SPRINGFIELD – Legislation supported by Senator Michael E. Hastings which aims to end the stigma surrounding mental health issues among first responders was signed into law on Friday.

“We need to make sure that those in the first responder community who are struggling have properly trained help readily available to them,” Hastings (D-Tinley Park) said. “This ensures that these men and women receive the best possible treatment and are unafraid to seek it.”

House Bill 2766 ensures individuals tasked with providing peer support counseling to law enforcement and firefighters are properly trained and that those who seek out mental health treatment will be protected under the law without fear of termination or discrimination.

Additionally, the new law will create a task force to study recommendations to help reduce the risk of suicide among first responders.

SPRINGFIELD – Public school teachers in Illinois will see higher salaries thanks to an initiative cosponsored by State Senator Rachelle Crowe signed into law today.

“We trust our teachers to not only influence our future leaders, but monitor their safety and home life while guiding them throughout the formative years of their lives,” Crowe (D-Glen Carbon) said. “Why should the people equal to such tasks want to work for us if we’re not paying them a respectable wage?”

Under House Bill 2078, the state would update the minimum mandated salary for teachers annually over four years, beginning with the 2020-2021 school year. After that, subject to review by the General Assembly, it would be increased according to the Consumer Price Index. The phase-in would look like this under the proposal:

SPRINGFIELD – Legislation to raise the minimum wage for teachers to $40,000 per year over the next five years was signed into law today.

State Senator Michael E. Hastings was a cosponsor on this initiative as it made its way through the Senate.

“Teachers deserve to earn a living wage regardless of where they live across our state. I personally know teachers that take money out of their own pockets to decorate classrooms and purchase supplies,” Hastings (D-Tinley Park) said. “I’m proud to be able to say that we’re acting on behalf of the selfless men and women who we are entrusting with our children’s wellbeing."

SPRINGFIELD – Teachers will see an increase to their minimum salary under a new law sponsored by State Sen. Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) and signed by Gov. JB Pritzker.

“We’re facing a severe teacher shortage in Illinois and increasing their salaries is just one way we can attract and retain qualified teachers in this state,” Manar said. “We need to start taking this problem seriously and this legislation is a good step toward solving it.”

House Bill 2078 will increase the minimum salary for teachers to $40,000 over a four year period.

CHICAGO – A measure that safeguards the voting rights of incarcerated individuals awaiting trial introduced by State Senator Aquino (D-Chicago) was signed by Gov. JB Pritzker today.

“Every citizen who is eligible to vote must be provided with the opportunity to cast their ballot,” said Aquino. “Thousands of eligible voters who are detained before trial are systematically denied that right. Coupled with a justice system that disproportionately jails people of color, there is a clear effort to suppress the vote in communities of color across the country.”

Under the Illinois Election Code, those in jail awaiting trial who have not been convicted of a crime are still eligible to vote. The new law requires election authorities to work with the county jail to provide an opportunity to vote by mail for those individuals.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Andy Manar gathered with community members, veterans groups and the family and friends of Marine Lance Cpl. Charles Heinemeier in Bunker Hill today for a road naming ceremony in honor of the Vietnam veteran.

Earlier this spring, the Illinois General Assembly adopted Manar’s Senate Joint Resolution 9, which designates a stretch of Illinois Highway 159 between Detour Road and Illinois Route 16 in Bunker Hill as the “Lance Cpl. Charles Heinemeier Memorial Highway.”

“It can be far too easy for us to remain so focused on what’s going on in our own busy lives that we forget those who make it possible for us to live them,” said Manar, a Bunker Hill Democrat. “The sacrifices made by our veterans are the reason we have the freedoms we so often take for granted. That’s why it’s important for us to do things like we did here today.”

CHICAGO – Incarcerated people who are soon due for release will have an opportunity to receive civics education under a new law sponsored by State Senator Robert Peters (D-Chicago).

“This is the first step toward building and expanding on the civic rights of folks in prisons and jails,” Peters said. “The voices of the folks returning from incarceration are crucial in the fight for mass liberation and breaking the systemic cycle of mass incarceration, which is why it’s important that we allow those voices to be heard.”

House Bill 2541 creates the Re-Entering Citizens Civics Education Act, which directs the Departments of Corrections and Juvenile Justice to provide peer-led civics programs throughout Illinois correctional facilities to incarcerated people who will be released within 12 months. The programs’ curricula will consist of voting rights, governmental institutions, current affairs, and simulations of voter registration, election, and democratic processes. The law mandates the content of the programs be non-partisan.

The bill was signed by Gov. JB Pritzker today after having passed both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly with strong, bipartisan support. It is effective Jan. 1, 2020.

SPRINGFIELD – Prison inmates who are required to serve most of their sentences could soon reduce them by successfully completing classes aimed at rehabilitation under a proposal led by Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford (D-Maywood).

“Our criminal justice system is in desperate need of reforms that reduce recidivism and promote rehabilitation,” Lightford said. “This law will incentivize education and prepare inmates to re-enter society.”

Currently, individuals sentenced under truth-in-sentencing provisions, who are required to serve 85 percent or 100 percent of their sentence, are ineligible to receive sentencing credit for successful completion of classes with educational, substance abuse, vocational or re-entry focus.