The announcement also comes after the Illinois Supreme Court declined to immediately take up the case challenging Pritzker’s authority to issue mandates like masks, exclusion, and vaccine or testing for COVID-19, sending the issue back to the circuit court.

State Sen. Michael Hastings passed Senate Bill 3866 along party lines. Among other things, it includes issues around fees on energy bills. “It makes a technical change to the energy transition assistance charge, to enable full collection of this charge.”

State Rep. Michael Zalewski said the legislation will continue a program that has provided some savings to the unfunded pension liability. “This helped reduce the unfunded liability by doing something completely constitutional, this is a bill that we can all be proud of.”

If the unemployment debt is not paid by the end of the year, Illinoisans will be on the hook for up to $100 million in interest. House Majority Leader Greg Harris said they hope to get a deal done quickly, but didn’t say if that would be before the April 8 scheduled end of session.

An amendment to House Bill 4305 eliminates the minimum age of 14 years old for children to be left unsupervised in Illinois. If it passes, Illinois would join 39 states that already believe parents are the best judges of their children’s maturity and ability to stay home by themselves.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s fourth budget recommendation proposes taking advantage of a stronger than expected economic recovery to fund supplemental spending and additional pension contributions in the current year, along with plans to rebuild the State’s meager rainy day fund.

“Senate Bill 3865 would remove the use of ‘alien’ in any Illinois statute when referring to people who have mixed statuses and referring to commerce outside of Illinois and the country. Eliminating references to ‘alien’ in Illinois law would remove a regressive and outdated legal term and symbolize the full inclusion of immigrant communities in Illinois. Similar legislation has recently passed in California and Colorado.”

The statewide school mask mandate will end on Monday.

“For too long, our roads, bridges, transit and water systems have been neglected, contributing to accidents and lost time and productivity for millions of Americans. Now, the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act has set us on a path to progress and innovation. Combined with the America Competes Act we recently passed in the House, and many other policies of the Biden administration, we are spurring innovation, creating jobs, fighting inflation and bringing our infrastructure into a new era.”

“Given the nature of the year and the resources that are massed against him and some of the scars of having to lead a state through the pandemic, he has to be seriously focused. …This is not gonna be a walk in the park for him,” Axelrod said of Pritzker. Polls done for other politicians have recently shown Lightfoot’s approval rate in the 30% range, roughly 10 percentage points lower than Rahm Emanuel’s ratings were when he abandoned plans to seek a third term. “It’s an uphill battle for her. All polling reflects that. She’s a very pugnacious person. She’s

“The ‘status quo,’ Mr. Raoul, isn’t lawful, according to several lower courts, and the body of work over 24 months shows Pritzker’s reckless lack of judgment in determining what is an emergency and in doing the right thing.”

GasBuddy officials say that gas prices could go up by as much as 50 cents in the coming months — if that happens, gas prices in Illinois could exceed the highest recorded national average.

Conventions are coming back and hotel occupancy in Springfield was at or above 2019 numbers in June through October of 2021.

The shortage of teachers in Illinois, according to State Senator Doris Turner, now stands at 4,120.

94 of the 102 counties in Illinois and 104 municipalities will share in the $760 million settlement. Some communities will use the money for treatment programs. Others are expanding services in the jails to help inmates conquer their addictions.

The bill would not only give dispatchers a new title, but also benefits and access to additional training.

The Illinois Education Association, the state’ largest teachers union, and the Illinois Federation of Teachers have argued in court to keep all students in masks. The message to parents is clear: union leaders think their preferred policies should overpower what parents think is best for their children.

“…(T)he State of Illinois owes $3,904,429,632 in unpaid bills to state vendors. One year ago, the backlog stood at $5.0 billion. This figure represents the amount of bills submitted to the office of the Comptroller and still awaiting payment. It does not include debts that can only be estimated, such as our unfunded pension liability which is subject to a wide range of factors and has been estimated to be more than $141 billion.”

Illinois has the highest tax burden, and is one of just three states to receive a failing letter grade of E. Wisconsin and Michigan also rank in the top 10 highest tax burdens.

Although Illinois is one of the top wine-drinking states in the country, the state’s wineries are prohibited from producing and selling wine at levels that compare with their peers in the beer and spirits industries, according to the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Alliance.