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“Governor Rauner delivered exactly what he promised, a proposal for a truly balanced budget. The current spending plan, passed by the Democrats last year, left us more than a billion and a half dollars in the hole. I applaud the Governor for his work to reduce that deficit. Some tough choices will have to be made, but that is the

Lawmakers returning to Springfield for the second week of the Legislative Session heard testimony in the Veterans Affairs Committee about the previous Legionella outbreaks at the Quincy Veterans’ Home and began advancing legislation through Senate Committees. Combatting Legionella at Veterans’ Home The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee continued its efforts to learn more about the Legionella outbreak at the Quincy Veterans’

Gov. Bruce Rauner delivered his fourth State of the State Address Jan. 31, highlighting several accomplishments over the past few years and laying out a roadmap of what he’d like to see Illinois achieve in 2018. Also during the week, Democratic majorities overrode the Governor’s Amendatory Veto of technical changes to education funding legislation, sending millions of additional dollars to

“Governor Rauner did a good job of laying out some of the recent successes we’ve had in state government. We’ve been able to work together to pass a complete rewrite of how we fund schools, passed significant criminal justice reform, and we’ve also had some success in reducing unnecessary regulations and red tape while reducing the size of government. We’ve

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) informed Senate Republicans this week that implementation of the state’s new school funding law will occur; a new measure would bring high-speed Internet access to rural school districts; a new proposal would give Illinois motorists the option to register their vehicles for more than one year; and Chicago makes Amazon’s top

Illinois residents can expect to see improved safety measures for children and Internet users in 2018 with new laws that help protect children in the foster care system, at day care and at school; as well as shield children and adults online. On Jan. 1, more than 200 bills covering a wide variety of issues became law. In addition to

1. Bail Reform Act of 2017 and State RICO Extension (SB 2034/PA 100-0001): Grants a right to counsel at bail hearings, provides for mandatory bail re-hearings on nonviolent offenses, and provides that any bail set should be non-monetary and that the court should address the risk in the least restrictive way possible. Also extends state RICO Act (“Illinois Street Gang And

SPRINGFIELD – As 2017 winds to a close, legislative action for the year may have wrapped up, but Illinois citizens will begin 2018 with more than 200 new laws taking effect. From bills to help veterans and reduce government waste, to a controversial law expanding taxpayer funding for abortions, legislation covering a wide variety of issues will become law at

Slight Improvement in Jobs A recent report by the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) indicates a slight drop in the state’s unemployment from 5.0% to 4.9%. It’s not a huge change, but does represent an increase of 3,400 nonfarm payroll jobs. IDES adds that September job growth figures were revised upward showing a smaller decline in jobs, -7,900 rather

SPRINGFIELD, IL – Legislation addressing sexual harassment complaints and providing tax credits for flood victims was signed into law by the Governor during the week. In other action, Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) announced appointments for the newly created Senate Task Force on Sexual Discrimination and Harassment Awareness and Prevention. Also during the week, the U.S. Small Business Administration