Among them, the Cook County public defender’s office pushed for legislation to expand the jurisdiction of its attorneys representing noncitizen Cook County residents in immigration cases being heard outside the county.

Rockford is also notable for negative GDP since 2019. Only 4.4 percent of the nation’s metro areas were worse.

The $1.50-per delivery tax was billed by supporters as an “environmental impact fee” but slammed by opponents in the business community as a regressive “pizza tax.” It ended up being just as bitter a pill for legislators in the Democratic supermajority to swallow as revenue proposals floated earlier in the waning days of the spring legislative session. A previous draft included a toll hike and a diversion of some suburban sales taxes that prompted a bipartisan outcry from organized labor and collar county leaders.

Dr. George Deltas, Department Head of Economics at the University of Illinois, highlighted the link between population and local economies. He said, “Then we observe the population declining, and then we might erroneously believe that, you know, the economy is doing bad because people are leaving, even though in fact people are leaving because the economy is going bad.”

Detention for 10 and 11 year-olds would stop on July 1, 2026 while detention for 12 year-olds would end the following year. There is a carveout for intense crimes like murder, aggravated sexual assault, and aggravated vehicular hijacking.

In the lawsuit he and the coalition of attorneys general of 16 states filed, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is seeking a court order to block the implementation of the National Science Foundation’s new directives to eliminate programs addressing diversity in STEM.

The measure also provides for Illinois State Police to track certain types of firearm data.

“If lawmakers want to pass a serious budget, then budget proposals and revenue forecasts should reflect current law only, not proposed changes that haven’t been enacted.”

“We have over two million people in Illinois that are living with old criminal records, keeping them locked out of our state’s economy,” state Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth said. “Illinois has one of the highest unemployment rates in this country and one of the highest in the Midwest region. Old criminal records reduce the likelihood of finding a job. They depress wages, and it causes an early exit from the labor market.”

It follows a familiar fiscal playbook: spend more, fix nothing, hand taxpayers the bill – and toss in a raise for those casting the votes. Despite lawmaker claims of budget cuts, the 2026 budget increased by $2 billion compared to 2025.

“The incumbent (Chicago mayor) Brandon Johnson is spectacularly unpopular, and a real hunger is developing in the city (again) for new leadership.”