February 2 U.S. congressmen Bill Foster (D-IL) and Pete Sessions (R-TX) announced the introduction of bipartisan legislation to strengthen America’s digital identity infrastructure and protect individuals, businesses, and government programs from rapidly rising identity fraud and theft. The Stop Identity Fraud and Identity Theft Act establishes a government-wide approach to
By Ben Szalinski, Brenden Moore, & Peter HancockCapitol News Illinoisnews@capitolnewsillinois.com Illinois’ statewide 1% grocery tax will go away January 1, though many people will continue to pay it at the local level. Data compiled by the Illinois Municipal League shows that 656 municipalities — a little more than half of
By Andrew AdamsCapitol News Illinoisnews@capitolnewsillinois.com Governor JB Pritzker signed 266 laws on Friday, moving closer to finalizing his part in approving — or rejecting — over 430 laws sent to him by lawmakers this spring. The new laws include measures to make public defenders more independent, tighten safety regulations at
By Ben Szalinski, Andrew Adams, & Jerry NowickiCapitol News Illinoisnews@capitolnewsillinois.com Governor JB Pritzker, Friday, Aug. 1, signed into law 124 of the 436 bills sent to him by lawmakers in the spring legislative session. The measures signed last week expand what must be covered by state-regulated insurance plans, require libraries
By Peter HancockCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com Gun owners in Illinois will soon be required to take additional measures to keep their weapons out of the hands of children under a new law signed Monday by governor JB Pritzker. In addition, law enforcement officers in the state must now start tracing the
State representative Jed Davis (R-Yorkville) has filed two bills to improve teacher recruitment in Illinois. “As the son of a teacher who spent over 30 years in the classroom, I know firsthand the value of promoting and supporting educators,” said Rep. Davis. “It’s why I filed these bills – to
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 Jade AubreyCapitol News Illinoisjaubrey@capitolnewsillinois.com Illinois lawmakers kicked off their spring legislative session roughly three weeks ago, but lawmakers in the House have already filed more than 1,800 bills that could be acted on before the General Assembly adjourns in May. The vast majority of the ideas won’t make it
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 Peter Hancock and Hannah MeiselCapitol News Illinois The Illinois Supreme Court last week vacated a lower court ruling and reinstated a statute that authorizes the state to revoke a person’s Firearm Owners Identification card once they’ve been charged with a felony, even if they haven’t yet been convicted. The
By Beth HundsdorferCapitol News Illinoisbhundsdorfer@capitolnewsillinois.com An Illinois law intended to help people with mental illness avoid confrontations with police had been on the books for three years when Sonya Massey was shot by a Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy.The Community Emergency Services and Supports Act, or CESSA, requires mental and behavioral
By Hannah MeiselCapitol News IllinoisHmeisel@Capitolnewsillinois.com Illinois governor JB Pritzker Wednesday, July 31 signed legislation aimed at curtailing the practice of “captive audience” meetings, a strategy businesses sometimes use to dissuade workers from forming a union. The law, dubbed the “Worker Freedom of Speech Act,” was a top priority this Spring
By Dilpreet Raju, Cole Longcor, & Alex AbbedutoCapitol News Illinoisnews@capitolnewsillinois.com Illinois lawmakers missed a self-imposed Friday deadline for passing a budget, but they had approved more than 250 bills last week as of Friday afternoon. Amid the flurry of legislation was a measure prohibiting State universities from admitting students based
Business groups have long sought changes to statute that’s led to hundreds of lawsuits By Hannah MeiselCapitol News Illinoishmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com Nearly a year ago, the Illinois Supreme Court asked the General Assembly to clarify a 15-year-old law that’s led to hundreds of lawsuits and several high-dollar settlements with companies alleged to
By Peter Hancok, Andrew Adams, & Jerry NowickiCapitol News Illinoisnews@capitolnewsillinois.com More than 300 new laws will take effect January 1, 2024 ranging from a ban on book bans to the regulation of “deepfake porn” and prohibitions on videoconferencing while driving. Thanks to a law signed in 2019, workers at the
By Nika Schoonover Ride-share companies such as Uber and Lyft would be subject to the same level of liability as other forms of public transportation under a measure moving through the General Assembly. House Bill 2231 would classify ride-shares as “common carriers,” meaning the companies can be held liable, rather
By Hannah Meisel In the wake of a pair of recent decisions from the Illinois Supreme Court strengthening the State’s law governing how companies must treat employees’ and customers’ biometric data, longtime critics of the law see an opening to weaken it. But backers of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act
By Nika Schoonover Governor JB Pritzker Friday, Feb. 10 signed 15 bills into law, tackling policy areas from tourism to prison reform and making it easier for those previously convicted of felonies to legally change their names. The laws passed the General Assembly in their recently concluded lame duck legislative
By Peter Hancock Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Monday filed a petition asking an appellate court to vacate a temporary restraining order that was issued late Friday Jan. 20 to block enforcement of the State’s recently-passed assault weapons ban. Raoul’s office filed the petition in the 5th District Appellate Court
By Jerry Nowicki A Kankakee County judge ruled Wednesday, Dec. 28, that lawmakers overreached their constitutional authority in passing a measure to abolish cash bail in Illinois, while other provisions in the wide-ranging SAFE-T Act criminal justice reform were not affected by the ruling. The ruling by Judge Thomas W.
