Illinois asks FEMA for help after August storms

Illinois is asking for federal disaster relief for eight counties hit by storms in August. Gov. JB Pritzker’s request follows a state disaster declaration and signals the events require more help than the state can provide. Trump administration denied state’s last request for help after 2025 storms.

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by Ben Szalinski
Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD - Illinois is asking the federal government for help recovering from August storms that left a trail of destruction through Chicago’s south suburbs and several central Illinois counties.

Gov. JB Pritzker requested a presidential major disaster declaration from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday for eight counties hit by tornadoes, high winds and flooding in mid-August. He also extended the state’s disaster proclamation for another month to continue making extra resources available to impacted communities.

“I will always fight to secure all available federal resources needed most by our communities, especially when the evidence gathered through the damage assessment is clear to pursue it,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Given the scale and severity of destruction in communities across our state, I fully expect our request for FEMA aid to be granted.”

The governor’s request covers Champaign, Cook, Ford, Fulton, McLean, Tazewell, Vermilion and Will counties. It comes after the state completed a preliminary damage assessment and determined the areas should meet the threshold for federal assistance and the damage is beyond the state’s ability to handle by itself.

On Aug. 11, a storm produced tornadoes and wind gusts approaching 100 mph in southern Cook County and Will County, according to the National Weather Service. Many of those same communities were slammed by tornadoes and high winds on July 27 and were still recovering.

More storms on Aug. 13 brought significant wind damage to McLean County, where the Normal Fire Department said it set a new record for most calls during a 24-hour shift. Many communities in central Illinois reported flooding from another round of storms on Aug. 14.

If FEMA approves Pritzker’s request, the agency’s individual assistance program would be available to residents in counties impacted by the storms. The program provides grants for temporary housing or home repairs, loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other help for business owners. Local governments would also be able to use FEMA’s public assistance program to repair infrastructure and receive reimbursements for debris removal and emergency responses to the storms.

No guarantee

It’s no sure thing the federal government will approve Illinois’ request.

A Politico analysis earlier this year found Democrat-led states saw just 23% of their disaster requests granted in the first year of Trump’s second term, compared to 89% for their Republican counterparts. Under the past six administrations — including Trump’s first term — states led by either party saw similar rates of approval, between 70% and 90%. The analysis also found the administration takes twice as long to issue decisions on requests from blue states.

The federal government denied Illinois’ most recent requests for FEMA assistance in 2025 after parts of Chicago and the suburbs were hit hard by storms and flooding. The agency determined that both of these events did not qualify for federal aid.

Illinois also leads the nation in tornadoes, with 210 confirmed so far this year. Though many communities have been hard hit, the state has not asked FEMA for help until now. Instead, Pritzker asked for and received help from the U.S. Small Business Administration after six storm events this year.

President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to raise the threshold for events to qualify for FEMA disaster assistance. A review council recommended earlier this year that the agency raise the threshold for events to qualify as a federal disaster by 50%, which would’ve saved the federal government $1.5 billion in disaster relief between 2012 and 2025, according to NPR.

August’s storms also ushered in some political hot air. Pritzker’s Republican opponent, Darren Bailey, quickly visited communities impacted by the storms to declare Pritzker abdicated his duty by attending State Fair festivities on the same day instead. The governor visited storm-impacted residents in Lansing later that week, but Bailey said Pritzker should’ve already asked for FEMA’s help.

A state disaster declaration is “the kickoff of our attempt to get federal money,” Pritzker said at an Aug. 14 news conference. “That’s the signal. We take that document, that disaster declaration, and essentially present it to the federal government, saying, ‘We’ve declared a disaster, it’s time for you to deliver.’ And so it doesn’t need to happen on Day 1.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

Toll hikes, $26.5 billion plan highlight Illinois transportation changes

Illinois drivers are facing the first Tollway rate increase in 15 years as a new state transportation law reshapes toll funding and creates a new board overseeing the region's major public transit systems.

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Guohua Song/PEXELS

A $26.5 billion Illinois Tollway capital program will fund major infrastructure projects, including interchange work, resurfacing, bridge repairs and technology upgrades.

by Ben Szalinski & Brenden Moore
Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD — A recently passed state law is beginning to reshape Illinois’ transportation landscape, as drivers on state tollways will see rate hikes and a new oversight board is taking shape.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority on Wednesday approved the first toll rate increase in 15 years.

And Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday announced his appointments to the new Northern Illinois Transit Authority board, which will replace the Regional Transportation Authority next month as the body overseeing the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra commuter rail and Pace Suburban Bus.

Toll hike approved

The Tollway Board approved rate hikes for all vehicles on Wednesday that will take effect Jan. 1. Passenger vehicles will pay 45 cents more when passing through each toll while truckers will pay on average 30% more. Tolls will increase based on inflation every two years going forward without further approval from the board.

Toll rates vary depending on toll road, type of vehicle and whether the car has an I-PASS, but generally range from 45 cents to $3 for passenger vehicles under the current rates. Even with the increase, the Tollway claimed in a news release the average per-mile cost is still 5 cents below the national average.

The hike will fund a $26.5 billion capital program that includes major projects across the tollway system, which stretches as far west as Rockford and Dixon.

“Nearly 1.7 million drivers rely on this system every day, and our responsibility extends well beyond the next construction season,” Tollway Executive Director Cassaundra Rouse said in a statement. “We know where congestion is growing, and we know how our infrastructure ages. Driving Connections gives us a responsible path to meet those needs and keep Northern Illinois moving for the next generation.”

Public transit overhaul

The toll hike was permitted by legislation passed last fall to reform and fund public transportation throughout the state, but especially in the Chicago area.

While the bill redirected Road Fund money away from road construction projects to public transportation, it also allowed the Tollway to substantially raise revenue to fund a new capital plan. It was part of a deal between lawmakers and labor unions to find a funding source for public transportation without substantially reducing road work in the state.

Marc Poulos from the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 told lawmakers last year the increase could boost Tollway funding by $1 billion annually.

Gov. JB Pritzker defended the toll increase following a political rally at the State Fair. He touted measures he’s approved to lower costs and blamed Republican policies at the national level for raising the price of gas and groceries.

“We want to make sure that our roads are pothole-free, that we’re making sure to build more so that we can build our economy across the state of Illinois,” Pritzker told reporters.

Pritzker’s Republican opponent, Darren Bailey, slammed the toll hike during Republican events around the fair on Thursday and called for abolishing tolls entirely, though he did not specify a funding source for future road construction.

“What do you think happens to all the everyday prices of every item that is trucked into Chicago, into Illinois, all across the country?” Bailey’s running mate, Aaron Del Mar, told reporters. “That price raises up. So you can't talk about affordability at the same time as you're raising taxes.”

Among other projects, the Tollway plan includes reconstruction of the I-88/I-355 interchange outside the Tollway’s Downers Grove headquarters, a new interchange on I-294 at Irving Park Road south of O’Hare Airport, parking and employee access off I-490 on the west side of O’Hare, and resurfacing, bridge repairs and technology upgrades throughout the system.

Tollway officials argued these projects, while creating headaches for drivers initially, pay off later by reducing congestion. The Jane Addams Expressway expansion completed nearly a decade ago reduced travel times by 25 minutes, according to the Tollway.

Transit board taking shape

NITA’s 20-member board will be comprised of five members each appointed by Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Cook County Boad President Toni Preckwinkle, as well as one each by the county board chairs of Kane, Lake, McHenry, DuPage and Will counties.

The new board, which takes over Sept. 1, is designed to be a stronger version of the RTA, with broad authority to establish a universal fare system and coordinate schedules between the CTA, Metra and Pace. And under the new structure, several members of the larger NITA board will also serve on the three service agencies’ boards — enough to form majorities on those boards to promote cooperation and alignment across the systems.

Pritzker's appointees to NITA are Bashir Qaasim, Nedra Sims Fears, Nirali Shah, Rosa Ortiz and Vanessa Uribe. The governor also reappointed Neema Jha to the CTA board.

Qaasim, who will also serve on Metra's board, is vice president of The Whole Group, where he advises large organizations on how to deploy artificial intelligence. He previously held senior roles at tech companies Aforza and Accenture, advising on technology and organizational strategy, according to the governor's office.

Sims Fears, who will also serve on the CTA's board, is the executive director of the Greater Chatham Initiative, which promotes investment and economic growth on Chicago's South Side. She previously worked in banking and community development financing at Fannie Mae, the city of Chicago and the Community Investment Corporation.

Ortiz, who will also serve on Pace's board, is an urban planner and the founder of 3e Studio, a planning and community development consulting firm. She's served on the CTA board since 2021 and was previously a deputy commissioner in the city of Chicago's Department of Housing and has held leadership positions in organizations like the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.

Uribe is an associate vice president at The Chicago Community Trust and previously worked as chief deputy in the Illinois Secretary of State's executive office and as chief of staff and deputy director of the Office of Economic Equity and Empowerment within the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Uribe will only serve on NITA.

Jha, who will only serve on the CTA board, is a director at Charles River Associates, where she advises large organizations on technology infrastructure modernization. She's served on the board since 2021.

“My board members will play a critical role in modernizing Illinois’ transit systems so we can continue to strengthen operations, make necessary upgrades, and better connect communities across our state," Pritzker said in a news release. "I am proud to appoint highly qualified, dedicated Illinoisans who will help advance this important work.”

Pritzker's appointments are subject to approval by the Illinois Senate.

Johnson, Preckwinkle and collar county officials announced their picks for the boards of NITA and the three service agencies under its purview earlier this summer.

Unlike the RTA board, whose 15 appointed members elected an outsider as chair, the NITA Board will elect one of its own members chair by a simple majority vote at its first meeting. The chair will be subject to Senate confirmation until 2030. Suburban lawmakers criticized the new structure during legislative debate for potentially allowing appointees who live in Cook County to outweigh suburban members.

Kirk Dillard, the RTA's chairman since 2014, was not appointed to the NITA board.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

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TAGGED: Illinois Tollway toll increase January 2026, Northern Illinois Transit Authority board appointments, Illinois public transportation overhaul, $26.5 billion Illinois Tollway capital program, Illinois toll increases and transit funding, NITA replacing Regional Transportation Authority

Illinois insurance department to review home and auto rate hikes starting in 2027

The Illinois Department of Insurance was granted new authority to review and approve homeowners and automobile insurance rate changes. The laws also establish notice requirements and allow the department to order rebates when rates are found to be excessive or unfairly discriminatory.

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Photo: Deepak DK/PEXELS

The Illinois Department of Insurance will have the authority to review homeowners and auto insurance rate changes beginning in 2027. The laws require advance notice for larger increases and allow regulators to order rebates for rates found to be excessive or unfairly discriminatory.

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by Peter Hancock
Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation Tuesday that will give the Illinois Department of Insurance authority to review and approve rate changes for homeowners and automobile policies.

“It's not asking too much to say to insurance companies, if you're telling your customers that rate hikes are necessary, you should be able to prove why,” Pritzker said at a bill signing ceremony in Chicago.

Prior to the bill signings, Illinois was one of only two states, with Wyoming, that did not exercise regulatory control over insurance rates.

The new laws, which take effect July 1, 2027, prohibit companies from charging “excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory” rates and prohibit them from shifting the cost of losses in other states onto Illinois consumers.

The new laws come a little more than a year after Illinois-based State Farm announced it was raising homeowners insurance rates an average 27.2% statewide. They also come two years after Illinois motorists saw an average 18% hike in their auto rates, according to Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias.

In both cases, insurance industry officials said the rate increases were necessary due to inflation, the rising cost of repairs and, in the case of homeowners insurance, the increasing frequency of extreme weather.

In addition, State Farm recently noted that auto insurance rates have been falling in Illinois and that it lowered its premiums by an average 15% in 2025.

Insurance Department Director Ann Gillespie agreed there often are legitimate reasons for rate increases. But she said the new laws will help make sure that rate increases in the future are justified by reliable data.

“While no state legislation can fully eliminate these impacts to insurance premiums, these bills today hold insurance companies accountable for addressing their cost increases by requiring rates to reflect Illinois-specific losses and considerations,” she said.

House Bill 4273, the homeowners insurance bill, requires companies to give their customers 60 days’ notice before raising premiums more than 10%. It also requires them to use credible state-specific claims data to develop their rates when it is available, but companies will be able to supplement that data with national, regional or out-of-state data if needed to meet actuarial standards of credibility.

Companies will still be able to charge new rates once they are filed with the Insurance Department. But the new law gives the department authority to review those rates and order rebates of any excess premiums collected if the rates are found to be excessive or unfairly discriminatory.

Senate Bill 714, the auto insurance bill, requires companies to give customers 30 days’ notice before raising premiums more than 10%. It also gives the department authority to review rates and order rebates if the rates are found to be excessive or unfairly discriminatory.

Giannoulias pushed for that bill, criticizing companies for basing rates on factors unrelated to a person’s driving record, such as their credit score or ZIP code. But while those practices are not specifically prohibited in the final legislation, the new law does ban rates that are “unfairly discriminatory.”

“For far too many Illinois families, the cost of mandatory auto insurance has become absolutely unsustainable, forcing impossible choices between paying for coverage and paying for life's basic necessities,” Giannoulias said at the bill signing ceremony. “That's not just a financial burden. It puts more uninsured drivers on the road and makes our roads and communities less safe.”

Insurance industry organizations, however, remain opposed to the new laws.

In a joint statement issued after the bill signing, the Illinois Insurance Association, the American Property Casualty Insurance Association and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies warned the new laws will lead to higher costs and fewer choices in the insurance market because they do not address the economic realities behind premium increases.

“Instead, the laws impose a fundamental shift in Illinois’ regulatory environment, moving the state toward a more rigid rate approval system similar to struggling insurance markets like California,” the organizations said. “This shift will make it harder for insurers to respond in real time to market conditions and adjust rates up or down based on actual claims experience.”

Pritzker, however, dismissed the industry’s criticism.

“It's silly to suggest that this is going to raise rates across the board,” he said. “What's raising rates are when insurance companies are simply putting out their bills that people can't afford and that don't have any relationship to what's actually happening on the ground.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

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TAGS: Illinois insurance rate review law 2027, Illinois homeowners insurance rate increase approval, Illinois auto insurance rate regulation law, Illinois Department of Insurance rate review authority, Pritzker insurance rate legislation 2026

New Illinois movement grows as rural counties push for state separation

The movement to create a new, independent state from parts of Illinois is gaining momentum, with organizers pointing to growing support across rural counties. Supporters say the effort is about representation rather than partisan politics.

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by Judith Ruiz-Branch
Public News Service

Organizers pushing for a new, independent state within Illinois said they are prepared to play the long game to conquer the urban-rural divide.

The movement of counties wanting to break off into a new territory is growing.

G. H. Merritt, chairman of the board of the nonprofit New Illinois, said it is fundamentally about representation in government, not partisan politics. Merritt pointed out rural communities often feel forgotten and it is a phenomenon transcending party affiliation.

"The government is passing things that may be in the best interest of Chicago, which is fine. The problem is nobody cares about what's in the best interest of rural, small town and suburban areas," Merritt explained.

Merritt argued Gov. J.B. Pritzker has done a poor job of living up to his commitment to represent all parts of the state. Pritzker has consistently dismissed the movement as a partisan idea that will not work. Pritzker's administration maintains the effort is not legally or financially feasible.

Merritt noted the push to form a separate state has been going on for nearly a century in different pockets of Illinois. Today, two separate organizations are taking ground. One is Merritt's group, which works to educate residents about their constitutional right to pursue forming a new state. Another organization called Illinois Separation Referendum focuses on placing advisory referendums on county ballots.

Merritt added the current movement is different because it has grown to be widespread and organized. The Separation Referendum started its efforts downstate.

"New Illinois began in northern Illinois and so it's worked its way down. They've worked their way up," Merritt observed. "About 70 of Illinois's 101 counties have an active state split movement going on there, so that tells you what the breadth of it is."

Under the U.S. Constitution, creating a new state from an existing one requires the consent of both the Illinois General Assembly and Congress. Critics believe neither is a realistic path.

But Merritt countered referendums have been approved in 33 counties already, with more expected to have measures on their ballots come November.

"Things like this, people think they're crazy. They laugh at you," Merritt acknowledged. "The fact is, if you end up with a massive majority of the geographic area of your state and the population there that wants this, they are going to have to listen."

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TAGS: New Illinois state separation movement, Illinois counties seeking state separation, rural Illinois push for new state, Illinois county state split referendums, urban-rural divide in Illinois politics

Illinois Medicaid bill removes health coverage eligibility for thousands of noncitizens

A Medicaid omnibus bill approved by Illinois lawmakers will remove eligibility for thousands of residents as the state adjusts to new federal requirements. Advocates warn the change could expand the uninsured population while lawmakers cite legal and budget constraints.

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by Peter Hancock
Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD – A bill that will soon head to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk will officially remove an estimated 10,000 people from the state’s Medicaid program, leaving them without any form of health coverage.

That group is made up mainly of people who are not U.S. citizens but who are in the country legally, according to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. That includes refugees and asylum-seekers, many of whom came to the United States with pre-existing health conditions.

“If they are enrolled, then they still have Medicaid up until Oct. 1,” Edith Avila Hesser, ICIRR’s health justice and policy director, said in an interview. “This adds to the number of uninsured populations that we have here in the state of Illinois, and so obviously we will be working to educate this community about the resources that are available to them through community clinics like FQHCs (Federally Qualified Health Centers) and free and charitable clinics available throughout the state.”

Medicaid is a public health coverage program that is jointly funded by the federal government and the states.

In 2025, Congress amended the federal eligibility rules for Medicaid with passage of H.R. 1, commonly known as President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” It removed eligibility for nearly all noncitizens except lawful permanent residents, Cuban and Haitian entrants, and migrants from certain Pacific island nations known as the Compact of Free Association.

Illinois’ Medicaid bill

In order to comply with that change in federal law, Illinois lawmakers included language in this year’s annual Medicaid omnibus bill, Senate Bill 3365, removing most groups of noncitizens from eligibility under state law.

They include, among others, immigrants who are honorably discharged U.S. veterans and their families, refugees and asylees, noncitizens identified as victims of trafficking, Amerasians from Vietnam, and American Indians born in Canada.

“We had to make that change to comply with H.R. 1 so that we didn't put our entire Medicaid program in jeopardy,” Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, who chairs the House working group that wrote the omnibus bill, said in an interview.

Although Illinois also provides health coverage outside the Medicaid system that is funded entirely with state dollars, the language in this year’s bill specifically states that it “shall not require any category of non-citizens or part thereof to be funded at state-only cost.”

For example, in 2020, Illinois launched a program to provide Medicaid-like coverage known as Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors for noncitizens age 65 and over, regardless of their immigration status. The following year, it expanded that program with Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults, which covered adults age 42 to 64, regardless of immigration status.

But the latter program was closed in 2025 amid budget and political pressure and enrollment in the seniors program has been limited while many of its enrollees have been shifted to other subsidized coverage programs.

Stalled programs

Illinois also participates in a limited program that provides health benefits to asylum applicants and victims of torture, trafficking and other serious crimes. And to minimize the impact of the upcoming change in eligibility rules, immigrant rights advocates introduced legislation this year to expand that program.

House Bill 4824, sponsored by Rep. Dagmara Avelar, D-Romeoville, and Senate Bill 3462, sponsored by Sen. Graciela Guzmán, D-Chicago, would have extended coverage under that program to several additional categories of noncitizens who are in the country for various humanitarian reasons. But neither of those bills was ever assigned to a substantive committee.

Moeller said budget pressures were the primary reason the bills were not considered this year, and she said that is not likely to change anytime soon. “We're looking at enormous budget pressures next year because of the cuts in H.R. 1 to the Medicaid program, which is going to affect our overall budget,” she said. “Hopefully, at some point we can get many of the provisions that were contained in H.R. 1 overturned federally.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

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Illinois Medicaid eligibility changes 2026, Illinois immigrant health coverage legislation, Senate Bill 3365 Medicaid Illinois, federal Medicaid rule changes Illinois, Illinois health coverage for noncitizens

Illinois lawmakers consider bill to ban pistols with certain designs that can be modified into automatic weapons

One of the nation’s most popular types of firearms could be subject to a new Illinois ban as Illinois lawmakers considering ban on guns like Glocks. Lawmakers unveiled a new bill that opponents say would focus on Glock pistols and other guns that have certain trigger bars.

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Terrance Barksdale/PEXELS

Chicago police have recovered 1,300 modified Glocks used in crimes and argued that banning its easily modified design is paramount to protect public safety. A “consumer product safety measure” proposed by Illinois lawmakers does just that.

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by Ben Szalinski
Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers are considering legislation that a major gun rights organization says would effectively ban one of the nation’s most popular types of firearms.

The House Gun Violence Prevention Committee voted 9-5 along party lines on Wednesday to pass House Bill 4471, which seeks to ban the sale of any semiautomatic pistol with a cruciform trigger bar in Illinois. Supporters say that design can be altered to install an already illegal switch, ultimately turning the pistol into a machine gun.

John Weber, the Illinois director of the National Rifle Association, said banning that design would ban Glocks from being sold in Illinois. But like the state’s ban on assault weapons, it would not apply to people who currently own that type of gun.

Bill sponsor Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Orland Park, called the bill “a consumer product safety measure” that “continues to support smart, sensible gun ownership.”

Slaughter said consumers still have other pistols to choose from that do not use the same firing mechanism design as Glock, such as Henry County-based Springfield Armory.

Advocates said the goal is to put pressure on Glock to change their design to make it impossible for their guns to be modified with a switch. Lawmakers in California banned the sale of guns with the design beginning July 1, while legislators in Maryland and Connecticut have approved similar policies in recent weeks.

“The Responsible Gun Manufacturing Act will go to the root cause of the source by holding the gun industry accountable,” said Kathleen Sances, president of the Gun Violence Prevention PAC. “By requiring the industry to put a safer design, we can prevent convertible (guns) from being made in the first place.”

Slaughter said it's a change Glock should easily be able to make since the company sells a model in Europe that would comply with his bill, though it is not sold in the United States. Glock did not respond to a request for comment.

Photo: Dan Galvani Sommavilla/PEXELS

Slaughter said Chicago police have recovered 1,300 modified Glocks used in crimes and argued that banning its easily modified design is paramount to protect public safety. The bill’s appearance in Springfield comes nearly two years after Chicago sued Glock, alleging the company makes guns that it knows can be easily modified with illegal switches. The lawsuit is still making its way through the courts.

Republicans argued Democrats are misplacing their blame on gun owners for violent crimes.

“As a legal gun owner, there’s nothing I want more than for gun violence to stop because every time some criminal goes out with a gun, you all threaten to take away my rights to protect my family,” said Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Murrayville.

Weber said he doubts the bill would meaningfully reduce gun violence and it raises legal questions since Glocks could be considered “common use” guns. The NRA has already filed a lawsuit challenging California’s law under that basis.

Mental health checks

A separate bill also approved by the committee on Wednesday seeks to streamline mental health evaluations to determine whether a person can have their Firearm Owner Identification returned after receiving mental health treatment.

House Bill 5209, which also passed on a partisan 9-5 vote, establishes new training requirements for providers that make evaluations about a person’s mental fitness to get their FOID card back. It also establishes new requirements people must follow to complete the mental heath evaluations.

But gun rights groups raised broader concerns about existing state law, which restricts people who have been a patient at a mental health facility from having a FOID card for five years. Illinois State Rifle Association lobbyist Ed Sullivan said the bill takes steps to rectify broader problems with the law, but lawmakers should consider further amendments.

“A woman commits herself for postpartum depression. She goes in for evaluation; she goes in for treatment, and you know, two-three months later — clean bill of health,” Sullivan said. “Why should that person lose their FOID card for five years?”

Davidsmeyer said he’s concerned the law scares people away from seeking mental health treatment over fear they will lose their permit to own a gun and have to give up a hobby like hunting.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

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TAGS: guns that can be modified, Illinois proposes bill to make gun with certain parts illegal, guns easily converted into “machine guns” to be outlawed in Illinois, gun law not applicable to current owners of the firearm

State launches incentive program to recruit young engineers amid workforce shortage

Illinois transportation officials are launching a student loan repayment program to attract and retain new engineers amid a nationwide workforce shortage. The initiative offers up to $60,000 in repayment assistance over four years for eligible employees.

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Photo: ThisisEngineering/Unsplash

The Rebuild Illinois program along with other workforce initiatives, including internships and apprenticeship partnerships with private industry, will repay up to $60,000 in student loans for selected engineers through a new IDOT pilot program aimed at young engineering talent.

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by Aidan Klineman
Medill Illinois News Bureau / Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Department of Transportation announced this week it will soon repay up to $60,000 in student loans for eligible employees over four years as part of an initiative to lure recently graduated engineers in an increasingly competitive job market.

The Higher Education Student Loan Repayment Assistance for Engineers Pilot Program will reimburse 50 Illinois-educated engineers up to $15,000 annually after four years of service at the agency. IDOT hopes to incentivize young talent to remain in the state and the field, citing data from the American Council of Engineering Companies that shows a national shortfall of approximately 20,000 engineers per year due to retirements or departures from the field.

“At a time when workforce challenges continue to impact the engineering industry and public sector alike, this initiative will help attract and retain the next generation of transportation professionals needed to deliver critical infrastructure projects across Illinois,” Kevin Artl, president and CEO of ACEC Illinois, said in a statement announcing the initiative.

The student loan repayment program is the latest effort by Gov. JB Pritzker and the state to spur economic growth by retaining young talent. In February, the Illinois Retail Merchants Association launched an apprenticeship program for emerging Illinois retailers, and late last month, Pritzker announced public and private partnerships with computing giant IBM that will bring 500 apprenticeships to the company’s new innovation hub located in Chicago’s quantum park.

The program is funded by IDOT, with funds allocated as part of the Pritzker administration’s ongoing Rebuild Illinois efforts and paid out as bonuses. Rebuild Illinois has made significant investments in Illinois infrastructure projects since fiscal year 2020.

Massive infrastructure investments augment engineering needs

State-employed engineers are needed to support the Rebuild Illinois infrastructure program, passed in the first year of the Pritzker administration in 2019 and continued since then. The latest six-year plan calls for investing $50.6 billion in infrastructure, including $32.5 billion for transportation projects exclusively: the construction and maintenance of roads, bridges, public transit, freight and passenger rail, aeronautic facilities and ports.

This is not the first time IDOT has targeted young engineering talent. Last year, the agency implemented an “Intern to Hire” program meant to attract college students to civil engineering internships with the department by providing direct pathways to full-time employment.

The need to fill engineering positions at IDOT is also driven, in part, by federal legislation encouraging new projects. In 2021, President Joe Biden signed the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which allocated over $17 billion to Illinois public works projects over five years. “We have more projects than ever at IDOT right now, thanks to the capital program and funding at the federal level,” Guy Tridgell, director of communications for IDOT, said. “And we need engineers to do that work.”

According to IDOT data, the state has invested over $24 billion in Illinois highway projects through Rebuild Illinois since the 2020 fiscal year. The state hopes young engineers will take advantage of these new jobs incentives and meet the demand for continued infrastructure investment.

Public sector recruitment for the long term

In addition to helping accomplish what Rebuild Illinois set out to do, Tridgell hopes the student loan repayment incentives will inspire young engineers to pursue long-term careers in public service.

“We’re aggressively taking a look at a variety of strategies to get young engineers, in particular, to come and work for the state,” Tridgell said. “It’s a good career — you learn a lot about the profession and you can make a real difference in your community.”

Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, initially sponsored legislation calling for the program. He said he hoped the incentives would encourage students to pursue engineering careers with reduced financial pressure.

“We know that access to higher education is challenging,” Villivalam told Capitol News Illinois. “So making sure that young students and folks looking at different career opportunities understand that there are tools available to them to make it more affordable, make it more accessible to pursue a career in engineering.”

Republican Leader proposes scholarships amid delay

In addition to the Pritzker administration's IDOT loan repayment program, Republicans are also working to assist the creation of new engineers for the state.

Senate Republican Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove, is a lead sponsor of Senate Bill 3855, which would create scholarship and living stipend incentives for engineering students attending Illinois public universities at the front end of their higher education careers. Curran supports the student loan repayments in addition to his own proposal, but noted that the repayments have been delayed.

“I’m glad they’re moving forward with it. It’s well past time,” Curran told Capitol News Illinois. “We are behind on capital.”

Similar to the student repayment plan, Curran’s scholarship bill requires eligible students to commit to working for IDOT for at least three years. He argues that scholarships would unlock more opportunities for students and help assuage financial concerns that arise from college decisions sooner.

“It is a way to help not only lock them in early, but also a pathway to pay for school,” Curran said. “It’s a win-win.”

Curran’s bill was assigned to committee and is currently awaiting a hearing, with a deadline of Friday.

Aidan Klineman is an undergraduate student in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications, and is a fellow in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

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TAGS: Illinois engineering student loan program, IDOT workforce recruitment initiative, Rebuild Illinois infrastructure funding jobs, engineering shortage Illinois public sector, state loan repayment engineering incentive

Social media regulations targeting kids advance in Illinois House

Illinois lawmakers are moving forward with a bill designed to limit addictive social media features for minors. The proposal would require platforms to change how content is delivered and restrict certain functions for users under 18.

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Photo: Tati Odintsova/Unsplash

by Ben Szalinski
Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD - A bill to regulate social media companies and the features they make available to minors is advancing in the Statehouse.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House voted 82-27 to pass House Bill 5511, also known as the Children’s Social Media Safety Act. Gov. JB Pritzker proposed the bill, which is designed to make social media scrolling less addictive for children.

“What this bill is really designed to address is the weaponization of your data, your personal habits in a way that keeps kids glued and addicted to the screen,” bill sponsor Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, said.

The bill does not limit social media use to certain ages but does require platforms to allow users setting up an account to input their age, which would trigger certain settings on the device for users under 18 years old.

The bill mandates that information used to generate a social media feed cannot be “persistently associated with the user’s device” and based on content the user previously shared or interacted with. Users must follow the creator of the content or person who shares it to see the content in their feed. Additional content could only be provided to the user when they search for it.

The bill would also require social media platforms to have default privacy settings for minors that would stop addictive feeds, location sharing and transactions with digital currency. Platforms would also be prohibited from sending notifications to minor users between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Companies that violate the law would have to pay fines.

The changes would take effect in 2028, and despite cracking down in some areas, Gong-Gershowitz said there won’t be restrictions on the content kids see.

Photo: dole777/Unsplash

“This bill does not include any content moderation or allow parents to monitor what children are doing online,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “It simply targets a harmful design feature like addictive algorithms that are designed to keep kids online. Children can still see the same content.”

Pritzker, some Republicans back it

Pritzker called on lawmakers during his February State of the State address to advance regulations.

“Everywhere I go, parents tell me one of their deepest concerns is the impact social media is having on their kids,” Pritzker said in his address. “It’s a challenge unique to this generation. And it is made worse by the perverse incentive that social media companies seem to have to keep kids scrolling no matter what the cost to their physical and mental health.”

Tackling children’s addictions to social media has been a bipartisan priority in Springfield in recent years and nine House Republicans joined Democrats in advancing the measure to the Senate.

“Up until this point, we haven’t had a lot of guardrails when it comes to social media use in our state,” Rep. Nicole La Ha, R-Lemont, told Capitol News Illinois. “Being a mom of school aged children, I think it’s really important that we start to have those conversations.”

La Ha said she is looking forward to using parental controls to make sure the content her kids see on their feeds is appropriate for their age.

Other Republicans said they supported the concept of the bill but would vote against it until more changes were made in the Senate.

Pritzker is also pushing lawmakers to tax social media companies based on the number of users they have in Illinois.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

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TAGS: Illinois social media bill for minors, Children’s Social Media Safety Act Illinois, JB Pritzker social media regulation plan, Illinois House Bill 5511 details, social media restrictions for kids Illinois

State advances on legislation to regulate data centers to protect the environment and natural resources

Governor JB Pritzker recently halted tax incentives for data center construction in Illinois for two years due to energy concerns.

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Photo: Geoffrey Moffett/Unsplash

Ireland has 134 data centers operated by 28 providers like Prescient Data Centres in Coleraine in Northern Ireland. Data centers are looking to expand in Illinois and environmental groups are trying to pass laws regulating them to prevent ecological and economic damage to the state.

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by Judith Ruiz-Branch
Public News Service

CHICAGO - As data centers continue to expand rapidly, environmental justice groups are working to pass legislation to regulate them in Illinois.

The state is a top-five market for data centers and backers cited the tax revenue and jobs the facilities bring to some areas.

Lucy Contreras, Illinois state program director for the environmental policy group GreenLatinos, said the centers' increased demand for energy also brings concerns about utility affordability and environmental impacts for Illinois residents. She pointed out it disproportionately affects communities of color as more facilities are being built in or near low-income neighborhoods.

"If we don't mandate that they bring their own clean energy and that they pay for their own costs, then who ends up footing that bill tends to be the communities," Contreras explained.

Contreras noted legislation known as the Power Act, now in the General Assembly, would address the concerns by establishing accountability measures and mandating community benefits. She added the bill is one of the most ambitious for data center regulation. Advocates are aiming to pass it this spring.

Data center developers heavily rely on nondisclosure agreements to build, manage and operate facilities.

Mayra Mendez, executive director of the advocacy group Clean Power Lake County, said it often leaves local communities at a disadvantage. And as the proliferation of data centers has made people more conscious of potential effects, she stressed the Power Act would also require greater transparency.

"We hosted a workshop specifically going over bills, and people were like, ‘My bills are going up because of data centers.’ So, they're seeing the direct links," Mendez recounted. "And I think sometimes other environmental issues are a little more abstract, but we're seeing the real impacts of data centers here and now, and people are just more aware."

The federal government has identified data center development as a national priority and some states have offered companies incentives to build more facilities. But Governor JB Pritzker recently halted tax incentives for data center construction in Illinois for two years due to energy concerns.

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