AROUND THE STATES By Dennis Brown and Megan Kueck ELFA-Supported Illinois Legislation Signed into Law O N JULY 23, ELFA-SUPPORTED LEGISL ATION, Illinois Senate Bill 1548, was signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner (R). The law was intended to resolve issues with the location of the payment (sourcing) of the Illinois retail sales taxes created by the Hartney Fuel decision of the Illinois Supreme Court. partment of Revenue on how the leg-islation will affect the equipment leas-ing industry moving forward. ELFA members that would like to partici-pate in this process or have additional questions about this issue should contact Dennis Brown (DBrown@ elfaonline.org) and Megan Kueck (MKueck@elfaonline.org). provisions negotiated by our indus-try. Votes taken on issues in task force meetings become a nationally recog-nized model referenced by state legis-latures when seeking standards upon which to draft legislation. Another or-ganization gaining ELFA involvement is the Women’s Legislative Network, which represents all women elected to state legislatures. The summer of 2015 also saw the association staff participate in the Council of State Governments’ annu-al meeting and the East Coast Region annual meeting. This event is smaller in scale than NCSL but still packs in several sessions that are important to the business industry and legislative members alike. Although state sessions don’t be-gin for a couple more months, ELFA is working hard to prepare for the next legislative cycle, and is working with regulators in Illinois to implement re-cently passed legislation. If you would like to sign up for our State Legislature Report monthly newsletter or become actively engaged with our state advo-cacy, please contact Dennis Brown (DBrown@elfaonline.org) or Megan Kueck (MKueck@elfaonline.org). ■ For more information, please contact Dennis Brown , ELFA Vice President of State Government Relations, at dbrown@elfaonline.org, or Megan Kueck , ELFA Director of State Government Relations, at mkueck@elfaonline.org. Although state sessions don’t begin for a couple more months, ELFA is working hard to prepare for the next legislative cycle, and is working with regulators in Illinois to implement recently passed legislation. The passage of this legislation was made possible by the dutiful work of ELFA’s volunteer members, led by Rob Carney and Richard Sweeney at Cater-pillar Financial, Christine Jensen and Jill Robertson of BMO Harris Equip-ment Finance and Dave Dorner at Vedder Price, together with members of the ELFA task force that delved into this issue over the past two years. The effective date is immedi-ate. With the passing of Senate Bill 1548, local retail sales taxes will be sourced at the location of the equip-ment when first delivered to the les-see, for its intended use, as written in the legislation: A retailer selling tangible personal property to a nominal lessee or bailee pursuant to a lease with a dollar or other nominal option to purchase is engaged in the business of selling at the location where the property is first delivered to the lessee or bailee for its intended use. In the following months ELFA will be reaching out to the Illinois De-partment of Revenue to establish an open dialogue on the new regulatory landscape that is implemented by the legislation. Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D), Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and Rep. John Bradley (D), Chair of the House Finance and Revenue Commit-tee, led the charge and were primary sponsors of the legislation. Republicans joining them included House Revenue and Finance Committee Republican Spokesperson David Harris (R). Despite unanimous support in the legislature, there is still a considerable amount of work to be done because the effective date is immediate. ELFA will be working with the Illinois De-ELFA Staff Hits the Road to Advocate for Members Throughout the year the association engages regional and national organi-zations representing state policymak-ers from all 50 states. These range from the National Conference of State Leg-islatures (NCSL) to the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. Every August, ELFA’s State Gov-ernment Relations staff joins thou-sands of state legislators, state legisla-tive staff members, trade organizations and businesses and social policy ad-vocates at the NCSL Annual Summit. This year the event attracted legisla-tors from all over the country and the world to Seattle for the largest national state legislator event. ELFA’s involve-ment in the proceedings gives a voice to the concerns of equipment lessors. The Summit offers state legisla-tors a forum to discuss current topics, debate national trends in government and share ideas with their counterparts in other states. It is also important for business and trade organizations, as the Summit features many opportu-nities during educational sessions for personal discussions with state-level policymakers from across the country. ELFA regularly participates in meetings of the NCSL task force as-signed oversight of the interstate sales tax agreement containing leasing 58 OCTOBER 2015 EQUIPMENT LEASING & FINANCE MAGAZINE