2023-89 Ordinance Regarding the Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act for the City of Decatur, Illinois

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ORDINANCE NO. �-O X3 29 AN ORDINANCE REGARDING THE ILLINOIS PAID LEAVE FOR ALL WORKERS ACT FOR THE CITY OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS WHEREAS, the Illinois Municipal Code, 65 ILCS 5/1-2-1, provides that the corporate authorities of each municipality may pass all ordinances and make all rules and regulations proper or necessary,to carry into effect the powers granted to municipalities, with such fines or penalties as may be deemed proper; and WHEREAS, the City of Decatur is a home rule unit of government pursuant to Article VII, Section 6(a) of the 1970 Illinois Constitution and, pursuant to the provisions of said Section 6 of Article VII,may exercise any power or perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs; and WHEREAS, on or about March 12, 2023, Governor JB Pritzker signed into law the Paid Leave for All Workers Act(820 ILCS 192/1 etseq.) (the"Act"); and WHEREAS, the State of Illinois did not make the necessary appropriations or include statutory language exempting the Act from the Illinois State Mandates Act(30 ILCS 805/1 etseq.); and WHEREAS, the Act does not include any express limitation on the City's home rule authority as required by Article VII, Section 6 of the Illinois Constitution; and WHEREAS, effective January 1, 2024, the Act requires an employer to provide certain paid leave to their employees, unless the employer is subject to an existing municipal or county ordinance that requires the employer to provide any form of paid leave to their employees; and WHEREAS, the City recognizes the importance of paid leave and currently provides reasonable paid leave benefits to its employees, often in excess of what the Act would otherwise require; and WHEREAS, the City has determined that applying the Act to its own employees will negatively impact the City and place an undue financial and operational burden on the City's ability to provide uninterrupted services to its residents; and WHEREAS,the City believes and hereby declares that it is in the best interests of the City to clearly define the paid leave benefits that the City employees shall receive and to opt out of the Act.