The Senate Education Committee meets Wednesday in Springfield. [BlueRoomStream]

The Senate Education Committee approved measures Wednesday to limit suspensions and ban expulsions for preschool to second graders and prohibit student ticketing. 

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul speaks with Gov. JB Pritzker and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton in January. [BlueRoomStream] 

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and 21 other attorneys general are suing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to stop the cancellation of public health grants. 

Advocates for House Bill 1598 speak in support of the legislation in Springfield. [BlueRoomStream]

The Illinois House is considering a bill to require certification for surgical technologists. 

As the Trump administration begins the process of dismantling the Department of Education, leaders from the Illinois General Assembly and Illinois’ colleges and universities could undermine enrollment gains made in recent years. 

The Illinois Senate Executive Committee’s Subcommittee on Procurement met Thursday to discuss bills to encourage state contracts with companies in the United States, incentivize state data to be stored in Illinois and ban the state from purchasing tropical hardwood.  

The Executive Committee wrapped up a week of subcommittee subject matter hearings, positioning them to pass measures more quickly when they return to Springfield April 1. All the measures have had their committee deadlines extended, allowing them to be called for votes.  

Members of the Generative AI and Natural Language Processing Task Force present their report Wednesday in Springfield [BlueRoomStream]

As artificial intelligence explodes across social media, workplaces and classrooms, the General Assembly is looking at a myriad of bills to protect personal data and children in Illinois. 

The Senate Executive Committee’s AI and Social Media Subcommittee met Wednesday to discuss various bills proposed this session that aim to regulate the ever-growing technology.  

Illinoisans want more investment in public schools, higher wages for teachers and school board elections without influence from national politics, according to a new poll from the Illinois Education Association (IEA). 

Dueling measures in the Illinois House look to regulate fantasy sports Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0

The Illinois Senate Executive subcommittee on Gaming, Wagering and Racing heard subject matter Tuesday on dueling legislation to regulate fantasy sports. 

Pictured: Hemp plants. [Stephen Ward, Oregon State University / CC BY-SA 2.0]

The Senate Executive Committees’ Liquor Subcommittee heard subject matter testimony Tuesday on measures to regulate intoxicating hemp-infused beverages, remove a sunset on “cocktails to go” and remove some regulations from alcohol-infused ice cream. 

Gov. JB Pritzker advocates for a measure to ban cell phones in Illinois schools Thursday at Champaign Centennial High School [BlueRoomStream]

With a little more than two months to go before the May 31 scheduled adjournment, the Illinois General Assembly has moved most of the bills they’ll pass this year through committee.

But some widely discussed topics have yet to see any legislation make it past the respective assigning committees. That includes hemp regulations, which stalled during the lame-duck session in January when a bill backed by Gov. JB Pritzker received pushback from some House Democrats.