SPRINGFIELD – So students better understand the naturalization process, State Senator Celina Villanueva (D-Chicago) passed legislation in the Senate Education Committee that would allow schools to offer courses on naturalization and citizenship.

“More than two-thirds of students that take the U.S. Citizenship test in their history courses end up failing,” Villanueva said. “Schools should offer instruction on citizenship so that students from all backgrounds know the effort it takes to go through the naturalization process.”

The legislation would allow public high schools in Illinois to include a unit of instruction on the process of naturalization in their curricula. The course would include content from the actual citizenship test administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The measure allows local school boards to determine the amount of instructional time.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford) passed legislation through a Senate Committee that would expand the state’s ability to punish someone for impersonating another online, a practice commonly called catfishing.

“If you knowingly impersonate another person in order to harm them, there have to be real consequences,” Stadelman said. “There are cases where people’s lives are turned upside down or even ruined because someone is impersonating them. In the age of the internet, impersonating others has gotten easier and more common than ever.” 

The legislation expands the state's ability to make it a crime for a person to use someone else's name to create a fake webpage on a social networking site or send a message to intentionally cause emotional or economic damage.

“We cannot allow identity fraud to go unchecked in this state,” Stadelman said.

Senate Bill 766 passed the Senate Criminal Law Committee with a vote of 10-0 and is now headed to the full Senate for further consideration.

SPRINGFIELD – To prevent the exploitation of veterans and promote the availability of free service programs, State Senator Michael E. Hastings (D-Frankfort) passed a measure through the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Tuesday that seeks to penalize deceptive service providers.

“The past year has demonstrated just how easy it can be for those with malicious intent to take advantage of the innocent,” Hastings said. “It is our obligation to protect our veterans from these bad actors.”

Under House Bill 3865, any advertisement for veteran and military service benefits must include that these services are available free of charge from federal, state and county veteran service offices.

SPRINGFIELD – To improve student access to mental health education and resources, State Senator Suzy Glowiak Hilton (D-Western Springs) advanced legislation to allow partnerships between state agencies to more fully and effectively foster students’ well-being.

“Although highlighted by school disruptions over the last year and a half, many students experienced mental health distress long before the pandemic,” Glowiak Hilton said. “To ensure children are receiving the best mental health services in school, this proposal allows state agencies to work together to improve prevention and treatment resources.”

SPRINGFIELD – To ensure they can more easily prove they’re under an order of protection, Illinois would issue an official card for survivors of domestic violence under a measure sponsored by State Senator Julie Morrison (D-Lake Forest).

“We must do all we can to protect survivors of domestic violence and provide them with the peace of mind that they are safe,” Morrison said. “Allowing them to have a convenient way to live life with the fullest protection possible is pertinent.”

Under the measure, survivors of domestic violence who have an order of protection would be granted a “Hope Card” to carry as official documentation of the order. The driver’s license-sized, laminated card could be distributed to people who may need to be aware of the order in an easier and more convenient way than traditional paper copies. 

Morrison’s legislation would require the Illinois Supreme Court to implement the Hope Card program for any person under a preliminary order of protection. The card would contain a photograph, case number, active dates of the order of protection and other pertinent information. Survivors would be able to get multiple Hope Cards to pass out to coworkers, teachers and administrators at a child’s school, or anyone else who might need to be aware of the order of protection.

“The Hope Card will equip survivors with a much easier way to communicate their situation with others,” Morrison said. “Passing this measure is showing survivors we see them and we are here to help.”

House Bill 3485 passed the Senate Criminal Law Committee Tuesday.

SPRINGFIELD – An effort to improve mental health emergency responses by diverting emergency calls for mental health crises to mental health professionals was approved by a Senate committee Tuesday.

“Mental health crises should be treated by mental health professionals,” said State Senator Robert Peters (D-Chicago), the legislation’s sponsor. “Receiving treatment from someone who is a trained professional in mental health support is the best and safest way to address a mental health crisis. When police or firefighters show up, it sometimes creates a more dangerous situation for everyone.”

In July of 2020, the federal government laid the groundworks for 9-8-8 to become the new easy-to-remember number to call in the event of a mental health emergency, working similar to 9-1-1. House Bill 2784 would require local governments to coordinate 9-1-1 and 9-8-8 services, with the goal of diverting people with mental or behavioral health needs toward community care and away from incarceration or improper hospitalization.

“When you call 9-1-1 for a medical emergency, you get a medical response, but when you call for mental health emergency, you do not get a mental health response,” Peters said. “An improper response to a mental health crisis can make the situation worse, and this is not acceptable. Our job is to provide treatment, not trauma.”

The measure passed the Senate Behavioral & Mental Health committee with bipartisan support and will now be sent to the full Senate for further consideration.

SPRINGFIELD – According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Illinois has a birth rate of 14.6 births per 1,000 females between the ages of 15-19, and State Senator Mattie Hunter (D-Chicago) is ensuring policies will be put in place in the event that anyone has missed school due to pregnancy-related issues.

“Girls should not have to miss out on their education just because they got pregnant,” Hunter said. “Whether planned or not, pregnant girls deserve an access to their education.”

House Bill 3272 requires all school boards in the state to adopt written policies related to absences and missed homework or classwork assignments as a result of or related to a student's pregnancy.

Over 30% of teen girls who have dropped out of high school cite pregnancy or parenthood as a key reason. Rates are even higher for African American and Latino girls—38% and 36%, respectively.

“Girls should not be punished for being pregnant. School administrators can help accommodate pregnant students’ learning needs to ensure their pregnancy does not set them back in life,” Hunter said. “Having a child will surely be an obstacle to earning a degree, but it doesn’t have to be impossible.”

Hunter also addresses school board absence policies in House Bill 3099, which eliminates the Chicago Board of Education’s Office of Chronic Truant Adjudication, and instead requires the Chicago Board of Education to implement a socio-emotional focused attendance policy that targets the underlying causes of chronic truancy.

House Bill 3272 passed the Senate Education Committee Tuesday, and awaits further consideration from the full Senate. House Bill 3099 also awaits to be heard on the Senate Floor.

SPRINGFIELD – A measure initiated by Senator Linda Holmes (D-Aurora) urging the General Assembly and governor to invest Illinois's transportation and infrastructure dollars as promised under the Rebuild Illinois program passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee Tuesday.

“Rebuild Illinois started in 2019 as a comprehensive plan to fund infrastructure construction projects throughout the state, and create thousands of jobs and economic development,” Holmes said. “The pandemic has heightened the need for programs like this one, and I want to make certain the Rebuild Illinois funding is protected and not transferred out for something else.”

Rebuild Illinois, the largest capital construction program in Illinois history at $45 billion distributed over six years, is tackling Illinois’ crumbling infrastructure by funding projects to improve roads, bridges, public transit, clean water infrastructure, rural broadband and public schools.

“Every dollar spent on infrastructure returns $1.57 to local economies,” Holmes said. “It is important to make sure these funds are used as intended.”

Senate Resolution 215 now will go before the full Senate for consideration.