* Or, in this case, a rules change…

With thousands of Illinois’ seniors at risk of reduced, or even cut in-home care and community-based services, AARP Illinois, aging advocacy organization, and legislators today urged the Department on Aging to stop proposed changes to senior care rules under Governor Rauner’s proposed Community Reinvestment Program (CRP) and the Community Care Program (CCP).

The Governor’s budget proposes $120 million in cuts to home-and-community-based services that thousands of Illinois seniors depend upon. If the rules proposed by the Department on Aging go through, nearly 36,000 non-Medicaid seniors will face a host of eligilbity restrictions and denied background checks of service providers that will ultimately jeopardize seniors’ care and ability to reside in their home and community.

* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…

A push to automatically register voters at the DMV is back after failing to get past the veto pen last year.

Democrats in Springfield have filed bills that would make getting a new license or ID card a voter registration. The last bill to do this passed with both Democrat and Republican votes, but Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed it, saying it didn’t have sufficient safeguards against voter fraud.

Illinois Public Interest Research Group Director Abe Scarr said the new legislation takes concerns of the governor’s last veto into account. […]

Some lawmakers opposed the measure last year for the same reasons the governor used in his veto message, that “Agencies with access to citizenship information should use that information to verify a person’s eligibility before processing the voter registration.” Scarr said that the new bill makes opting out an option before the registering process begins.

* Press release…

In light of recent attacks on law enforcement personnel and other first responders, State Sen. Paul Schimpf (R-Waterloo) is sponsoring “Blue Lives Matter” legislation to help protect law enforcement, correctional officers, and other first responders from being victimized by hate crimes.

“As a former military prosecutor, I understand that we have a duty to help protect our nation’s first responders. Police, correctional officers, and other first responders – all face very hazardous duties and we must make every effort to ensure their safety,” Schimpf said. “I want my district’s correctional officers, police, firefighters and EMS crews to all know I have their backs.”

The recent tragic shooting incidents in Louisiana and Texas have magnified the incredible burdens that have been placed on emergency personnel in recent years. Acts of violence against police, correctional officers and other first responders are starting to increase to higher levels not seen in modern years.

Senate Bill 1380 adds peace officers, correctional institution employees, probation parole officers, firefighters, and emergency medical services personnel to the listing of protected classes under the Illinois Hate Crimes statutes. The legislation applies to local, state, and federal public safety professionals.

* Illinois Review…

State Rep. Steve Reick (R-Woodstock) filed three bills affecting taxes this week in Springfield. The first, HB 3013, would provide tax relief for those over 65 living on federal adjusted gross income of $50,000 or less.

“The property tax burden falls hard upon seniors on fixed incomes, and while the credit will in most cases be modest, it will help them stretch their limited incomes,” Reick said. “It may help a senior citizen with an electric bill, some groceries or a prescription. Anyway, we’ll keep taking small steps until we figure out how to provide substantive relief to everyone in the state.” […]

Reick has also filed HB 2576, a bill that would add a county designation to all individual income tax forms.

“This simple change could provide a great deal of benefit for those who study the movement of Illinoisans from county to county within the state,” Reick said. “Today we can tell who moves into or out of Illinois, but we are unable to easily collect data about trends related to migration within our state.”

* Press release…

Three key legislators, State Senate Labor Committee Chairman Daniel Biss and State Representatives Lisa Hernandez and Carol Ammons, have joined forces with worker advocates, including HourVoice and United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 881, to introduce groundbreaking legislation (SB1720) to crack down on wage theft in Illinois. Wage theft is estimated to cost American workers over $50 billion per year and news reports have shown Illinois is a very difficult state for workers to recoup stolen wages.

“Our Illinois Fighting Wage Theft Act increases the penalties on companies that commit serious wage theft and prohibits those companies from receiving state government contracts for at least five years,” said State Senator and Labor Committee Chairman Daniel Biss (D-Evanston), who is sponsoring the bill. “Fair to both workers and businesses, SB1720 will level the playing field. Workers deserve to get paid every dollar they’ve earned and employers who treat workers properly and play by the rules shouldn’t be undercut by competitors who cheat their workers.”