Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives
Previous Post: Open thread
Next Post: Question of the day
Posted in:
* SJ-R…
Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, is leading Senate Bill 2622 which would prevent any municipality from establishing a moratorium on a requirement that workers must hold residency to be employed. The bill clarifies the ability to initiate pauses is solely a state function. […]
The legislation comes after Springfield City Council adopted a moratorium in November. The pause allows Springfield to hire outside the city limits, needed to address hiring challenges its backers said.
The initiative was a push of first-term Mayor Misty Buscher with Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory, Ward 3 Ald. Roy Williams Jr. and Ward 4 Ald. Larry Rockford voting against the ordinance. The council will revisit the moratorium in November, but no sunset date was established.
“The problem is we don’t have enough applicants for the jobs we need to hire for,” Buscher told The State Journal-Register following the vote. “It’s my job as the mayor to lead the city forward in getting the workforce, getting the things taken care of.”
* Politico…
Two state lawmakers on opposite ends of the political battlefield agree on one thing: People who make Illinois their home deserve some tax breaks.
Democratic state Rep. Kelly Cassidy’s HB5152 would benefit people who relocate to Illinois “as a result of attacks on health care access and free speech in their home states.” Under her bill, any taxpayer who relocates to Illinois as a patient or household member of a patient is eligible for a $500 tax credit. The bill also provides the same credit for licensed healthcare providers or teachers and their households. […]
Republican state Sen. Seth Lewis is championing legislation that rewards businesses who are staying put in Illinois.
His Senate Bill 2075 calls it a “legacy tax credit.” It gives $100 for each year the taxpayer owner of a sole proprietorship, LLC or corporation has been headquartered in Illinois. There would be a limit to 10 percent of their state income tax obligation, says Lewis, a small business owner as a State Farm agent.
* Sun-Times…
Illinois Senate Democrats are moving forward on legislation that would give mentally capable patients who are terminally ill an option of ending their own lives.
The “medical aid in dying” measure, sponsored by State Sens. Laura Fine, D-Glenview, and Linda Holmes, D-Aurora, would allow terminally ill adults with a prognosis of six months or less to obtain prescription medication that they can self-ingest to end their lives. It was filed in the General Assembly Thursday evening. […]
The bill would allow qualified individuals, not medical professionals, to self-administer a medication to end their lives. It also would require doctors to inform patients about all of their end-of-life options, including hospice, palliative care and pain control.
Patients would have to give two verbal requests for the medication — with a five-day waiting period between the first and second request. A written request would also be required.
And no physician, health care provider or pharmacist would be required to participate in the law — offsetting concerns from doctors and hospitals operating in institutions affiliated with religious organizations.
* Sen. Elgie Sims filed SB2535 earlier this week…
Amends the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Act. Creates the Youth Nonviolent Crimes Resource Program. Provides that the Criminal Justice Information Authority shall provide resources to people under the age of 18 who have committed a nonviolent crime. Provides that these resources shall include youth employment initiatives throughout the State, access to educational resources in collaboration with the Illinois State Board of Education, and parental mentorship training conducted by the Department of Human Services. Provides that the Authority shall develop a mentorship initiative for youth that have been convicted of a nonviolent crime. Provides that the Authority may establish a grant program for non-profit organizations. Provides that the Authority shall publish this program on its website by no later than January 1, 2024. Effective immediately.
* HB5320 from Rep. Kam Buckner…
Amends the Hospital Licensing Act. Provides that “hospital worker” means any person who receives an hourly wage directly or indirectly via a subcontractor by a hospital licensed under the Act. Replaces references to “nurse” with “hospital worker”. Provides for additional staffing transparency and reporting requirements. Provides that hospitals licensed under the Act must employ and schedule enough hospital workers to provide quality patient care and ensure patient safety. Provides that hospitals must make available, at the beginning of each calendar year and upon request, all staffing matrices and other staffing metrics, if any, used to assess and maintain safe staffing levels for hospital workers in each unit. Provides that the Department of Public Health shall produce an annual report based on staffing disclosures. Provides that the Department shall make recommendations for minimum staffing standards for hospital workers in each hospital unit. Provides that hospitals licensed under the Act shall conduct, within the first month of employment and at no cost, a competency validation for each hospital worker hired. Provides that a hospital must submit documentation of each hospital worker’s competency validation to the Department within 4 weeks after the worker’s start date. Provides that hospitals shall conduct ongoing verification for each hospital worker employed during a given calendar year to determine each worker’s continued competency to perform the worker’s job and shall submit documentation of each worker’s ongoing verification to the Department within 2 weeks of completion. Provides that hospitals shall submit a list of all competent employees currently employed at the end of each calendar year. Provides for a public registry of all competent employees to be maintained by the Department. Provides for the imposition of civil penalties for specified violations of the Act. Describes an assignment despite objection resolution process to be implemented by each hospital that is licensed under the Act. Provides for a Hospital Safety Advocate role to be created within the Department.
* HB5142 from Rep. Robyn Gabel…
Amends the Illinois Insurance Code. Provides that insurers shall cover all services for pregnancy, postpartum, and newborn care that are rendered by perinatal doulas or licensed certified professional midwives, including home births, home visits, and support during labor, abortion, or miscarriage. Provides that the required coverage includes the necessary equipment and medical supplies for a home birth. Provides that coverage for pregnancy, postpartum, and newborn care shall include home visits by lactation consultants and the purchase of breast pumps and breast pump supplies, including such breast pumps, breast pump supplies, breastfeeding supplies, and feeding aides as recommended by the lactation consultant. Provides that coverage for postpartum services shall apply for at least one year after birth. Provides that certain pregnancy and postpartum coverage shall be provided without cost-sharing requirements. Amends the Medical Assistance Article of the Illinois Public Aid Code. Provides that post-parturition care benefits shall not be subject to any cost-sharing requirement. Provides that the medical assistance program shall cover home visits for lactation counseling and support services. Provides that the medical assistance program shall cover counselor-recommended or provider-recommended breast pumps as well as breast pump supplies, breastfeeding supplies, and feeding aides. Provides that nothing in the provisions shall limit the number of lactation encounters, visits, or services; breast pumps; breast pump supplies; breastfeeding supplies; or feeding aides a beneficiary is entitled to receive under the program. Makes other changes. Effective January 1, 2026.
* WAND…
State Senator Doris Turner is outlining a plan to hold funeral homes accountable following the mishandling of human remains at a funeral home in Carlinville.
“The status quo isn’t working,” said Turner (D-Springfield). “These are people who deserve dignity and respect. This legislation will ensure that no family will have to worry that the death of their loved ones aren’t handled with dignity and respect.”
Senate Bill 2643 would require the death care industry in the state as well as state regulators to implement a mandatory identification tagging system for all human remains. It also would establish a chain of custody system that tracks the human remains of a deceased person whose death occurred in the state from death to final disposition, if the final disposition is in Illinois.
The measure would put procedures and protocols in place to prevent the misidentification and misplacement of bodies or human remains and conduct that results in a method of final disposition that differs from what is stipulated by the deceased individual or the deceased’s next of kin.
* HB5063 from Rep. Anne Stava-Murray…
Creates the Gas Stove Labeling Act. Provides that no person shall sell, attempt to sell, or offer to sell to a consumer in the State a gas stove that is manufactured on or after January 1, 2025 unless a label on the gas stove bears a specified message. Provides that manufacturers or importers shall affix adhesive labels to the gas stove in a position that is easily read by a consumer examining the product. Provides that the label must be in a type size no smaller than the largest type size used for other consumer information on the product. Provides that a violation of any of the provisions of the Act is an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. Provides that all remedies, penalties, and authority granted to the Attorney General by the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act shall be available to him or her for the enforcement of the Act. Amends the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act to make a conforming change.
* Rep. Sonya Harper filed HB5067 yesterday…
Creates the Lawns to Legumes Act. Establishes the Lawns to Legumes Program, which requires the Department of Natural Resources to provide assistance for installing pollinator-friendly native plants in residential lawns to protect and support native species of pollinators. Provides that the Department shall adopt rules for the Program. Provides for individual support grants to reimburse Illinois residents for up to $400, subject to appropriation and other requirements. Provides for demonstration neighborhood grants to units of local government and nonprofit organizations through a request for proposal process, subject to appropriation and other requirements. Provides that homeowners associations and common interest communities may not prohibit the planting of pollinator habitats. Defines terms.
* WBEZ…
New legislation in Springfield backed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker would require a lawyer for young people under 18 during a police interrogation, an expansion of juvenile rights after video obtained by WBEZ showed a suburban Chicago detective extracting a teen’s false confession to a shooting.
The bill, introduced this week by state Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, applies to any public official’s questioning of a child in custody about any crime. It would also bar kids from waiving their right to counsel. Under the measure, any statement by a minor without a lawyer’s presence would be inadmissible as evidence against the child in any juvenile or criminal proceeding. […]
The law enforcement groups have derailed attempts to pass similar legislation. One such attempt resulted in a compromise measure that took effect in 2017. The law requires a lawyer for kids under 15 and applies to homicides and sexual assaults only.
That measure did not protect a 15-year-old interrogated for 43 minutes in 2022 at a Waukegan police station without a parent or attorney. The police charged him with a shooting that injured a dollar store clerk. The teen went to jail and stayed there until his basketball team proved he was in another town during the shooting.
posted by Isabel Miller
Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 9:27 am
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
Previous Post: Open thread
Next Post: Question of the day
WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.
powered by WordPress.
–The “medical aid in dying” measure–
Is an excellent idea. Hope it makes its eventual way into law.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 9:33 am
I am in favor of having a residency requirement. I feel that if a worker wants to earn a salary from my tax dollars…there is more than enough adequate housing in the city.
Comment by FlashGordon Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 9:54 am
= HB5063 from Rep. Anne Stava-Murray… gas stove …label on the gas stove bears a specified message=
The Specified Message
“WARNING: Gas stoves can release nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide inside homes at levels exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency’s standards for outdoor air quality. The presence of these pollutants may exacerbate pre-existing respiratory illnesses or lead to the development of asthma, especially in children. Gas powered stoves should never be used without a ducted vent hood to reduce exposure to these emissions.”
These claims of health impacts of gas stoves are based on tiny sample size studies and “observational research”
“Gas stoves leak even when they are off - The Stanford study tested gas stoves in 53 homes
“Children living in households that use gas stoves for cooking are 42% more likely to have asthma, according to an analysis of observational research”
“We collected 234 whole NG samples across 69 unique residential locations across the Greater Boston metropolitan area, Massachusetts”
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/have-a-gas-stove-how-to-reduce-pollution-that-may-harm-health-202209072811
Comment by Donnie Elgin Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 10:03 am
=I am in favor of having a residency requirement.=
They are employees not indentured servants.
If you require residency then you should also protect them from locals showing up at their house with complaints, especially on weekends and after work hours. Public employees have a right to privacy and a life outside of work.
Comment by JS Mill Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 10:03 am
The state of Illinois has no residency requirement. There are hundreds of state employees currently working remotely out of state. If this is such a huge concern, why not start there?
Comment by FIREDup! Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 10:08 am
I absolutely agree that workers aren’t indentured servants. I just feel that there is more than enough good housing and the excuse that Mayor Buscher is giving is a cop out. Everyone in town knows that the firefighters and police folks have pushed for this in the last election cycle.
Comment by FlashGordon Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 10:09 am
I have mixed feelings about residency requirements. I generally don’t like arbitrary restrictions on employment, but I can see a couple specific areas where they serve important public policy goals.
The first one is police. I absolutely think that if you are going to hold life and death power over people, you should be part of the community in which you serve. But even then, it is extremely common to see “police neighborhoods” in many larger cities where they still manages to functionally segregate themselves. So residency requirement isn’t a perfect solution, but I get it and I support it.
The other one is where a city wants to take advantage of cheap workers but don’t want to do anything to make it possible for those workers to live in city limits. Think a school teacher in Manhattan or SF or Boston. If a teacher can’t afford to live in the city they want to serve, it should be up to the city to figure out how to make that work to hire teachers.
But for just random office worker in the zoning department who is moving permits from point A to point B? Who cares where they live? What is the governmental or societal purpose that is served by an arbitrary restriction?
Comment by Homebody Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 10:33 am
Good housing or available affordable housing? Two very different things. City salaries are well below state salaries. Housing, even in Springfield is challenging right now.
Also, the SFD now has residency in their contract for new hires. SPD has never had a residency requirement.
Comment by FIREDup! Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 10:47 am
Why do you care where someone works. The tax argument is stupid. These people are still contributing via sales taxes and they are also contribution by providing a service to the residents of the city. The busy bodies out there who want to control where people have to live are just trying to stick their noses in where it doesn’t belong.
And it is a monumentally bad idea to have to get state permission for a city to form its own hiring plan.
Comment by Demoralized Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 10:56 am
Agree with JS Mill. Towns are not fiefdoms.
Some of my WIU colleagues work at the WIU-Quad Cities Campus. Some of them live in Davenport, Iowa. Suggesting they should live on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River if they want to teach (and spend Illinois revenues only on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River) is an unjustifiable argument.
Comment by H-W Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 11:10 am
“Provides that hospitals licensed under the Act shall conduct, within the first month of employment and at no cost, a competency validation for each hospital worker hired. Provides that a hospital must submit documentation of each hospital worker’s competency validation to the Department within 4 weeks after the worker’s start date.”
The timing of these requirements seems backwards and possibly incompatible.
Within the first month-most months are 30 or 31 days.
Submit documentation Within 4 weeks: 4 weeks x 7 days = 28 days
How long does it take to do a competency validation for a new employee?
So presupposing the act is intended to give employers up to 30 days (a month) to do competency validation, the requirement to submit documentation within 28 days (4 weeks) minimizes the time frame within which the validation can be done.
Therefore depending how long it takes to do the competency validation, by these rules, it must be done in less than 28 days not one month to allow for time to submit the documentation.
Comment by Steve Polite Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 11:28 am
The residency bill makes no sense at all. Under the bill, a municipality could permanently repeal its residency ordinance, but it could not temporarily pause it. This has to be a union trying to force bargaining on an issue that is not otherwise required.
It is also flat nutty to claim that local hiring procedures are an exclusive state matter.
Comment by Duck Duck Goose Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 11:30 am
Offer a residency bonus if it’s important and/or needed.
Comment by OurMagician Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 11:33 am
If you are in charge of the quality of work in a town, you should be required to live in that town.
In the private sector, this is called “eating your own dogfood” and it’s an excellent structural layer of accountability. If you don’t like living with what you are doing, why would you expect anyone else to? It recognizes self-interest exists, and finds a way to make it a positive for the group.
If hiring is a problem, that’s also a reflection of your local area.
On the other side - It could be financially and personally beneficial for someone to run a certain town into the ground, to direct more dirty industrial developments away from the town the person making the decisions actually lives in and into a town they are making decisions for.
Towns are not guaranteed infinite existence. Sometimes towns fail. Sometimes for reasons outside their control, but mostly for reasons directly related to the way the town is run.
Ghost towns exist for a very good reason.
Make decisions and provide services which people see as a reason to live in your town, and all of these supposed problems with residency simply go away.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 11:37 am
They should get rid of residency requirements entirely. There is no valid reason to have it, and it violates their civil rights. Supposedly people are free to live where they want. Telling people “you MUST live on this side of the tracks, with high crime, gangs, drugs, shootings, and schools that are dismal failures would clearly be an abuse of the civil rights of the employees family and kids, as well as the employee themselves.
Comment by DuPage Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 12:31 pm
===Telling people “you MUST live on this side of the tracks, with high crime, gangs, drugs, shootings, and schools that are dismal failures would clearly be an abuse of the civil rights===
LOL
Show me an ordinance which does that.
Seriously, this ain’t Facebook. Final warning.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 12:33 pm
==hold residency to be employed.==
I can see both sides of the argument. I would argue that, so long as a city is of sufficient size, there’s merit in having ’skin in the game’ for public sector employees.
Comment by Jocko Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 12:38 pm
Re HB5142 from Rep. Robyn Gabel…
I believe this bill will help prevent maternal and infant mortality. The US, for a developed country, has high rates for both. Maternal mortality rates in the U.S. are at their highest level since 1965. Just getting moms in the door of their medical provider soon and after helps a lot.
Also https://apnews.com/article/infant-deaths-us-cdc-mortality-c808796da0415b6ecc0629938421e1b5
Comment by Da big bad wolf Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 12:39 pm
== it violates their civil rights==
I don’t think you understand what the term “civil rights” even means or you wouldn’t say such an ignorant thing.
Comment by Demoralized Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 12:55 pm
== having ’skin in the game’ for public sector employees==
Just because someone works for the public sector doesn’t mean that you own them. There are far too m any people who think that public sector employees are beholden to them.
Comment by Demoralized Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 12:55 pm
The aid in dying measure is one that really merits thorough vetting by the General Assembly. It would be a tragedy to simply assuming that aid in dying is “just a new choice” without understanding how such options steer disabled people and other at-risk persons into ending their lives. Influence can come from outside the doctor-patient relationship—pharmacists, insurance, therapists and more. Our healthcare system is way to flawed, way too leaky, to introduce aid in dying. Folks who are terminal already have advance directives, DNRs, right to refuse treatment. It is also very difficult to report coercion, so proponents have been pleased to frame that as there being simply “no evidence” that coercion occurs. It’s a mess and Illinois should stay far away from it.
Comment by Quill Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 1:18 pm
== it violates their civil rights==
I’m almost certain that the constitution does not specify a fundamental right to be hired by the government.
Comment by Duck Duck Goose Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 1:50 pm
On residency,
Not a single firefighter nor police officer has to live in the City of Springfield with the residency requirement as they balked at interest arbitration.
The only thing this bill does is make clerical workers choose between affordable housing and living where they choose or finding a job with the state (that doesn’t have a residency requirement).
So go ahead, force everyone hit the people you actually want to live in Springfield be subjected to something no employer should have over its employees.
Comment by MG85 Friday, Feb 9, 24 @ 3:14 pm