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.   

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.  

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.  

Sen. Scott Bennett (D-Champaign) speaks in support of the SAFE-T Act. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]   

Illinois Democrats passed through a series of changes to the controversial SAFE-T Act and its Pretrial Fairness Act component, which ends cash bail in Illinois on Jan. 1, but tensions over the new law remain.  

Sen. Robert Peters (D-Chicago) speaks to reporters in Springfield Wednesday morning. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]   

Sen. Robert Peters (D-Chicago) filed an amendment that makes a series of adjustments and clarifications to the Pretrial Fairness Act, the portion of the SAFE-T Act ending cash bail, after months of debate about what the law that ends cash bail in Illinois will do.  

Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville), middle, questions a Prisoner Review Board nominee Wednesday. [Blue Room Stream]   

After the senators concluded the spring session with debate over Prisoner Review Board nominees, four new appointments by Gov. JB Pritzker to the board were considered by the Senate Executive Committee Wednesday on the second to last day of session for 2022 as Republican concerns over the board’s members linger.  

Gov. JB Pritzker speaks at a news conference in Springfield Tuesday announcing a deal between business and labor groups. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]

Business and labor representatives joined Gov. JB Pritzker and a bipartisan group of state lawmakers to announce the two sides reached a deal to pay down the remaining unemployment insurance trust fund deficit ahead of a Jan. 1 deadline.  

Illinois State Capitol   

State lawmakers are returning to Springfield Tuesday for the final three days of session in 2022, though their agenda is expected to be light with few major pieces of legislation expected to be taken up this week.

Chicago Public Schools Chief of Safety and Security Jadine Chou, left, and Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago), right, speak during a Public Safety and Violence Prevention Task Force. [Blue Room Steam] 

Lawmakers and school officials discussed how schools have worked to combat violence in schools, particularly in Chicago, during a Public Safety and Violence Prevention Task Force hearing last week.  

Sen. Scott Bennett (D-Champaign), left, speaks at a news conference earlier this year. Right, advocates supporting the Pretrial Fairness Act voice opposition to changes to the law.   

Democrats who crafted the SAFE-T Act and its provision banning cash bail, the Pretrial Fairness Act, have not produced any specific changes with lawmakers set to return to Springfield next week for the final time before the law takes effect.  

The only proposal for changes publicly on the table comes from Sen. Scott Bennett (D-Champaign), but supporters of the law have criticized Bennett’s efforts.