Madeleine Doubek and Jay Young testified before the Senate Redistricting Committee on Wednesday during a meeting that featured partisan squabbling between Sen. Omar Aquino and Sen. Jason Barickman.

Illinois lawmakers formally kicked off a months-long redistricting process Thursday as a Senate committee received a primer on the basics of remapping, witnesses called for increased transparency and public involvement and lawmakers engaged in partisan squabbling over the type of data that will be used.

During a more than two-and-a-half hour meeting, Democrats on the Senate Redistricting Committee offered assurances to their Republican colleagues and several concerned witnesses that the remapping process, still in its early stages, would be transparent and ultimately lead to a “fair” map that reflects the diversity of Illinois.

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Rep. Dan Brady (R-Bloomington) criticized Democrats last week for failing to follow through on a promise to continue working on the House rules.

When the House of Representatives approved a series of rule changes in February allowing them to conduct remote meetings, Democrats touted their adoption as historic.

Then-newly elected House Speaker Chris Welch (D-Hillside) and House Majority Leader Greg Harris (D-Chicago) indicated the chamber’s new rules were a work in progress that could be further refined in the coming weeks.

Five employees at the Manteno Veterans’ Home recently tested positive for COVID-19, Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs acting director Terry Prince told lawmakers on Friday.

Six employees at Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs veterans’ homes recently tested positive for COVID-19, the agency’s new acting director told lawmakers on Friday.

The positive tests come nearly four months after vaccines were first offered to residents and employees, many of whom have refused to be vaccinated.

Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope testified before the House Ethics and Elections Committee on Tuesday.

Illinois’ legislative inspector general on Tuesday called for lawmakers to pass legislation that would allow her to initiate an investigation and issue subpoenas on her own.

Carol Pope, who has served as the legislative inspector general since 2018, told members of the House Ethics and Election Committee such changes were necessary because the current system “really stifles the independence of my office."

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News in brief: Welch announces task force to review statues on state property; Lightford tests positive for COVID-19

A bill from Rep. Anthony DeLuca (D-Chicago Heights) was approved by a House committee Wednesday that would implement term limits on legislative leadership by law.

Minutes after House Speaker Chris Welch (D-Hillside) was sworn into his new leadership position in January, he told reporters he would like lawmakers to pass a bill that would set term limits for the speaker position.

The House moved one step closer to making that goal a reality Wednesday, when the chamber’s Executive Committee unanimously approved HB 642.

Illinios State Police director Brendan Kelly joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Wednesday to announce an effort to modernize the state’s Firearms Owner Identification system.

Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria), Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Collinsville) and Illinois State Police director Brendan Kelly held a news conference Wednesday to promote a bill seeking to modernize the state’s Firearms Owner Identification (FOID) system.

The legislation (SB 1165 and HB 745) would consolidate the FOID and concealed carry license into one card, allow FOID card holders to obtain an easily-renewable electronic document and eliminate a change-of-address requirement in favor of using data maintained by the Secretary of State, Kelly said.

The LaSalle Veterans’ Home was the center of a deadly COVID-19 outbreak that began in November 2020.

The family of a 90-year-old Korean War veteran who died in November after he contracted COVID-19 at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home is seeking $2 million from the state, according to a lawsuit filed last week.

Attorneys working on behalf of the family of Richard Cieski Sr., who died in November, announced the suit Monday, alleging administrators of the veterans’ home were negligent by failing to protect the veteran.

Last month, a group of 11 Chicago alderman sent a letter to Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) calling for the lawmakers to pass a bill they said would help address the city’s affordable housing needs.

“With every crisis comes an opportunity to look for solutions,” Ald. Daniel La Spata (1) wrote in a March 17 letter co-signed by Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20), Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22), Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25), Ald. Felix Cardona (31), Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (33), Ald. Andre Vasquez (40), Ald. Michele Smith (43), Ald. Matthew Martin (47), Ald. Harry Osterman (48) and Ald. Maria Hadden (49).

Representatives from organizations in Chicago’s South Side called for more public input and offered warnings Thursday about the potential for minority groups to be undercounted if lawmakers don’t use decennial Census data during the redistricting process.

Similar to what other witnesses said during the first four Senate redistricting hearings, members of the Senate Redistricting Chicago South Subcommittee listened to testimony from seven witnesses who expressed desires to improve public participation while making a host of recommendations on how to bolster engagement.

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State lawmakers’ redistricting efforts ramped up over the weekend as they held seven meetings in two days during which one prominent Senate Democrat rejected assertions that her party had already created new maps.

The flurry of discussions on Friday and Saturday, which totaled at least six hours, gave residents throughout the state additional opportunities to share their insights and requests as the redistricting process continues.

Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) criticized Democrats on Monday for holding simultaneous House redistricting hearings.

House Republicans pushed back on Democrats Monday after two simultaneous redistricting meetings.

Members of the House Redistricting Committee had to pull double duty Monday morning when two committees convened shortly after 10 a.m. One committee focused on the Rockford area while the second centered on Joliet. Both meetings were conducted virtually and livestreamed on the legislature’s website.

Reform for Illinois executive director Alisa Kaplan faced questions on Monday from Rep. Katie Stuart and Rep. Ann Williams about ethics proposals under consideration this year.

For months, state lawmakers have said approving an ethics overhaul law is a top priority. But since the 102^nd General Assembly kicked off in January, there has been little movement on the issue.

That began to change Monday, when members of the House Ethics and Elections Committee held a subject matter hearing. Rather than advancing ideas that have been discussed for more than a year, Democrats on the committee expressed skepticism about provisions under consideration that would crack down on lobbying and statements of economic interest.

News in brief: Democrats launch House, Senate redistricting portal

The Illinois House of Representatives formally launched its redistricting process Thursday, holding its first of 23 hearings scheduled to take place during the course of 17 days.

And although the House started a little more than two weeks after the Senate Redistricting Committee held its first meeting, there were many similarities, with Democrats and Republicans on opposite sides as witnesses offered recommendations and warnings.

The Senate Redistricting Committee held its eighth and longest meeting yet on Tuesday, hours after Republican lawmakers introduced legislation that seeks to take the legislature out of the redistricting process.

Members of the Senate Redistricting Committee, who gathered at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture in Chicago, listened to 11 witnesses who appeared virtually while sharing their recommendations and concerns during the more than two-hour hearing.

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