Illinois Forms Blockchain Working Group
Lawmakers in the US state of Illinois have passed a bill that would create a legislative working group that will research how state and local governments might benefit from blockchain technology.
House Resolution 120, filed by state representative Michael Zalewski on February 8, passed with 98 votes on June 28, receiving just seven non-votes and two abstentions.
The new Illinois Legislative Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Task Force will be mainly focused on the benefits of solutions based on the blockchain. The team will also consist of 12 members, who will be selected by the Senate, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, the State Banking Division, the Cook County Debt Registry, and the Secretary of State.
Specific areas of research would include opportunities and risks associated with using blockchain and distributed ledger technology; different types of blockchains, both public and private, and different consensus algorithms; projects and use cases currently under development in other states and nations, and how those cases could be applied in Illinois; how current state laws can be modified to support secure, paperless recordkeeping; the State Public Key Infrastructure and digital signatures; and official reports and recommendations from the Illinois Blockchain Initiative.
The Illinois Legislative Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Task Force is instructed to present its findings and recommendations to the Illinois General Assembly on or before January 1, 2018.
Whether the group’s activities may be curtailed or eliminated by the state’s fiscal crisis is unclear.
