Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly speaks at a City Club of Chicago event on Wednesday. [City Club of Chicago] 

Illinois lawmakers have passed several bills in recent years designed to combat the proliferation of illegal firearms used in crimes in Illinois. Those laws are having an effect, Illinois State Police (ISP) Director Brendan Kelly said.  

Members of the House Democratic staff huddle to discuss a motion to suspend House rules around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]  

House Democrats’ plan to pass budget bills early Wednesday nearly exploded into disaster around 4 a.m. after multiple failed attempts to pass a $1.1 billion revenue package featuring numerous new tax hikes on largely on businesses to fund the budget.

The Illinois Capitol   

The House adjourned Wednesday morning without advancing a measure that would heavily regulate hemp to the point where those in the industry believed their products would be effectively banned.  

Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich), left, and Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet), right, speak at a news conference in Montrose, Illinois on Friday. [Blue Room Stream] 

Three weeks after a truck crash and ammonia leak killed five people and injured five others in Teutopolis, located near Effingham, local lawmakers have filed legislation they hope will keep drivers detouring around crashes inside construction zones safer.  

The Illinois Capitol 

With anxiety high in Jewish and Muslim communities as war rages between Israel and Hamas, two Illinois lawmakers who represent districts with a high concentration of members of both faiths are pushing the state to get grant funding out the door to help secure houses of worship.

Gov. JB Pritzker makes a campaign stop at Planned Parenthood’s Chicago office in August 2022. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]   

When the U.S. Supreme Court dropped the expected end of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022 in the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, it was a call to action for Illinois Democrats who spent the next year crafting and passing bills to protect and expand access to abortion in Illinois.  

The Department of Healthcare and Family Services is launching a "Ready to Renew" public awareness campaign to ensure Illinois residents keep their health care when pandemic protections on health insurance coverage end this spring. The campaign will use public advertising to ensure Medicaid recipients renew their coverage. 

Speaker Chris Welch (D-Hillside) tweeted, "It was an honor to have Governor Pritzker in the House Chamber for this year's State of the State. I look forward to continuing the work to deliver for Illinois families."

Sen. Cristina Pacione-Zayas (D-Chicago) tweeted, "I am thrilled that @GovPritzker's budget proposal invests $250 million in early childhood education and care, $100 million to expand childcare facilities and $1.6 million to launch a statewide literacy program"

Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) tweeted, "We spend more to house a person a year in IL prisons than we do to educate a young person for a year at Chicago Public Schools. But nowhere is the school to prison to death pipeline more evident than in the same sub-standard food in prisons that we also serve in our schools."

House Speaker Chris Welch (D-Hillside) presents a bill to ban “assault weapons” in Illinois with Gov. JB Pritzker seated next to him on the House floor. [Blue Room Stream]   

The Illinois House took a historic step Friday morning passing a bill that would make Illinois the ninth state to ban “assault weapons.” The bill’s passage came nearly six months to the day since a gunman killed seven people at Highland Park’s Independence Day parade and injured dozens of others with a Smith & Wesson M&P15 semi-automatic rifle and 30-round clips.  

Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) speaks at a news conference Thursday night. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]   

The House passed a bill late Thursday night making several changes to Illinois’ abortion law as a response to last year’s end of Roe v. Wade, but it’s not clear where the Senate stands on the proposed legislation.  

Sen. Scott Bennett (D-Champaign) speaks on the Senate floor on Dec. 1. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]   

Sen. Scott Bennett, a Democrat from Champaign and an eight-year veteran of the Illinois Senate, died Friday at age 45, according to WCIA-TV. 

Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) speaks on the Senate floor Thursday. [Blue Room Stream]   

Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) announced Monday he would retire from the Illinois Senate at the conclusion of the 102nd General Assembly after a decade representing central Illinois.   

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported Friday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have classified 63 Illinois counties with an elevated risk for COVID-19, an increase from 46 last week. Twelve of the counties are considered high risk. The department is urging residents to get a COVID-19 booster shot, take a COVID-19 test before gathering for the holidays, and for everyone feeling symptoms of COVID-19 or other respiratory illnesses like the flu or RSV to stay home. 

Illinois lawmakers advanced a portion of Tuesday’s deal on paying down the unemployment insurance trust fund deficit. And lawmakers sent Gov. JB Pritzker a revenue bill that includes tax incentives for electronic vehicles.  

Sen. Celina Villanueva (D-Chicago) tweeted, "HB4218 passed the Senate yesterday! Now it's on the way to the Governor's desk This bill guarantees access by requiring all Illinois corrections facilities and institutions to provide free menstrual products and underwear to all incarcerated individuals who menstruate!"

House Speaker Chris Welch (D-Hillside) tweeted, "Before leaving Springfield this week, I promised my friend Ella Jarmer, that I would visit her school. So it was an honor to stop by Grant Middle School and meet with 8th grade students and staff. The Generals were excited to learn about my journey and profession."

Sen. Robert Peters (D-Chicago) tweeted, "I was driving past Pontiac, Illinois when I started to realize how much I wish I could tell my dad, a civil rights lawyer, about this week. Miss you, old man."

Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Highland Park) is pictured on July 5 after visiting the scene of the July 4 mass shooting with Vice President Kamala Harris. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]   

Illinois lawmakers will consider a plan when they return to Springfield in January that could make Illinois the ninth state to ban assault weapons half a year after seven people were killed and dozens were injured from a mass shooting at the Highland Park Independence Day parade.  

House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) speaks at the Illinois State Fair in August. [Blue Room Stream]

House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) is not holding back on criticism of his own party as he gives up his leadership role. A week after his House Republican Caucus lost at least four seats, Durkin is offering a blunt assessment of where his party went wrong.