SPRINGFIELD – As college-bound seniors receive their acceptance letters and prepare for the fall semester, State Senator Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) is seeking to create a task force dedicated to making textbooks and other course materials more affordable.

“After a year of remote learning and working, we have all become more familiar with the advantages of digital resources like e-books,” Murphy said. “As we look ahead to recovery, it’s important that we find out how these resources can supplement current initiatives like subscription and rental programs to help reduce the financial burden on college students and their families.”

SPRINGFIELD – In a victory for Illinois student athletes of all personal, cultural and religious backgrounds, State Senator Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) has advanced legislation to give student athletes more flexibility in the design of their athletic uniforms.       

“Some team uniforms prevent athletes from feeling confident and accepted on the field, or even from being able to compete at all,” Murphy said. “Allowing athletes to adjust their uniforms according to their needs can give more students the chance to have fun, stay active and be part of a team.”

SPRINGFIELD – To clarify and streamline the annexation process for Elk Grove Village and other local governments across Illinois, State Senator Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) sponsored legislation to protect and strengthen municipalities’ rights to annex surrounding properties.

“Current laws and recent rulings surrounding annexation have complicated the process and opened local governments up to lawsuits,” Murphy said. “This legislation more clearly outlines the requirements municipalities must follow to annex property legally.”

In 2018, an appellate court in Will County rendered an annexation invalid, even though the annexation appeared to meet all statutory requirements. The ambiguity of this decision has caused problems for municipalities in other areas of the state, including Elk Grove Village in the district Murphy represents, where some property owners have attempted to legally challenge previous annexations meeting all statutory requirements in order to block future annexations.

To resolve this confusion and more clearly define the factors that determine an annexation’s validity, Murphy’s legislation would create clear statutory requirements for municipalities seeking annexation.

“The statutory requirements in place are meant to ensure an annexation decision is in the best interests of the community,” Murphy said. “It’s important that they are clear and concrete, so municipalities can follow them as intended.”

Senate Bill 658 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday and now heads to the full Senate.

SPRINGFIELD – To prevent images and videos of children—including elementary and special education students—from falling into the wrong hands, State Senator Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) has sponsored legislation to remove the video recording requirement from the Illinois edTPA teacher licensing assessment.

“Recording devices can be stolen, accounts can be hacked, and images and videos can end up on the internet without authorization, putting our children at risk,” Murphy said. “Illinois is one of just a handful of states that require this unnecessary step for licensure—there are other ways to assess a student teacher’s performance that don’t threaten kids’ privacy.”

The legislation would establish student teachers cannot be required to videotape themselves or their students in order to earn a license.

Currently, student teachers in Illinois must record themselves and their students on video to pass the edTPA, an assessment required for their teaching license. The video is then uploaded and sent to a third party vendor for evaluation. The edTPA requires just two short segments of video, but student teachers are encouraged to record hours of footage to choose from.

The legislation would still allow teacher education programs to videotape for in-house teaching purposes, and licensed teachers and administrators could still film students in order to gain National Board Certification or for training, sporting events or promotional purposes.

“Images and videos are vulnerable to attack, especially those that are uploaded and sent to third parties,” Murphy said. “With cybersecurity threats on the rise, it’s critical that we take steps to protect our children’s privacy.”

Senate Bill 808 passed the Senate Education Committee Tuesday and now heads to the full Senate.

SPRINGFIELD – More Illinoisans could qualify for two state property tax relief programs under legislation from State Senator Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) to raise the maximum income limitations for the Senior Citizens Real Estate Tax Deferral and the Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze Homestead Exemption.

“As many households recover from the devastating economic impacts of the pandemic, it’s critical that we offer a hand however we can,” Murphy said. “These programs already provide relief to older residents across the state—it’s time to bump up the income thresholds and allow more people to benefit.”

SPRINGFIELD – In an effort to crack down on university administrators who continue to exploit loopholes in the law by receiving massive payouts, or “golden parachutes,” after leaving their positions, State Senator Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) has advanced an initiative to strengthen current rules against the practice.

Lawmakers passed the Government Severance Pay Act in 2018 to limit the amount paid in university severance packages. Murphy’s measure strengthens the act by expanding the definition of severance pay and defining limits on compensation.

“The intent of the Government Severance Pay Act was to protect taxpayers and students from being forced to bankroll administrators’ six-figure paychecks for years after they’ve resigned from service to the school,” Murphy said. “This initiative will tighten up the language of that legislation to ensure it serves its purpose.”

Universities typically offer severance packages to end an employment agreement without litigation or arbitration. Upon resignation, many public university administrators are awarded severance packages that pay amounts equal or nearly equal to their entire salary, even in cases of declining university performance under their leadership.

Senate Bill 2240 expands the definition of severance pay to include employees who are transitioning to a new position within a unit of government. It also limits the compensation that employees may receive to the annual compensation of the highest paid employee in their department.

“Our state’s education system must reinvest tuition and taxpayer dollars responsibly, with a focus on serving students and communities,” Murphy said. “Limiting administrative costs is an important step toward making and keeping education affordable for Illinois students.”

Senate Bill 2240 advanced out of the Higher Education Committee and now goes before the full Senate.

SPRINGFIELD – To close loopholes that currently allow the Illinois Tollway Authority to share Illinois drivers’ personal information and travel records with law enforcement, federal prosecutors and private attorneys, State Senator Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) sponsored legislation to limit the instances in which this data can be shared.

“Your travel history is your business. When that information is shared without valid cause, it’s a clear violation of drivers’ privacy,” said Murphy. “We need to put stronger protections in place to keep people’s personal information safe.”

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) is announcing that school districts in the 28^th Senate District will receive $177,711,359 in additional funding to help address the many challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Over the past year, teachers and parents have put in thousands of hours of additional effort to keep our kids engaged in learning,” Murphy said. “This funding gives schools and students the support they need to make a full recovery after the pandemic.”

The funding comes as part of the most recent federal COVID-19 relief package. Schools, students and parents have overcome challenges that no one could have imagined before the pandemic began, including remote and hybrid learning, digital connection issues, new processes for receiving state and federal aid that normally flow through schools, and more.

Local school districts are set to receive the following amounts:

• School District U-46 - $95,027,296
• Schaumburg Community Consolidated School District 54 - $18,762,224
• Community Consolidated School District 59 - $12,435,762
• Des Plaines Community Consolidated School District 62 - $10,129,759
• Park Ridge Consolidated Community School District 64 - $2,040,685
• Maine Township High School District 207 - $8,389,466
• Keeneyville School District 20 - $2,636,287
• Lake Park Community High School District 108 - $2,333,579
• Township High School District 211 - $13,400,938
• Township High School District 214 - $12,555,363

The majority of the funding comes from the American Rescue Plan, which gives local schools a great deal of flexibility in how they can use the money over the next 3 ½ years. At least 20% of the funding must be used to address learning loss, but beyond that, school districts can use the money to address many different issues and costs. For example, it can be used to better equip schools for safe learning, to prevent layoffs, to address students’ social and emotional needs, to fund summer programs, or to ensure all students have access to reliable Wi-Fi and technology.

The State Board of Education, in collaboration with other state agencies that address education, has produced a guide for local school districts to help them decide how to best use their resources. While the guide and other state-sponsored services are completely voluntary, the state aims to support local districts during this difficult time.

“Our local schools have the ultimate say in how they use this funding—as they should,” Murphy said. “But, this guide can provide them some direction as they make plans for the future.”

In total, Illinois received nearly $7 billion to support local school districts.