Sen. Rachel Ventura filed a bill that wold allow candidates to use public funds instead of interest group funds. She filed the bill in response to the record-breaking amount of money spent in the 2022 Illinois Supreme Court Elections. Under Ventura’s proposal, the fund will contain an initial $40 million from the state’s General Revenue Fund for candidate use if they choose to opt-in to the public fund for their campaign spending.

If the plan passes, alongside late fees and pet fees, the extra fees that would be outright banned would include renewal fees, change of lease fees, contacting building owner fee and an eviction notice fee.

“Teachers and administrators have so much on their plates these days,” said Rep. Laura Faver Dias. “So I think it’s really important, in this really unknown territory of this brand new technology, that the state is leading the way to offer guidance on how to best use it and best navigate it.”

The bill would create a task force to issue a report on ways to offer community-based rehabilitation, improve how the justice system handles minors and deter juvenile detention.

Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs said Canada is an important trading partner with Illinois and tariffs could be damaging. “Illinois imports from Canada were north of $65 billion in 2023, a 75 percent jump since 2019,” said Frerichs. “Illinois’ exports to Canada where businesses will bear the impact of the Trump tax.”

On April 1, 2025, voters in McLean County will decide on the proposed 1 percent County Schools Facility Tax, which districts have dubbed the “one-cent” tax. McLean County voters shot down a similar tax proposal in 2014. “They call it a one-cent tax as a sales tactic to make it seem like it’s not that much,” said Bryce Hill, of the Illinois Policy Institute. “It would be a 1 percent sales tax in addition to things like your state sales tax, your local sales taxes, all of those things.”

Of the $29.7 billion in revenue dedicated to fund IDOT road projects under its current multi-year plan, about half comes from federal government reimbursements. For multimodal projects, about 40% of projected funds are set to come from the feds. But the early days of the new Trump administration have already upended at least one major transportation program – casting doubt on what other funding might disappear.

“Most folks just figured that (former House Speaker Mike) Madigan had avoided the long arm of federal law by being extra careful. And he may have been. But the arrogance of immense power apparently overrode his sense of self-preservation. He paid a big price last week — two days after (former Gov. Rod) Blagojevich received a full pardon from President Donald Trump. Try to put that in a movie and they’d tell you it just wasn’t believable.”

Estimates of Missouri’s revenue from sports betting range from $12.8 million to $20.5 million, according to a fiscal note for a previous bill to legalize sports betting.

“It’s just a constant revolving door now, of people in custody for seven or less days,” Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain said, expressing concern about recidivism. He said that if the jail population continues in the direction it has been going, there could be an increase of around $2.5 million in costs, based on the average cost per person.

Right now, Illinois law requires local governments to approve all solar and wind farm projects with very few exceptions. The Shelby County Zoning Board said that has tied the hands of county leaders, severely limiting their control of solar or wind projects. However, a bill introduced in Springfield could overturn the requirement.

“You can look at one poll and say ‘oh gee, he’s popular in some places in the country.’ Frankly I look at what’s happening to working class families as a result of his policies and I’m speaking out against that,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “And, importantly, I’ve expressed what I think is the danger that our residents in our state face as a result of policies that he’s putting in place.”

When Illinois shuttered the century-old maximum security facility last year, nearly four of every five inmates went to less-secure sites.

“I know that our (GOP) leaders are out there making the case, but there has to be this groundswell that comes from this verdict that is going to change the nature of the dynamics of Springfield, because it’s very difficult to penetrate. And we have, over the years, tried to against Make Madigan and it really hasn’t moved the needle that much,” former House GOP leader Jim Durkin said.

In 2023 and 2024, over a dozen Illinois counties and cities passed non-sanctuary laws or resolutions, explicitly stating that they don’t intend to welcome undocumented immigrants. “We had a clear mandate from our voters that they wanted us to react with the more ‘Trump way’ of handling these immigration issues,” said Drew Muffler, chairman of the Grundy County Board. “We didn’t want to find ourselves financially on the hook to have to provide accommodations (for incoming migrants).”

Imprisoned former Ald. Edward M. Burke’s Burnham Committee gave the money to a fund for Justice Joy V. Cunningham days after her November election victory. She won’t say why her campaign took the money despite the former Chicago City Council member’s corruption conviction.

David Greising, of the Better Government Association: “The guilty verdict against (former Speaker of the House Mike) Madigan is a victory for the rule of law, and (Gov. JB) Pritzker is right in calling for accountability as a step toward rebuilding trust in Illinois government. New safeguards against corruption would make those words — and the state’s commitment to clean up government — ring more true.”