A Cook County Chancery Court judge Tuesday turned back a challenge to a new state law regulating municipal pesticide use, dismissing a lawsuit filed by Schaumburg.
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Schaumburg filed the suit last September after an amendment was passed to the Illinois Pesticide Act removing the right of home-rule communities to regulate the use of pesticide in their borders.
The lawsuit was an effort to protect the powers of home-rule communities in Illinois, such as Schaumburg, while also questioning the legality of exempting Chicago and Cook County from the amendment-a segregation that Schaumburg said is unconstitutional.
The amendment constituted special legislation and violated Schaumburg’s right to equal protection, according to the suit filed by Schaumburg village attorney Jack Siegel. Also, the amendment violated Schaumburg’s due process and was vague, Siegel said.
Chancery Judge Lester D. Foreman dismissed the suit at the request of the Illinois attorney general’s office.
Foreman ruled that Schaumburg, being a municipal corporation, was not permitted to sue the state for due process and equal protection, said Assistant Atty. Gen. Wallace Solberg.
“The state is the creator of a municipal corporation,” Solberg said. “A municipal corporation cannot sue its creator for equal protection claims.”
Also, the suit was dismissed becasue the judge deemed the amendment to be rational and not constituting special legislation, Solberg said.
“That amendment bears a rational relationship to a legitimate governmental interest,” Solberg said.
Schaumburg Village President Al Larson said Tuesday night that the Village Board would discuss whether it would pursue an appeal.
“I’d like to pursue it further,” he said. “I think it’s a constitutional question that ought to be addressed and it ought to be addressed further than this.”
The Illinois Constitution allows home-rule communities, mainly towns with populations of 25,000 or more, to pass and enforce local ordinances that are stricter than state laws.