108th District State Representative Wayne Rosenthal of Morrisonville passed his first bill in the Illinois House in over 8 years yesterday afternoon.
Rosenthal is now in his 2nd go-around as a state representative after having served in the House from 2011 to 2015. Rosenthal then served as the Director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources from 2015-2019. The 108th stretches from Petersburg to just south of Gillespie, picking up most of Western Sangamon County and portions of Macoupin and Montgomery counties.
Rosenthal’s House Bill 2288 is a veteran-related measure. To qualify as a Veteran Owned Business and participate in the program, a business must meet a number of requirements, including the requirement that annual gross sales must be less than $75 million.
According to state officials, there have been fewer participating businesses than expected with only 34 prequalified and certified firms for fiscal year 2021, out of 224 certified businesses in the Veterans Owned Business Program.
Rosenthal’s bill adjusts the annual gross sales amount in the code to account for rising inflation: “This is an amendment to the Illinois Procurement Code, and it’s the goal for veteran-owned small business and it provides the small business means that has an annual gross sales of less than $150 million as opposed to $75 million.”
The bill now heads to the Senate for their consideration.