The Illinois Commerce Commission plans to convene a series of workshops to solicit input on how regulators should oversee the state's transition away from fossil fuels.

The Illinois Commerce Commission moved to implement portions of the Climate Equitable Jobs Act (SB 2408), which Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed Sept. 15, during a 23-minute meeting Thursday.

Clockwise from top left: campaign adds released by Gov. JB Pritzker, Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), businessman Gary Rabine and former Sen. Paul Schimpf.

Illinois’ primary election is almost nine months away, but incumbent Gov. JB Pritzker is already splashing out on ad buys promoting his record of leading Illinois through COVID-19. Republican challengers are also ponying up for ads as the primary race begins to take shape, but they’re spending far less money than the incumbent.

A state audit found that the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program is in need of a dozens of administrative fixes. [Erix via Creative Commons]

A program meant to catalog and monitor opioid prescriptions in Illinois is riddled with unreliable data, outdated policies and inadequate contractor monitoring, according to a Sept. 15 report from the office of Auditor General Frank Mautino.

Hilco. General Iron. MAT Asphalt. You've likely heard about high profile clashes between industry and the health and well-being of the people who live nearby their facilities. These incidents have ignited another spark in the fight for environmental justice across Chicago. Daily Line reporter Caroline Kubzansky spoke with Ald. George Cardenas (12) and Alfredo Romo of Neighbors for Environmental Justice about recent development decisions, the work that remains for lawmakers in ensuring clean air and water for Chicagoans and the challenges the city faces as it starts to adapt to climate change. 

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Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago) [left] worked with Senior Cannabis Adviser Toi Hutchinson on the cannabis trailer bill.

A year after the bungled rollout of Illinois' licensing process for cannabis, a measure meant to bring equity to the state’s burgeoning legal pot industry is headed to Gov. JB Pritzker's desk. But not everyone is hailing HB 1443, sponsored by Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago) and Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood), as the fix the state's entrepreneurs of color need.

Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood) defended her bill adjusting the state’s cannabis law before the Senate Executive Committee Wednesday.

Adjustments to Illinois cannabis law and an elected school board in Chicago each leapt one step closer to the governor's desk as the Senate Executive Committee advanced HB 1443 and HB 2908 to the Senate Floor Wednesday afternoon.

Rep. LaShawn Ford fielded questions on the House floor Tuesday about his effort to increase equity in cannabis licenses.

House lawmakers nudged the state's cannabis industry toward overhaul with the approval of HB 1443 Tuesday. The hefty trailer bill, sponsored by Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago) seeks to address many of the difficulties that arose after the state legalized recreational marijuana in 2019.

Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38) asked county commissioners not to rename Oct. 12 to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, arguing “this is about addition, not subtraction.”

Elected officials and public commenters raised different arguments for and against renaming Cook County’s Columbus Day holiday during a well-attended subject matter hearing Monday.

A proposed 120-unit affordable housing development faced blowback in the Chicago Plan Commission due to concerns about environmental racism. [Department of Planning and Development]

A divided Chicago Plan Commission voted on Thursday to allow a new affordable housing development about 650 feet from the McKinley Park MAT Asphalt plant, as multiple commissioners said they feared the move would perpetuate environmental racism against the developments future residents who are extremely likely to be Latino.

An aerial view of the 12-acre "North Union" development planned on the Moody Bible Institute campus [Department of Planning and Development]

A decade-long plan to build more than 4,000 new homes along multiple blocks of the Near North Side (O2021-1024) will headline Thursday’s 10 a.m. meeting of the Chicago Plan Commission.

Sen. Ann Gillespie (D-Arlington Heights) defended an amended version of a bill sunsetting the use of “prone restraint” in Illinois schools.

A bill phasing out the use of face-down physical restraints in Illinois schools cleared the Senate Education Committee Tuesday despite emotional testimony from witnesses saying the measure wouldn't act fast enough.

First-term Sen. Mike Simmons (D-Chicago) is pushing a major budget reform as the legislature considers the next fiscal year: a tax credit for families with children, worth $600 per child.

As the fiscal year winds to a close and next year’s budget discussions reach a fever pitch in Springfield, some legislators are proposing sweeping new tax credits they say would help one of the most pandemic-battered groups in Illinois: children and their families.

Director of Illinois families for Public Schools Cassie Creswell faced intense questioning from House lawmakers over a proposed law mandating 30 minutes of recess for Illinois elementary school students Wednesday.

Lawmakers picked apart a bill meant to mandate 30 minutes of recess for elementary school students during a Wednesday hearing of the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee.

Sen. Mattie Hunter presented HB 3099 to the Senate Education Committee, which passed out of the hearing with almost no discussion Tuesday. Tito Quiñones testified in support of the measure on behalf of Chicago Public Schools.

Chicago Public Schools is one step closer to eliminating its department of truancy after HB 3099 passed out of the Senate Education Committee Tuesday.

Deputy Governor Christian Mitchell presented The Consumers and Climate First Act to a committee of House legislators Tuesday, highlighting its overall environmental impact and goals related to equity and job retention.

House lawmakers agonized on Tuesday over equity concerns and the cost of decarbonization during a marathon subject matter hearing called to discuss The Consumers and Climate First Act (SB 2896/HB 4074), Gov. JB Pritzker’s proposed overhaul of the state’s energy laws.

Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) presented a bill that would subject Illinois private schools to more public regulation if they accepted scholarship money from the Invest in Kids program. Some of her colleagues, like Rep. Curtis Tarver (D-Chicago), vigorously defended the program, which could be cut under Gov. JB Pritzker’s proposed budget

House lawmakers scrambled partisan fault lines during a discussion of public funding for private education on Thursday, as legislators on both sides of the aisle expressed varying levels of support for the Invest in Kids program and a proposal to rein it in.

During a meeting of the House Revenue and Finance Committee, Democrats like Rep. Curtis Tarver (D-Chicago) and Rep. Maurice West (D-Rockford) joined their republican counterparts to express support for the Invest in Kids program, which provides scholarships for low-income students to attend private schools through income tax credits for donors.

Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) defended his measure on sexual education reform before the Senate Executive Committee Wednesday afternoon.

The Senate Executive Committee advanced a bill on Wednesday protecting teachers who walk off the job due to safety concerns (SB 1204) and another measure seeking to update sex education standards in Illinois (SB 818) following a contentious hearing.

Sen. Michael Simmons (D-Chicago) defended his bill to update dress codes at a meeting of the Senate Committee on Education Tuesday afternoon.

The Senate Education Committee wrestled Tuesday with the best way to ensure schools will not discipline students for their hairstyles, as multiple members objected a proposal to temporarily freeze funding from schools that fail to comply with the measure.

The bill, an amendment to SB817, introduced by Sen. Michael Simmons (D-Chicago), would prohibit hairstyle-based dress requirements in schools. The measure would freeze state funding for schools that failed to update their policies and would list them on an Illinois State Board of Education registry dedicated to tracking compliance.

Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago) and Senior Advisor to the Governor Toi Hutchinson appeared before the committee to discuss HB1443.

Legislators on the House Executive Committee Friday morning probed Rep. LaShawn Ford's (D-Chicago) proposal to boost equity in the state's cannabis industry. The subject matter hearing touched on the efficacy of the lottery process, cutoffs for social equity scoring and ensuring racial justice through licensing, among other considerations.

Ford’s bill is one of dozens of proposals legislators have rolled out this year to restart cannabis licensing after the state’s botched rollout last year.

A bill that seeks to restart the regulatory process for cannabis retail and growing licensing is set for consideration by a House committee on Friday.

The House Executive Committee is poised on Friday to consider a bill (HB1443) meant to fix disparities in "social equity" cannabis retail licensing regulated under the state’s 2019 pot legalization law. The measure,  sponsored by Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago), seeks to address shortcomings in the original licensing process state leaders mapped out for marijuana growers. That measure hasn’t functioned as legislators imagined it would, leading to licensing delays and a bottleneck of applicants for social equity growers.