex compliance regulations, which would apply to businesses of all sizes, but would place an enormous burden on small businesses statewide.

The “Right to Know” bill (House Bill 2774) would require any business with a website — even a local flower shop or pizza parlor — to draft privacy policies longer and more confusing than anything required by existing law and to create new IT systems — at best, a complex and expensive undertaking; at worst, impossible to implement — to respond to consumer requests under threat of liability. Read the opinion piece in SJ-R.