* Bruce Rushton at the Illinois Times…

The state House of Representatives last week passed a bill designed to expedite the transfer of mentally ill inmates from county jails to state mental health facilities.

But a bill that would restrict the use of isolation cells in local jails appears dead. The measure remained in committee as an April 28 deadline passed for the House to take action on bills sponsored by House members. Under the proposal, inmates could not be placed in isolation for more than 10 consecutive days or for more than 10 days over a 180-day period.

The bill restricting the use of isolation cells also would have affected state prisons. But county sheriffs lobbied hard against the measure, arguing that there is little else they can do with mentally ill inmates, including many who are supposed to be in mental health facilities but instead languish in jail.

“If all things were perfect, it might be a good bill,” said Greg Sullivan, executive director of the Illinois Sheriffs Association. “When you have inmates with mental health problems who you cannot put in general population for their safety and other inmates’ safety, what do you do with them? You have to do something. … Quite frankly, the sheriffs contacted their state representatives and said, ‘This is a bad bill, and here’s why.’”

Randolph County Sheriff Shannon Wolff, who runs a 44-bed jail that sometimes has just one officer overseeing inmates, said that isolation cells and restraint chairs are an unfortunate necessity of running a small jail in a rural area.

* Marlen Garcia at the Sun-Times…

Here’s a run-down on bills related to immigrants that could reach the governor’s desk and one that won’t thanks to Rauner. Rep. Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez of Cicero, who represents Latino and immigrant communities, is chief sponsor or co-sponsor of each bill […]

♦ School code amendment: Rauner killed this one early, while it was in committee. It would have eliminated confusion between a federal mandate on bilingual education and an Illinois law requiring all school instruction be given in English, she said. Hernandez says she sponsored the bill only because the Illinois State Board of Education asked her to. ISBE is run by Rauner’s people, so she assumed the governor and Republicans would back it. But the bill got no votes from Republicans while it was in committee. Hernandez said she wouldn’t proceed without Republican support. “If I do,” she said, “it’s going to die.”

An ISBE spokeswoman says that small section of the law is obsolete. It should come off the books. But the governor’s office questioned “why this bill was not included in the usual clean-up package from the State Board of Education,” his spokeswoman, Eleni Demertzis, said by email.

The bill’s synopsis says it repeals a section “requiring instruction in all public elementary and secondary schools to be in the English language.” I have to wonder if that’s too loaded for the Illinois GOP.

* Doug Finke SJ-R…

Another attempt is being made to move the date of school board elections in hopes it improves voter turnout.

The Senate Executive Committee Thursday unanimously endorsed a bill to move school board elections from the spring to general elections held in the fall.

Sponsoring Sen. Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park, said the turnout in DuPage County for the April election was about 15 percent.

“When we talk about property taxes, the number one thing on your property tax bill is your schools, and we are having no voter participation,” he said.

Cullerton also said moving the school board elections could get more people involved in running for the seats. He said there is a problem in some areas finding enough candidates. One reason for that is that filing for school board occurs right after a major general election, he said.

The Senate passed that bill before, but it didn’t go anywhere in the House.

* Bob Reed at the Tribune…

A lively tussle is shaping up between a top Illinois official and the state’s mighty insurance industry, and the Illinois General Assembly will pick the winner.

At the center of the dispute is legislation, supported by Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs, that compels life insurance companies to review their records going back to 1996 and confirm that death benefits have been paid to policyholders’ beneficiaries.

Paying death benefits? Isn’t that what life insurance companies are supposed to do?

If the answer were always a resounding “yes,” there wouldn’t be any need for Frerichs’ bill.