CHICAGO — With workers at nearly 70 nursing homes across the state planning to go on strike because of unsafe working conditions, several Illinois Senate Democrats wrote a letter to the Illinois Department of Public Health and many local health departments Tuesday requesting to know the amount of Personal Protective Equipment that has been distributed to those nursing homes and the process by which it was distributed.

“The hardworking people who put their own health on the line to care for our state’s most vulnerable population should not have to do so without proper protection,” said State Senator Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago). “Workers shouldn’t be left wondering when and if they’ll get more supplies, and management shouldn’t have to find and pay for most PPE that is needed out of its own pockets.” 

The request comes from members of the Illinois Senate Democratic Caucus who have at least one nursing home in the district they represent where management received strike notices last week. Employees of 64 nursing homes across the state sent strike notices to management, saying facilities do not have enough PPE, safety protocols, and adequate hazard pay. 

In an effort to stand up for those workers in their districts, the group sent a letter to IDPH and local health departments to ask how facilities are chosen to receive PPE and how much PPE these nursing homes have received since the start of the outbreak.

"When our nursing home staffs aren't afforded adequate PPE, that puts worker and resident lives in danger," said State Senator Laura Fine (D-Glenview). "PPE is scarce right now, but our frontline workers need these supplies in order to continue caring for those who need it the most.”

Late last month, WBEZ — a Chicago-based public radio station — reported 625 Illinois nursing home patients and staff have died from COVID-19. Nursing home deaths make up more than a third of the state’s COVID-19 deaths. 

“We need to do everything possible to provide a safe environment for our nursing home workers, who day in and day out protect our most vulnerable loved ones,” said State Senator Laura Murphy (D-Schaumburg). 

CHICAGO – State Senator Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) has worked closely with members of the communities he represents to support people in need during the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

To date, his office has provided and participated in:

• Calls to more than 100,000 constituents to offer assistance and to answer questions
  
  
• Regular newsletter updates, FAQs, and resource guides with the latest information
  
  
• Wellness check calls made to 6,139 seniors, speaking with 855 of them to connect them to vital federal, state, and local services
  
  
• Assisting on 122 COVID-19 related constituent cases, having resolved 64 of them
  
  
• 59 food pantry/grocery deliveries
  
  
• Creation of a GoFundMe that raised approximately $15,000 in support of local food pantries
  
  
• Coordination of constituent services with other governmental offices and
  
  
• Several online presentations and briefings with fellow local lawmakers and community leaders, including town halls on resources for small businesses, first responders, and schools. 

“People need the support of their elected officials more than ever during this unsettling time,” Villivalam said. “I encourage anyone in the 8^th District who needs help and/or has suggestions on how we can help to reach out to my office.” 

To contact Villivalam and his staff, call (872) 208-5188 or visit his website, www.senatorram.com, to send an email.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago), the newly appointed chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, sent a letter to his colleagues inviting them to reintroduce any legislation that Villivalam’s predecessor refused to give an open hearing.

“It has been widely reported that the chair of the Senate Transportation Committee from 2009 to October of 2019 conducted meetings and approached policy, as it relates to transportation issues, without making the public good and/or public policy his top priority,” Villivalam said. “As the new chair, I have vowed to create and implement an open, transparent and accountable process for legislation that will maintain and improve our transportation and infrastructure system in a data-driven, equitable way.”

SPRINGFEILD - State Senator Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) and advocates introduced the REACH Act at a press conference this morning. 

This legislation requires all K-12 public schools to offer a comprehensive and age-appropriate course on personal heath and public safety. The program would be phased in slowly, thus granting schools a smooth orderly transition to the new curriculum.

SPRINGFIELD – Smaller businesses will once again be able to benefit from a tax credit for creating new full-time jobs under a plan announced by Senator Ram Villivalam and Representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz (D-Glenview) today.

“Small businesses make a community vibrant and unique, and this encourages them to seek out more employees,” said Villivalam, a Chicago Democrat. “This tax credit was introduced during the recession, and it should not have been allowed to lapse under the previous governor.”

The proposed legislation would provide small businesses with a tax credit worth $5,000 per new employee making at least $15 an hour and working 35 hours per week. A total of $75 million in tax credits will be awarded, with the credit set to sunset after six years.

SPRINGFIELD, IL - Today, State Senator Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) and State Representative Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield) join legislators from around the country in unveiling a national bipartisan campaign to phase out corporate giveaways by establishing an interstate compact. This bold proposal seeks to liberate states from participating in tax-payer funded subsidy battles by having states join together and refuse to provide companies with tax breaks or other incentives, as in the case of the Amazon HQ2 bidding war.

As of January 28, the legislation is filed in New York, Hawaii, Maryland, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, West Virginia and New Hampshire.

The legislation would bring each state into a formal agreement with other states to phase out corporate giveaways through two main provisions. First, member states agree to end the practice of offering tax breaks to a facility located in another member state as an inducement for the company to move. Second, member states participate in a national board of appointees to discuss and propose enhancements to the existing agreement for future consideration by each state.

SPRINGFIELD - State Senator Ram Villivalam has been appointed to the Senate Special Committee on Pension Investments by Senate President John J. Cullerton to fill the vacancy created by the departure of former State Senator Toi Hutchinson.

“I’m committed to ensuring the state upholds its promise to compensate our hardworking employees upon their retirement and to make sure these investments are indeed smart ones for taxpayers,” Villivalam (D-Chicago) said. “It is our responsibility to ensure that all Illinoisans who dedicate their lives to serving the state are not left without the means to support themselves and to provide fair opportunities for minority-owned businesses that have long struggled to break into the investment industry.”

SKOKIE – State Senator Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) hosted a fireside chat with a panel of activists that included Ela Gandhi, granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi.

Mandali Buddha Prasad, former Deputy Speaker of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, and David Grengan, President of the Pietermaritzburg Gandhi Committee RSA, also sat on the panel. Villivalam and the panelists discussed Gandhi’s civil rights work, his commitment to nonviolent resistance and his dedication to bridging racial and religious divides.