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SPRINGFIELD – With the end of the spring legislative session less than one week away, and the state operating without a budget for nearly 12 months, House Democrats have walked away from budget negotiations, intent on trying to ram through another unbalanced budget filled with empty promises. “Our schools don’t know if they will be able to open on time

SPRINGFIELD, IL – It was a rollercoaster week in the Illinois Statehouse, beginning with the Governor’s veto of controversial “binding arbitration” legislation. Though the atmosphere turned momentarily hopeful with talk of momentum on a potential budget compromise that would include reforms pushed by Republican lawmakers and the Governor, Democrats are still seemingly reluctant to fully embrace commonsense reforms—continuing to focus

SPRINGFIELD – State Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) is reminding residents about upcoming changes to the process of renewing driver’s licenses and state-issued ID cards. By the end of July, driver’s licenses and ID cards will not be issued at the end of the application/renewal process. People will be given temporary secure paper licenses and ID cards, which will be valid

SPRINGFIELD – Senate Democrats narrowly rammed through legislation purported to represent school funding reform, despite analysis from the state school board showing that plan was little more than a thinly-veiled bailout for Chicago schools. The bill faces an uncertain future in the House of Representatives, where lawmakers are currently reviewing other options. However, lawmakers did come together to pass a

SPRINGFIELD – Senate Democrats narrowly rammed through legislation purported to represent school funding reform, despite analysis from the state school board showing that plan was little more than a thinly-veiled bailout for Chicago schools. The bill faces an uncertain future in the House of Representatives, where lawmakers are currently reviewing other options. However, lawmakers did come together to pass a

SPRINGFIELD – State Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) voted with a strong bipartisan majority to pass legislation May 12 appropriating $714 million for human service programs.             “This isn’t ideal, it doesn’t represent full funding for these programs, but it’s an important step,” said Sen. Syverson. “We have to make sure programs that benefit our most vulnerable residents don’t close down due

SPRINGFIELD – State Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) voted against legislation that would take hundreds of millions of dollars from downstate and suburban schools and use the money to help bail out Chicago Public Schools (CPS).            “The bill was dishonestly presented as an attempt at reforming the way schools are funded to help poor districts, but in reality it’s nothing more

With just over three weeks remaining in the 2016 spring legislative session, Illinois has entered its eleventh month without a state budget. However, recent action in the Senate to advance bipartisan budget measures for higher education and social service providers have some lawmakers hopeful a timely resolution to the impasse is possible. While a majority of Senate lawmakers were able

SPRINGFIELD – State Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) voted May 5 to bring all higher education funding up to the same level that Democrat leaders had previously pushed through for just one Chicago-area university.                      “All of our universities and colleges are just as important as Chicago State University,” said Sen. Syverson. “This is a major win that we were able to

SPRINGFIELD – Positive progress continued this week when Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law an appropriations bill that funds higher education and MAP grants for college students through September. State Senator Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) indicated this is a positive sign of bipartisan compromise, and is a step in the right direction. Also this week, it is now up to the