The League of Women Voters of Illinois meets with lawmakers on Lobby Day to address key social and environmental issues.
Photo courtesy League of Women Voters of Illinois
League of Women Voters of Illinois members gather in Springfield for their annual Lobby Day on Wednesday. Experienced League members and members of the new Volunteer Lobby Corps met face-to-face with state legislators.
SPRINGFIELD - The League of Women Voters of Illinois (LWVIL) returned to the Illinois State Capitol on Wednesday, May 8, for its annual Lobby Day, engaging with lawmakers across the political spectrum to advocate for a range of policy issues.
This year’s event marked the debut of the organization’s newly established Volunteer Lobby Corps, a group of trained advocates who joined experienced League members in meeting face-to-face with legislators. Prior to their Capitol meetings, the volunteers underwent orientation led by seasoned members to prepare for discussions with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan group, bases its advocacy on positions it has thoroughly studied and reached consensus on. According to LWVIL President Becky Simon, the group continues to press for voting rights protections and initiatives aimed at building a more equitable democratic system.
“LWVIL advocates to protect voting rights and advance a more equitable democracy,” Simon stated. “The League stands up for social justice issues because systemic inequities prohibit people from participating equally in our democracy.”
This year’s lobbying priorities included the defense of Constitutional rights and efforts to ensure equity in both education and housing. Local chapters of the League were also encouraged to raise district-specific issues with their representatives. These included managing environmental waste and safeguarding aquifers from potential contaminants.
The organization’s Capitol visit is part of a broader effort to maintain a visible presence in public policy discussions and to empower volunteers to take active roles in civic engagement.
The Illinois Health and Hospital Association, the Association of Safety Net Community Hospitals and the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network issued a statement saying they strongly oppose HB 3512.
by Grace Friedman Medill Illinois News Bureau, Capitol News Illinois
SPRINGFIELD — Health care unions continue to rally for legislation to address understaffing they say strains hospitals and threatens both patient safety and staff well-being.
Lawmakers are considering the Hospital Worker Staff and Safety bill, which would establish mandatory nurse-to-patient staffing ratios and increase support for underfunded hospitals.
The proposed legislation, Senate Bill 21 and House Bill 3512, aims to establish minimum staffing ratios in hospitals and fund critical safety-net hospitals across the state. Advocates with health care worker unions have been holding a series of rallies at the Capitol in support of the legislation in recent weeks.
“Our hospitals are staffed unsafely,” Kawana Gant, a certified nursing assistant at UChicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, said at a recent Statehouse rally. “I have worked short shifts where there are 30 patients and only one CNA on the floor. How can you give quality care? It is not safe.”
Gant, who has worked at Ingalls Hospital for nearly 30 years, says she has watched many of her colleagues quit due to the mental and physical toll the short staffing has had on their bodies.
“This is an opportunity for legislators to hear us, to know that these hospitals are not safe.” Gant said.
But similar versions of the proposed legislation have been introduced at the Statehouse for recent years and have failed to gain traction. Generally backed by unions representing nurses, such as the Service Employees International Union, previous staffing ratio measures have run into opposition from hospital groups that say they’re unworkable.
The proposed legislation filed this year has yet to receive a hearing in a substantive committee, meaning it will be an uphill battle for it to move by the time the legislature adjourns at the end of the month.
Like previous versions, it would mandate that hospitals “employ and schedule sufficient staff to ensure quality patient care and safety.” In addition, hospitals would have to share annual staffing metrics with the Illinois Department of Public Health to help ensure they are at proper staffing levels.
“This bill gives you a real voice,” Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, said to rallygoers. “It gives you a way to speak up when things are unsafe for you and the people who you care for.”
However, not all lawmakers are convinced that now is the right time to implement staffing ratios.
“You can mandate the staffing ratios, but if those professionals don’t exist, what have you really done?” said Rep. Norine Hammond, R-Macomb. “We’ve been trying for years to get more people into the health care field, especially after COVID, and we’re just not there yet.”
Hammond expressed concern that enforcing strict staffing requirements without enough qualified workers in the pipeline could place unrealistic burdens on hospitals. She warned that such mandates might unintentionally strain facilities already struggling with labor shortages and lead to adverse financial consequences, especially for smaller or rural hospitals.
Hospital trade groups echo those concerns, calling the legislation unworkable, burdensome and an ineffective way to solve a problem that should be addressed by the specific needs of each hospital or care center. The Illinois Health and Hospital Association, the Association of Safety Net Community Hospitals and the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network issued a statement saying they strongly oppose HB 3512.
They said it was introduced “as a backdoor effort pushed by organized labor to impose unworkable, government-imposed health care staffing ratios in Illinois.”
“This proposal would relegate the essential, complex and nuanced protocols established to safely and efficiently staff a hospital 24/7/365, to a series of burdensome forms and onerous paperwork that hospitals would be required to submit to the (IDPH) to establish minimum staffing standards for every hospital worker, in each hospital unit,” the groups said in the statement.
Still, according to a recent Service Employees International Union survey of Chicago area hospital workers, 70% of respondents reported understaffing, and over 25% reported unsafe or unmanageable workloads. Additionally, in the same survey, 47% of the respondents stated an intent to leave their jobs soon.
To help enforce safety standards, the legislation introduces “assignment despite objection forms” that give hospital workers the opportunity to document and report any assignments that they believe are unsafe. Hospitals are then required to provide this information to IDPH, which would have to publish an annual report on all these staffing metrics. The legislation would also require IDPH to “make recommendations for minimum staffing standards for hospital workers in each hospital unit.”
In addition to protecting staff, advocates said this bill would allocate proper essential resources to underfunded hospitals around the state, including Mount Sinai Hospital on Chicago's West Side, a Level 1 trauma center that helps underserved and violence-impacted communities.
“Mount Sinai saved my son's life,” said Sonya Brown, who traveled from Chicago to Springfield recently to advocate for the safety-net hospital that treated her son after he was shot seven times in 2020.
“He was shot in the head, he was shot in the neck, he was shot in the chest, the abdomen and shoulder, and the arm,” Brown said. “If they wouldn't have gotten to him in time, he would have died.”
Mount Sinai serves as a health care provider for communities on both the South and West sides of Chicago, areas that experience some of Chicago's highest rates of gun violence. If the hospitals are not protected by measures in this legislation, advocates said, the victims in these neighborhoods risk longer travel times to alternative trauma centers.
They said the bills would help allocate essential resources and enforce staffing standards at safety-net hospitals to continue effectively serving vulnerable communities.
“All of our staff is overworked,” said Jessica Mendoza, a nursing assistant at Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in Hines. “A lot of our veterans are coming into the VA to get help with their health, but we do not have the staff to provide it.”
Mendoza, who has worked at the Hines VA Hospital for nearly two years, said that due to the low number of staff, they rarely get a break. She noted that the lack of sufficient staffing makes it difficult to provide the level of care that the veterans need.
The health care workers and advocates gathering in Springfield at the recent rally emphasized that without sufficient staffing and resources, the quality of patient care throughout Illinois hospitals will continue declining, and worker burnout will escalate.
“They expect you to do the job of five or six people but pay you for one.” Sen. Lakesia Collins, D-Chicago, said at the rally. Prior to joining the General Assembly, Collins was a CNA in nursing homes.
As the legislation stagnates at the Capitol, hospital workers and advocates said they plan to keep organizing and sharing their stories. They said they're calling on lawmakers to prioritize frontline health care workers and the patients who depend on them.
Grace Friedman is a student in the Medill Illinois News Bureau, a program at the Medill School of Journalism that provides local news outlets with state legislature and government coverage. She can be reached at gracefriedman2025@u.northwestern.edu.
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.
A new voting bill could make name changes a voting hurdle for many women. Illinois leaders are speaking out.
URBANA - A newly revived federal voting bill is drawing renewed scrutiny, especially in Illinois, where voting rights advocates warn it could create significant barriers to ballot access.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which passed the U.S. House last week with unanimous Republican support and four Democratic votes, would require all voters to present proof of U.S. citizenship — such as a passport or birth certificate — when registering or updating their registration. The bill now awaits consideration in the Senate, though no vote has been scheduled.
This is not the first time the legislation has surfaced. A previous version passed the House during the last session of Congress but stalled in the then-Democratic-controlled Senate.
Proponents of the SAVE Act argue it is essential for protecting the integrity of elections by ensuring that only American citizens can cast ballots. However, critics see it as a thinly veiled attempt to suppress voter participation under the guise of security. The League of Women Voters of Illinois (LWVIL) delivered that message directly to lawmakers during a subject matter hearing before the Illinois House Ethics and Elections Committee on April 22 in Springfield.
Kathy Cortez, LWVIL’s Vice President for Issues and Advocacy, testified that the legislation risks disenfranchising large swaths of the voting population by introducing new hurdles that disproportionately affect low-income individuals, women, and others who may have difficulty assembling documentation.
No citizen should have to make the choice between meeting their basic needs and exercising the right to vote
“We believe every citizen should be protected in the right to vote, and that electoral systems should encourage participation and enhance representation for all voters,” Cortez said. “The League of Women Voters opposes the SAVE Act because, by imposing inequitable economic and administrative requirements, the bill would create unnecessary barriers to voting participation.”
A major point of concern raised during the hearing was the bill’s disproportionate impact on women. Cortez explained that because many women in Illinois changed their names after marriage, the SAVE Act would require them — and not men — to produce documentation of name changes through marriage, divorce, or remarriage in order to vote.
The League also highlighted the financial implications of the legislation. For many residents living paycheck to paycheck, obtaining official documents like certified birth certificates or divorce decrees could present a real hardship.
“No citizen should have to make the choice between meeting their basic needs and exercising the right to vote,” Cortez said. “We believe that even one individual losing their ability to vote because they could not afford to comply with the requirements of the SAVE Act is one voter too many.”
Despite their opposition to the measure, LWVIL expressed a willingness to support voters if the bill becomes law. With a statewide network and long-standing relationships with Illinois' 108 election authorities, the League says it is prepared to help residents navigate any new requirements.
As the debate continues, Illinois remains a microcosm of a broader national conversation — one that pits concerns over election integrity against the practical realities of access and participation.
During his recent budget address, Gov. JB Pritzker pretentiously proclaimed, "We don’t have kings in America – and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one," referring to President Trump.
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Ironic when you consider it was Pritzker who issued at least 41 consecutive disaster proclamations related to COVID-19 between 2020 and 2023, and over 100 specific executive orders tied to the pandemic. These orders included stay-at-home mandates, school and business closures, mask requirements, and vaccination mandates for certain workers.
Pritzker’s unilateral rule in Illinois disqualifies him from making public complaints about kings, fascists, and tyrants in America.
Moreover, his repeated attempts to redefine and paint political opponents as “Nazis” is getting very old.
Pritzker and his allies want the public to believe that “Nazis” are on the right side of the political spectrum. They are being deceitful. The National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi) was organized to advance socialism. They advocated big government policies, putting them on the left side of the political spectrum. Think "Medicare for all," "universal Pre-K," and "universal free college," among others. Sound familiar?
The governor doth protest too much, methinks.
David E. Smith, Executive Director
Illinois Family Institute
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Dieterich – State Representative Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) says it is time for state leaders to prioritize the needs of Illinois citizens. In Niemerg's opinion, Governor Pritzker's presentation of a "balanced budget" is nothing more than the usual, deceptive schemes.
"It is baffling to me that we cannot have bipartisan support for managing our resources better and preventing these constant gaping budget holes that are a staple for all of these so-called 'balanced' budgets," he stated, criticizing how Illinois budgets are determined. "For years, the state has been using creative accounting gimmicks to create the illusion of a 'balanced' budget."
Niemerg says the state needs to do a better job of managing Illinois finances. Calling for an Illinois version of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), he said state budgets usually show increased income and lower spending projections. However, when the bills are presented to the state, the payment cycle "is stretched out longer and longer and, in the end, taxpayers take it on the chin because there is a monthly penalty for delayed state payments."
"High taxes, poor state leadership, and rising crime are the culprits for the outbound migration."
"Not once did the Governor mention property tax relief. Not once did he mention pension reform. Not once did he mention public safety concerns in Chicagoland," Niemerg said in a statement on Wednesday. "He did, however, mention Donald Trump at least six times in his speech. Instead of focusing on President Trump, the Governor should focus on the issues Illinois residents actually care about."
Niemerg stressed that Governor Pritzker's remarks about President Trump during the State of the State Address do nothing to solve the very real problems facing our state.
He points out that Illinois had the second-highest outbound moves in 2024 – second only to New Jersey. He said the combination of high taxes, poor state leadership, and rising crime are the culprits for the outbound migration. He also noted the Governor did not address the issue of illegal immigration and the amount of money being spent on programs and services for people not legally supposed to be here. A recent Pew Research poll showed 59% of Americans approve of President Trump's immigration policies.
"The vast majority of Americans support President Trump's efforts to secure our borders and deport criminals here illegally," Niemerg said, who believes the Governor and the Democratic majority in the House are out of touch with the majority of American people. "Instead of prioritizing the needs of our own citizens, they are continuing to pour money into programs for illegal immigrants. We have a responsibility to address the concerns of our own citizens. It is not the job of the state of Illinois to solve the immigration crisis."
CHICAGO - Illinois voters have several ways to cast their ballot in the upcoming election, whether by mail, in person or early voting.
The Illinois Policy Institute, a political watchdog, reported 2022's general election produced the second-highest voter turnout in a midterm year in 25 years.
Matt Dietrich, public information officer for the Illinois State Board of Elections, wants voters to observe important deadlines for registering to vote. For unregistered voters, he advised there is still time to change their status.
"Voter registration never closes until the polls close on Election Day," Dietrich pointed out. "You can get registered from now right up through and even on November 5th. The online voter registration stays open until 11:59 pm, October 20th."
Voter inquiries can be answered through an online portal on the board's website, elections.il.gov.
Beginning Oct. 9, unregistered voters wanting in-person voting can do so at any early voting location. Dietrich added they will have to cast their early vote ballot at the time of registration.
Two forms of verifiable identification are needed, one which reflects who you are and the other, your voting residence. If you have recently moved to Illinois from another state, an unexpired out-of-state driver's license is accepted. A piece of government mail sent to your residence, a bank statement, or a pay stub with your voting residence is also sufficient.
Another popular choice among Illinoisans is to vote by mail. There was a "slight uptick of 10%," Dietrich reported, even before the pandemic in 2020. He added 2 million people tried it for the first time and deemed the process as safe, convenient and trackable.
"We and all the local election authorities really pushed voting by mail for safety reasons," Dietrich explained. "In the end, we had one-third of the total votes in 2020, cast by mail, about one-third cast early in person and one-third cast on Election Day in person."
Dietrich said in 2022, voting by mail slightly exceeded the number of voters who were voting early in person. He recommends residents wanting to cast mail-in ballots request their ballot far before the Oct. 31 deadline.
Keywords: Illinois early voting locations, Register to vote in Illinois, Illinois mail-in ballot process
Illinois voter registration deadlines, Voting by mail in Illinois, Illinois State Board of Elections voter portal
CHICAGO – Diane Chang will give a Zoom talk concerning strategies on how to protect and secure democracy in an age of threats from social media and AI for a virtual meeting of the League of Women Voters of Illinois (LWVIL) on Wednesday, April 17.
Addressing the rise of misinformation and disinformation — and its impact on our elections — the League of Women Voters of Illinois formed the Mis/Disinformation Task Force in January 2024 with their mission to educate the general public on mis/disinformation.
Diane Chang
Chang, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Brown Institute for Media Innovation at Columbia Journalism School and the former head of Election Integrity and Product Strategy at Meta, will discuss her experience building artificial intelligence and consumer technology products that connect people to information, safety, and sustainability. She led Meta’s election strategy integrity and product strategy from 2021–23.
In her current position at the Brown Institute, Ms. Chang is an advisor and consultant to nonprofits in the U.S. and abroad on technology and elections. She has a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School Research Institute at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.
Organized by LWVIL’s Misinformation and Disinformation Task Force, the event is the second in a series of presentations where noted authorities will discuss topics that inform and educate voters starting at 7 p.m. The webinar is free and open to the public. All programs are recorded and made available on the LWVIL website.
Visit lwvil.org/misdis-info for more information or to register.
Election years are a scary time for people of color in the U.S. They are marked by race-based voter suppression efforts, a rise in racist political rhetoric, and even a surge in racist hate crimes.
by Sonali Kolhatkar
Many Americans haven’t heard of cash bail. But the idea is central to an election year battle over racism, policing, and mass incarceration.
When arrested on suspicion of committing a crime, everyone in the United States has the right to due process and to defend themselves in court. But in a cash bail system, when judges set bail amounts, those who cannot pay the full amount remain jailed indefinitely — a clear violation of their due process rights — while the rich can pay their way out of jail.
A 2022 report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights examined the impact of cash bail and found that between 1970 and 2015, the number of people jailed before trial increased by a whopping 433 percent.
There are currently about half a million such people stuck in jails across the nation who haven’t been tried or convicted of any crimes. The report also found “stark disparities with regards to race,” with Black and brown men most often subject to higher bail amounts.
Thankfully, many states and cities are moving to reform this unfair practice.
In 2023, Illinois became the first state to entirely abolish cash bail. Other states, such as New Mexico, New Jersey, and Kentucky, have almost entirely ended cash bail requirements in recent years. In California, Los Angeles County has also similarly eliminated cash bail for all crimes except the most serious ones.
The state recently passed a bill expanding cash bail for 30 new crimes, some of which appear to be aimed at protesters, such as unlawful assembly. Further, it criminalizes charitable bail funds — and even individuals — that bail out people who can’t afford to bail out themselves.
Marlon Kautz, who runs the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, called cash bail “a loophole” in the criminal justice system, allowing courts to indefinitely jail people without charges if they cannot pay exorbitant bail amounts.
“Police, prosecutors, and politicians want a bail system that allows them to punish their political enemies, poor people, and people of color without trial,” said Kautz, whose fund has bailed out people protesting a massive new police training facility opponents call “Cop City.” Kautz was one of three people affiliated with the fund to be arrested on apparently politicized charges last year.
Reversing progress on bail reform is a new flashpoint in the GOP’s culture wars. “It could be a sign that Republicans intend to bash their Democratic opponents as soft on crime,” the Associated Press reported. Alongside Georgia, Republicans in Indiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin have introduced numerous bills expanding the use of cash bail.
Expanding the racist criminal justice system is a cynical GOP election-era ploy, one that has little to do with public safety.
“It is exceedingly rare for someone who’s released pretrial to be arrested and accused of a new offense that involves violence against another person,” said Sharlyn Grace, an official at the Cook County Public Defender’s office in Illinois. “Fears about public safety are in many ways greatly overblown and misplaced.”
“National studies contradict” the claim, the AP adds, that people are any less likely to show up for a court date if they’re released without bail.
Election years are a scary time for people of color in the U.S. They are marked by race-based voter suppression efforts, a rise in racist political rhetoric, and even a surge in racist hate crimes. The expansion of cash bail laws is yet another attack on Black and brown communities — one that must be exposed and confronted.
We shouldn’t let reform efforts fall victim to election year politics.
Sonali Kolhatkar is the host of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a television and radio show on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations. This commentary was produced by the Economy for All project at the Independent Media Institute and adapted for syndication by OtherWords.org.
PONTIAC - People everywhere are conquering their cabin fever and are enjoying the great outdoors after a long, bitter winter. But before you head out for that hike, health care experts remind you to take precautions to avoid tick bites. Read more . . .
CHICAGO - An Illinois law professor is weighing in on what she called a "very public and open test of due process" for immigrants being deported from the United States without court hearings. Read more . . .
CHAMPAIGN - In a show of solidarity against President Donald Trump's trade and immigration policies, which critics say are harming families and retirement savings, more than a thousand protesters gathered Saturday at West Park near downtown Champaign for the Hands-Off! Mobilization rally. Read more . . .
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