• The race is on. The Illinois General Assembly has until May 31 to pass an annual budget, and until July 1 before they can start spending it. That clock started ticking yesterday in Springfield when Gov. Bruce Rauner unveiled his $37.6 billion budget plan.
  • Weekly meetings and agendas for the week beginning Monday, Feb. 12, 2018.

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    The Illinois’ Board of Higher Education will meet today at 10 a.m. after calling a special meeting to present its FY2019 budget recommendations.

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    Tuesday and Wednesday are likely to be bruisers for those in the statehouse. Resuming the second week of the 2018 session, the capital will see more than 20 committee and agency meetings on those two days alone. While we’ve prepared a comprehensive run-down of the debates and bills scheduled for the coming week, we caution readers that--like all matters involving Springfield--the following calendar is subject to change.

  • Legislators gathered for more than two hours Tuesday to hear testimony on a major shakeup to the state’s hospital assessment system. Illinois Hospital Association CEO AJ Wilhelmi sought to calm safety net hospital officials worried that a proposed new formula to calculate Medicaid payments would dent their bottom lines or ultimately lead to closure.

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    A proposal to sell $107 billion in state bonds drew skepticism and curiosity in the Illinois Capitol on Tuesday, as lawmakers continue to seek out ways to contain and pay down the state’s mounting pension debts.

  • Morning Briefs: Wage history and anti-harassment bill hearings today, cannabis bill in Executive Committee
  • The Illinois General Assembly is back in Springfield. Here's your guide to every committee in the statehouse and the bills they're scheduled to hear this week.


  • A five-committee panel of state lawmakers met in Chicago Monday to hear further testimony on the full legalization, taxation and regulation of cannabis in the state. The focus on the joint subject matter hearing were SB316, sponsored by Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and HB2353, sponsored by Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago). Monday’s was the fourth meeting arranged on the topic by the two.

  • Monday, Jan. 22 - Five-committee joint hearing on cannabis

    9:00 a.m. - Chicago - Sen. and Illinois Attorney General candidate Kwame Raoul will join officials from the Chicago Teachers Union for an announcement in the West Loop tomorrow at the CTU Headquarters, 1901 W. Carroll Ave. No further details are available at this time.