Illinois General Assembly
State Government: Elected Officials | State Legislative Bodies
Recent News About Illinois General Assembly
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Felon Madigan should repay taxpayers nearly $600K for public pension
Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan was convicted of misusing his public office for his own power and profit. Not only should his public pension be halted, he should repay the nearly $600,000 taxpayers already paid the felon. -
Gerrymander law Greenwood voted for contributed to her political demise
SPRINGFIELD - Former state representative LaToya Greenwood has lost to Rep. Kevin Schmitt twice since she approved a gerrymander that legislators enacted for the safety of representatives Jay Hoffman and Katie Stuart. -
SAFE-T Act pretrial jailing appeals drop 88% after court rule changes; 'Found a sweet spot,' says task force chair
The number of appeals filed by criminal defendants seeking release from jail while they await trial dropped from 1,041 in January to mid-April to 154 in the three months following rule changes to ease the burden. The appeals numbers are still up significantly compared to years preceding Illinois' criminal justice system reforms -
Stuart beats Keeven to retain 112th District IL House seat; Elik cruises; Schmidt poised to win
The race was marked by a concerted effort by powerful Democrats to block former Edwardsville Police Chief Jay Keeven from placing his name on the ballot to challenge incumbent Democratic State Rep. Katie Stuart in the seat representing portions of Madison and St. Clair counties -
GOP House candidates rail against defunding of Invest in Kids with DNC as backdrop
CHICAGO - Republican candidates for the General Assembly stood for school choice at an outdoor exercise in free speech near the Democratic national convention. -
Cook Co 'assault weapons' ban not constitutional, even under prior appeals court ruling upholding IL gun ban: Filing
Second Amendment rights advocates urged the Seventh Circuit Appeals Court to strike down Cook County's "assault weapons" ban ordinance and overrule their colleagues, saying the ordinance and the decision violate the Constitution and clash with two Supreme Court rulings -
Parents' rights referendum won't go to voters, but Coalition says Dems' ballot-blocking power play shows 'momentum'
Parents Matter Coalition said they collected 102,000 voter signatures, well short of threshold needed to place their advisory referendum on the ballot. But they say an 'anti-democratic' law rushed through by IL Democrats shows the lengths progressives will go to keep Illinoisans from voting on the question -
SAFE-T Act goes into effect; Local legislators concerned about unintended consequences
As the Pretrial Fairness Act component of the SAFE-T Act went into effect Monday, local state legislators were critical of the unintended consequences and expedited passage of the law eliminating cash bail. -
IL Supreme Court upholds 'assault weapons' ban; Decision does not address 2nd Amend claims
In seeming 4-3 decision, court's majority says gun ban doesn't violate equal protection rights. Dissents divided, as Pritzker-backed justice says the law wrongly allows cops to keep gun rights, and conservatives say lawmakers unconstitutionally OK'd the law -
IL pregnancy center law unconstitutional attempt to stifle speech of abortion opponents: Lawsuit
The law empowers Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, a staunch supporter of unlimited abortion rights, to use a state consumer fraud law to investigate, prosecute and potentially fine and shut down pro-life pregnancy centers if Raoul believes they are spreading "misinformation" about abortion -
Appeals court: IL Supreme Court must rein in lawmakers' abuse of legislative process
A Springfield appeals panel has called on Illinois' highest court to do more than just 'bluster' and follow through on threats to police state lawmakers who rely on prior leniency from the state Supreme Court to all but ignore constitutional rules governing how laws must be passed -
Unhappy anniversary: Illinois income tax hike is 6 years old
Six years after state lawmakers made history by passing Illinois’ largest permanent income tax hike, residents in every tax bracket are leaving. -
Pritzker signs more than 150 bills into law
(The Center Square) – Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed more than 150 bills into law Friday. -
Some of the dumb new laws from the Illinois General Assembly
Have mercy if this list is woefully incomplete. The recently concluded session of the Illinois General Assembly sent a blizzard of some 560 bills to Gov. JB Pritzker for signature, so we certainly don’t know what all is in them (and most lawmakers don’t, either.) -
Educational freedom for Illinois children could look like this: Iowa’s Students First Act
Educational freedom. That’s what the Iowa legislature is set to give families in the Hawkeye State later this year with the passage of the Students First Act signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds in January. -
‘ComEd Four’ defendant convicted in bribery scheme could keep pension
Officials at the General Assembly Retirement System suspended Michael McClain’s legislative pension after he was convicted on nine counts of bribery in the ‘ComEd Four’ trial. Precedent suggests it may not be permanent. -
Pension reform, Illinois style: Legislation to 'fix' the Tier 2 problem
On the long list of things wrong with Illinois’ pension system, there’s one problem that can’t be ignored: Tier 2 pension benefits are increasingly likely to fall short of minimums under federal rules. If that happens, the sponsoring unit of government would face huge, new liabilities. Those facts have long been widely agreed. -
Battle over IL gun ban expanding, setting stage for big showdown to come before Chicago fed appeals court
Lawyers for gun makers' trade group, the National Sports Shooting Foundation, and others have filed briefs seeking to undo a Chicago federal judge's order largely upholding the Illinois "assault weapons" ban, saying the reasoning doesn't hold up under the U.S. Supreme Court's recent rulings -
Who benefits from Illinois' biometrics privacy law? Mostly trial lawyers, new report says
A report from the Chamber of Progress, which speaks for many "progressive" minded big tech and ecommerce companies, says Illinois' controversial Biometric Information Privacy Act has harmed Illinois' economy and limited access to new tech offerings in the state, while enriching lawyers -
Two new Dem IL Supreme Court justices asked to step aside from hearing challenge to IL 'assault weapons' ban
Lawyers for plaintiffs say Justices Rochford and O'Brien both accepted millions in campaign contributions and endorsements from Gov. Pritkzer, other top Dems, and gun rights activists, making it difficult for public to believe they can be impartial on gun ban challenges