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.

OAKBROOK TERRACE – Illinois now has new laws in place to encourage residents to pursue vocational training programs.

State Senator Suzy Glowiak Hilton (D-Western Springs) supported three new laws that will help expand and attract students to vocational and apprenticeship programs to help expand the state’s economy.

Glowiak Hilton, an engineer herself, passed a new law that will require the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to conduct a study on the potential expansion of apprenticeship programs.

The study outlined in Senate Bill 2024 will focus on underserved communities with high unemployment. The Commerce Department will report its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly by June 1, 2020.

SPRINGFIELD – Childhood sexual abuse victims would be reaffirmed in their right to bring civil charges against their perpetrator and those who fraudulently concealed their crime under a proposal sponsored by State Senator Terry Link (D-Indian Creek) that was signed into law yesterday by Gov. Pritzker.

“Childhood sexual abuse is a trauma that most of us cannot even fathom,” Link said. “While healing may take years or even decades, confronting an accuser is often an integral part of the healing process for survivors. Our laws should reflect our values that victims and their rights should be protected.”

Link’s new law – which passed under Senate Bill 1868 – reaffirms the ability of victims of childhood sexual abuse cases to bring a civil claim against an abuser or an individual who fraudulently concealed the crime. The law will ensure victims are able to recoup civil damages if there is evidence that their perpetrator intentionally tried to conceal the crime.

Link introduced the proposal after a report issued by former Attorney General Lisa Madigan in December of 2018 revealed accusations of child sexual abuse against nearly 700 Catholic priests throughout Illinois.

ELGIN – A measure to protect undocumented immigrant tenants from landlord harassment was signed into law today, thanks to Elgin Democrat State Senator Cristina Castro.

The new law creates the Immigrant Tenant Protection Act, which prohibits landlords from questioning a tenant’s immigration status as a means of harassment or to force an eviction.

“We needed to put a protection in place to ensure that landlords are not holding their tenants’ immigration status over their heads to pressure higher rent or eviction,” said Castro.

Castro’s measure will now allow tenants to report criminal activity or habitability issues without being targeted based on their immigration status.

Castro filed this legislation because the Illinois Human Rights Act did not protect individuals based on immigration status, nor did it place any limitations on when a landlord may request or share that information.

SPRINGFIELD – Legislation sponsored by State Senator Christopher Belt (D-Centreville) that will allow impoverished school districts to issue more bonds to receive additional revenue was recently signed into law.

To calculate their ability to issue bonds, a school district factors in 85 percent of the Equalized Assessed Valuation (EAV) plus the district’s Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax. Belt’s proposal would count state aid as part of the baseline on which a district can base that 85 percent EAV calculation.

“With this legislation becoming effective, neglected school districts will now have the ability to improve their student’s future,” Belt said. “Making the accommodation of factoring state aid into the formula will help these school districts flourish and provide a better path to closing their achievement gaps.”

Senate Bill 1746 takes effect on Jan. 1, 2020.