Sangamon Sun

Illinois State Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) recently spoke in support of legislation that would boost cybersecurity for state infrastructure.

House Bill 1293 creates the Money Laundering in Real Estate Task Force and the Illinois Elections and Infrastructure Integrity Task Force ahead of the 2024 election to prepare for and prevent potential cyberattacks on state infrastructure. Democratic Rep. Lindsey LaPointe is the chief sponsor of House Bill 1293 in the House. She is joined by 30 colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, as co-sponsors in the House. 

House Bill 1293 advanced in the House on April 5 unanimously with 114 "yes" votes. 

During debate on the House floor on April 5, Butler spoke in support of the bill and praised the efforts of LaPointe and his fellow lawmakers.

"There is a reason there have been five amendments. You’ve had a lot of input from our side and your side that we appreciate on this," Butler said. "I especially appreciate your willingness to discuss the election integrity task force portion of this and the money laundering task force by adding some folks to both of those. There were some provisions you took out that I’m sure some folks would’ve been concerned about on our side."

Butler said the meat of this bill is "going after Russia on the things we can as the state of Illinois."

HB 1293 has now moved on to the Senate, where it is sponsored by Democratic Sen. Don Harmon and has been referred to the Senate Assignments Committee.