Belt-supported law provides teachers with mental health days

CHICAGO – Teachers will be able to take excused mental health days under a measure supported by State Senator Christopher Belt that was signed into law Friday.

“It’s clear that our teachers have had to overcome a number of challenges, especially throughout the pandemic,” said Belt (D-Swansea). “They have continued to perform their jobs well in unprecedented times and often put their students before themselves.”

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Morrison works to further protect children who take school buses from reckless drivers

SPRINGFIELD - State Senator Julie Morrison (D-Lake Forest) led a law signed Friday that includes community service as a possible punishment if a person speeds in a school zone or illegally passes a stopped school bus with its stop arm extended.

“Children taking the bus to school should be worried about their schoolwork, not worried about reckless drivers,” Morrison said. “This measure will further deter folks from speeding or passing school buses and really reflect on how their actions could harm members of their community.”

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Morrison law provides youth in DCFS care with greater transition support

SPRINGFIELD – House Bill 5418, passed by State Senator Julie Morrison (D-Lake Forest) and signed into law Friday, will give children access to intervention and counseling services within the first 24 hours after removal from a home and require the DCFS division of child protection to assess a child’s wellbeing each month.

“Being removed from your home at a young age is an anguishing experience,” Morrison said. “We must provide these children with the support they need immediately.”

As youth in care grow older and the time comes for them to live on their own, this law requires DCFS to ensure they receive classes and instructions on independent living and self-sufficiency in the areas of employment, finances, meals and housing.

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Morrison brings more equality of access to the ballot box

SPRINGFIELD – Following through on her commitment to provide greater accessibility for all Illinois voters, State Senator Julie Morrison (D-Lake Forest) championed a newly signed law to allow people with certain disabilities to electronically mark their ballots using their own assistive technology.

“While we have expanded vote by mail in many ways, we have yet to provide the same opportunities to voters who cannot read print because of a visual, physical, perceptual, developmental, cognitive or learning disability,” Morrison said. “Equal access at the voting box is a keystone to our democracy. The inclusion of this process into state law will provide safe, private and equal voting opportunities for voters.”

The law will allow voters with a print disability to receive and mark their ballot electronically on an assistive device. It will be printed, sealed and signed before being returned through the mail. The voting procedure will be in place for the November 2022 General Election, and all subsequent elections.

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