By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com Public employees hired since 2011 must continue to wait for pension reform after Illinois lawmakers declined to take up the issue during the spring session. Lawmakers and labor unions have both expressed concern that benefits for Tier 2 employees – those who entered the public
By Ben Szalinski & Jerry NowickiCapitol News Illinoisnews@capitolnewsillinois.com Giving almost no time for public review, Illinois Democrats pushed through a $55.2 billion budget for next fiscal year late Saturday, bolstering coffers with new taxes on sports bets, nicotine products and businesses. The $55.2 billion spending plan is supported by $55.3
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear an appeal on a lawsuit led by Illinois Republican U.S. representative Mike Bost challenging Illinois’ mail-in voting law. Bost and a pair of Illinois primary delegates for president Donald Trump sued the Illinois State Board of Elections
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com Governor JB Pritzker’s office is now projecting state revenues to come in about a half-billion dollars below the baseline projections assumed during his February budget address. The latest downward revision comes as lawmakers are entering the final two-week stretch to approve a budget before their
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com The General Assembly’s independent forecasting commission has improved revenue projections for the upcoming fiscal year despite growing economic volatility. That’s good news for state lawmakers who are in the final weeks of crafting the fiscal year 2026 budget set to take effect July 1. But
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillionis.com Standing on his backyard deck Thursday, April 24, the same place where he declared his 1996 candidacy for U.S. Senate, Illinois’ senior senator Dick Durbin reflected on his decision to retire after four decades in Congress. “I’ve done this my way, making decisions based on
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com When governor JB Pritzker tells audiences how he became interested in politics, it often starts with stories about his mother. As a child growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Pritzker often shares, he’d attend marches, rallies and protests with his mother in support
By Ben Szalinski and Jade AubreyCapitol New Illinois The Illinois House took its first step Monday in passing legislation responding to proposed actions by the Donald Trump administration. The House voted 67-39 to advance House Bill 3637, which would put new protections in State law to safeguard health care licenses
By Ben Szalinski & Jade AubreyCapitol News IllinoisNews@Capitolnewsillinois.com President Donald Trump’s administration is pulling back $477 million from Illinois that was to be used to prevent infectious disease and treat mental health and substance abuse issues. The Illinois Department of Public Health announced this week the federal Centers for Disease
By Ben Szalinski & Bridgette FoxCapitol News Illinoisnews@capitolnewsillinois.com It’s been just four months since the last election concluded, but another election is on the horizon in Illinois: the April 1 elections for school boards and municipal offices. Though municipal and school board races in Illinois are nonpartisan, voters may see
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com The Donald Trump administration has stopped reimbursing Illinois for a program designed to help farmers and supply fresh food to Illinois food banks. The Illinois Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that changes to federal funding mean Illinois is missing reimbursements for costs for the Local
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com An Illinois Senate committee advanced a bill Tuesday, Feb. 18 that would strictly limit police’s ability to search a vehicle after smelling cannabis. The Senate Criminal Law Committee voted 7-3 to advance Senate Bill 42, which would eliminate the requirement that cannabis be transported in
By Ben Szalinskibszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.comCapitol News Illinois Governor JB Pritzker Tuesday, Jan. 21 signed a long-awaited bill to stop Illinois organizations from paying less than the minimum wage to workers with disabilities. The bill applies to businesses and other facilities that hold what is known as a 14(c) certificate, named after the
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com The minimum wage in Illinois was increased to $15 an hour January 1, to complete a six-year transition period since the increase was approved in 2019. As of New Year’s Day, Illinois workers making minimum wage wages rose by $1 and tipped workers will see
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com Time to study up, Illinois. When the clock hits midnight on New Year’s Day, 293 new state laws will take effect. Those include some of the defining bills of the 2024 legislative session and others that will change how people get IDs, evaluate job postings
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com Changes that would make Illinois pension systems compliant with Social Security by improving benefits for government employees hired since 2011 could be on the table when lawmakers return to Springfield in January. The General Assembly passed legislation in 2010 to create a second tier of
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com State lawmakers will face a projected budget deficit and slowing revenue when they return to Springfield in January 2025, but a new report shows fiscal decisions made in recent years have put Illinois in a better position to handle a recession than any time in
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com A long-awaited bill to stop Illinois organizations from paying subminimum wage to workers with disabilities will soon head to governor JB Pritzker’s desk after being approved by the Senate Thursday. The Senate took a bipartisan 43-11 vote to pass the legislation that supporters dub the
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com The conservative group Judicial Watch is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case filed by U.S. representative Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, challenging Illinois’ law allowing mail-in ballots to be counted 14 days after the election. Under Illinois law, ballots postmarked by Election Day can
