The Illinois Electronic Security Association (IESA) wants security industry professionals to be aware that the Illinois alarm industry is facing its most significant threat ever — even more so than in 2011 — because Senate Bill 1495 has advanced to the Local Government Committee in the Illinois Senate, chaired by the bill’s sponsor, Thomas Cullerton, who is a cousin of Senate President John Cullerton. The Illinois Electronic Security Association opposes SB 1495, which was put forth by the state associations for fire chiefs and fire inspectors as a means to allow fire protection districts to adopt ordinances regulating the supervision and monitoring of fire alarm systems, and collect fees for fire alarm services that are provided to customers by the district itself or through its selected vendor.
“This is a nationwide issue for our industry,” Kevin Lehan, executive president, IESA, told SDM. “When I graduated high school in the early ‘90s, there were two places you could gamble in America — Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Today, including in Illinois, 41 states have state-sanctioned commercially operated or tribal gambling just one generation later.” He continued, “The proliferation is directly related to the tax revenue states could generate. In recent years, marijuana has been decriminalized in some states, with more eyeing the potential revenue. If this Illinois Senate Bill 1495 passes in Illinois, it won’t be long until the concept of municipal monitoring spreads nationwide like casinos or marijuana. It’s a cash grab and other states would follow suit.”