HB5071 - Toll Highway Authority Bilingual Pay Supplement
Illinois Legislative Events
Summary
The Illinois House passed HB5071 amending the Toll Highway Act to authorize the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority to establish a bilingual pay supplement for positions requiring non-English language skills. The supplement aims to attract bilingual candidates, encourage language proficiency among current employees, and retain qualified bilingual staff. Certification must be processed within 30 calendar days.
What changed
HB5071 passed the Illinois House on February 4, 2026, amending the Toll Highway Act to authorize the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority to create a bilingual pay supplement. The supplement targets positions requiring non-English language skills in speaking or writing. Employers may use it to attract bilingual candidates, incentivize current employees to gain language proficiency, or retain qualified bilingual staff. The bill establishes a 30-day processing deadline once employees present certification of language proficiency from Authority-designated testing programs or state community colleges.
For the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority and other affected state agencies, this bill signals potential expansion of compensation authority for multilingual staffing. If enacted, the Authority would gain explicit statutory power to offer bilingual pay supplements, creating new flexibility in recruitment and retention for language-critical roles. Human resources and finance departments should monitor the bill's progress through the Senate and prepare implementation procedures for verifying and processing language proficiency certifications within the 30-day requirement.
What to do next
- Monitor HB5071 for Senate action and potential gubernatorial review
- Review current bilingual position compensation practices if bill becomes law
- Prepare for potential expanded bilingual hiring authority
Source document (simplified)
ChangeBridge / Illinois / HB5071 Passed HB5071 House Bill Passed 2026-02-04
TOLL HWY AUTH-BILINGUAL PAY
Amends the Toll Highway Act. Provides that the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority has the power to establish a special pay supplement for those positions of employment that require that a person employed in that position speak or write a language other than English. Provides that such paid positions may be eligible for a bilingual pay supplement to attract bilingual individuals, to encourage present employees to become proficient in languages other than English, or to retain qualified bilingual employees. Provides that a bilingual pay supplement shall be processed within 30 calendar days after the employee presents to the Authority a certification from either the designated testing program process selected by the Authority or a State community college confirming that language skill proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking has been satisfied by the employee.
Bill Details
State Illinois
Session 104th General Assembly
Chamber House
Official Source www.ilga.gov/Legislation/BillStatus?DocNum...
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Sponsors
Dagmara Avelar (Rep - D)
Action History
2026-04-07 H House Floor Amendment No. 2 Recommends Be Adopted Transportation: Regulation, Roads & Bridges; 011-006-000 2026-03-31 H Fiscal Note Filed 2026-03-26 H Fiscal Note Requested by Rep. Dagmara Avelar 2026-03-26 H House Floor Amendment No. 2 Rules Refers to Transportation: Regulation, Roads & Bridges 2026-03-25 H House Floor Amendment No. 2 Referred to Rules Committee 2026-03-25 H House Floor Amendment No. 2 Filed with Clerk by Rep. Dagmara Avelar 2026-03-25 H Placed on Calendar 2nd Reading - Short Debate 2026-03-24 H House Committee Amendment No. 1 Tabled 2026-03-24 H Do Pass / Short Debate Transportation: Regulation, Roads & Bridges; 013-005-000 2026-03-18 H House Committee Amendment No. 1 Rules Refers to Transportation: Regulation, Roads & Bridges 2026-03-03 H House Committee Amendment No. 1 Referred to Rules Committee 2026-03-03 H House Committee Amendment No. 1 Filed with Clerk by Rep. Dagmara Avelar 2026-02-24 H Assigned to Transportation: Regulation, Roads & Bridges 2026-02-10 H Referred to Rules Committee 2026-02-10 H First Reading 2026-02-04 H Filed with the Clerk by Rep. Dagmara Avelar
Committee Referrals
2026-02-10 H Rules 2026-02-24 H Transportation, Regulation, Roads & Bridges 2026-03-03 H Rules 2026-03-18 H Transportation, Regulation, Roads & Bridges 2026-03-25 H Rules 2026-03-26 H Transportation, Regulation, Roads & Bridges
Amendments
2026-03-03 House Amendment 001 2026-03-25 House Amendment 002
Bill Text Versions
2026-02-04 Introduced Legislative data powered by LegiScan (CC BY 4.0)
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