Springfield News

  • Illinois lawmakers approved a bill Tuesday that would eliminate driver’s license suspensions for unpaid parking tickets, putting an end to a decades-old practice that has hurt tens of thousands of motorists across the state.


    The bill now awaits Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature. A spokeswoman for the governor said he looks forward to reviewing “this meaningful legislation.” Rep. Carol Ammons, a Democrat from Urbana-Champaign who co-sponsored the measure, said that the governor has told her he supports the bill’s intent and that she expects him to sign it.

    The legislation, known as the License to Work Act, would end license suspensions for a number of non-moving violations, including the largest category: unpaid parking and vehicle compliance tickets. Advocates say that cutting off driving privileges hurts people trying to get to work, earn a living and pay off debts.

    The vast majority of those suspensions affect motorists from low-income, black neighborhoods in Chicago and its suburbs, ProPublica Illinois has reported. Many of those affected have been unable to drive legally for years but do so anyway, risking arrest and getting swept into the criminal justice system.

    The bill also restores driving privileges for some 55,000 motorists whose licenses are currently suspended.

    If signed, the law would go into effect in July.

    “This is a tremendous step forward to move away from trying to squeeze revenue out of people who don’t have it, and by using these egregious and life-altering tools like suspending a driver’s license over parking tickets,” said Eric Halvorson, a policy and communications associate at the Chicago Jobs Council, which has led a coalition of nonprofit organizations advocating for reform for the past three years.

    Tuesday’s 88-27 House vote came on the second day of the General Assembly’s annual veto session and seven months after the state Senate approved the measure. It also came after Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot voiced her support for the legislation and ushered through an overhaul of the city’s ticketing and debt collection system, including an end to the city’s practice of seeking driver’s license suspensions over unpaid parking tickets.

    Ammons said Lightfoot’s support and the city’s reforms were critical to getting the legislation passed. “Because of those changes, a lot of the members that are from the greater Chicagoland area felt a lot more comfortable in saying, ‘Let’s do this whole thing statewide,’” she said. “It was important for largest municipality in the state of Illinois that would be financially impacted by the removal of this suspension to be on board with this reform.”

    Lightfoot’s predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, had opposed the state legislation. Chicago has long relied on the threat of driver’s license suspensions to extract ticket revenue. In 2016, close to 58 percent of Chicago drivers threatened with license suspension paid their debts or signed up for payment plans to forestall suspension or recover their licenses, ProPublica Illinois found.

    But many can’t afford to pay what they owe and turn to bankruptcy instead, contributing to a boom in Chapter 13 bankruptcies here. Close to one in five motorists threatened with license suspension over unpaid tickets in 2016 filed for bankruptcy.

    Among them: Laqueanda Reneau, whom ProPublica Illinois profiled in an investigation last year. “The worst part was the commute,” she said Tuesday, recalling the years she went without a driver’s license. Reneau spent hours each day riding several trains and buses to get her young son to day care in the south suburbs, get to work in the city and take classes at DePaul University. “I’m glad. It’s a step forward,” she said of the legislation.





    ProPublica Illinois is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force. Sign up for our newsletter to get weekly updates written by our journalists.



  • House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) tells reporters Monday that he’s urging State Rep. Luis Arroyo (D-Chicago) following his arrest on corruption charges. [Hannah Meisel/The Daily Line]
    Instead of making the trip down to Springfield for the first day of fall Veto Session on Monday, State Rep. Luis Arroyo (D-Chicago) was 200 miles north in a Chicago federal courtroom being arraigned after his Friday arrest on corruption charges.

    Arroyo is accused of offering to bribe to a state senator by paying him $2,500 a month in exchange for the senator’s support on legislation involving “sweepstakes machines,” a type of gaming machine operating outside of state regulation. According to the criminal complaint, the legislation would benefit one of Arroyo’s clients that he lobbies for in his side business, Spartacus 3 LLC.

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  • A bill that would phase out the use of a chemical used in manufacturing and sterilization after an uproar of complaints and community activism in the past year passed out of the House Energy and Environment Committee Monday evening, clearing the way for the legislation to be heard in the full House as early as Tuesday.

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  • A briefcase containing the personal information of 195 foster parents was stolen in July — prompting Department of Children and Family Services officials to warn those on the list to protect themselves from identity theft, according to a letter sent to state officials..

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  • Lawmakers will return to Springfield Monday nearly five months after a momentous spring legislative session that saw the passage of massive bills from recreational marijuana legalization to a $45 billion infrastructure plan. 

    But the political climate has shifted significantly since early June, since the existence of  widespread federal corruption probes was revealed over the summer and fall. The inquires appear targeted at Democrats and their allies, but the investigations have also shaken Republicans and longtime Springfield lobbyists who work for bipartisan interests across industries. 

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    Department of Children and Family Services Director Marc Smith addresses reporters. [Hannah Meisel/The Daily Line]

    As Gov. JB Pritzker announced dozens of hires for high-level roles in his administration this winter and spring, one of his last picks to head a state agency was Marc Smith, who was announced as the new director of the Department of Children and Family Services on March 27 — more than two months into Pritzker’s time in office.

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  • An employee in the Illinois Department of Human Services’ inspector general’s office kept his job after an inquiry prompted by allegations that he sexually harassed employees of state contractors, according to a report published by the Executive Inspector General this week.

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  • Since Illinois began tracking the amount of women- and minority-owned investment managers who profit from investing the many pension funds in Illinois, most funds have made significant progress toward meeting goals set in 1993, lawmakers were told Wednesday.

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  • Between 2008 and 2017, Chicago’s residential effective tax rate increased by 32.5 percent, while its commercial effective tax rate increased by 69.3 percent in the last decade, according to a new report by the Civic Federation.

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  • Erin Guthrie [Submitted]
    The state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity is adding staff to lead efforts to expand broadband access and launch the state’s cannabis industry, agency Director Erin Guthrie said Monday.

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