* Sen. Terry Link has an interesting little bill. State law currently allows churches and private schools which host election day polling places to ban all political signs from their properties. Here’s the summary…

Provides that nothing shall prohibit the placement of temporary signs within a private dwelling in a public or private building where a polling place is located. Provides that nothing shall prohibit the placement of temporary signs on the doors or windows of a private dwelling in a public or private building so long as that private dwelling is located on a different floor than the polling room or that private dwelling is located a distance of at least 100 horizontal feet from each entrance to the polling room if the private dwelling and polling room are located on the same floor. Denies home rule powers.

The bill passed the Senate Executive Committee 8-4 yesterday. From the SJ-R…

Sen. Terry Link, D-Vernon Hills, the chief sponsor of Senate Bill 3669, said he has received complaints about how private settings, like churches and private schools, that host polling places can ban signs on their property, but public schools and park districts can’t.

“I’m not saying that they have to have signs 365 days a year,” Link said. “I’m saying that one day, like every other polling place, allows them 100 feet away from the door.”

Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, took issue with Link’s plan.

“You’re comfortable with state government instructing a church that you’re going to allow political signs on your property?” Righter said.

Link’s response: “On that one day, they are renting to the state, county, federal, whoever, to operate as a polling place, so they are no longer a private entity. They are a subsidiary of the state where they are renting to us for that one particular day.”

Thoughts?

* Meanwhile…

A proposal to require all Illinois high school students to complete four years of math in order to graduate appears to be on hold for at least another year.

In action Tuesday, a Senate panel approved legislation to form a special task force to further study the four-year requirement, which was floated earlier this year in response to concerns raised by employers and college officials.

State Sen. Mike Frerichs, D-Gifford, said students are going to college unprepared for math classes and then entering the workforce without adequate math skills.

He had hoped to boost the state requirement for math from three years to four years, but a number of education groups and fellow lawmakers raised questions about how much it would cost, whether it would eliminate some class offerings in other subject areas for students and what types of subjects could be classified as math.

* And…

Illinois lawmakers might be ready to look the other way if an underage student takes a sip of alcohol as part of a cooking or food-service class — as long as he or she doesn’t swallow it.

The Senate Executive Committee Tuesday approved Senate Bill 758, dubbed the “sip and spit” bill at the Statehouse.

It would allow people between the ages of 18 and 21 to taste alcohol if they are part of a culinary arts, food service or food management program at an accredited institution. An instructor must be present, and the alcohol cannot be swallowed.

The bill was inspired by schools that teach culinary arts.

* Roundup…

* Editorial: Find a fix for LPN program

* Illinois House OKs entrance fee for state parks

* Park fees needed for maintenance, say advocates and lawmakers

* Editorial: Consider fees to state parks

* Brady looks for changes to tuition break program

* File a House Committee witness slip online

* More Illinois judges, required raises mean we pay 29% more in 8 years

* Springfield collecting overdue parking fines through state tax refunds

* Central IL synthetic drug distributor uncovered