* Tribune…

A state lawmaker and a major advocacy group are pushing stiffer penalties for short-staffed nursing homes as a way to limit deadly sepsis infections and boost overall care. […]

Collins and AARP Illinois are supporting the legislation partly in response to the findings of an investigation published in September by Kaiser Health News and the Chicago Tribune. The investigation found that about 6,000 Illinois nursing home patients a year who were hospitalized had sepsis, with roughly 1 in 5 dying. […]

There is little agreement on how many caregivers should be employed by nursing homes, nor any federal regulations setting a rate per-resident. A recommendation from a 2001 federal study suggested 4.1 hours of total nursing time per resident.

Illinois, like most states, has a lower legal standard: requiring at least 2.5 hours of direct care daily for residents. Yet, the joint KHN Tribune investigation found that at least a fourth of Chicago-area nursing home residents live in facilities that aren’t consistently providing that much care.

* The Senate Democrats put out an advisory yesterday specifically saying Sen. Morrison “might” be moving her Tobacco 21 bill. When she found out it wasn’t ready, she didn’t call it. It’ll pass eventually…

‘Tobacco 21’ bill stalls in Illinois Senate

Legislation raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco products in Illinois was expected for a vote in the state Senate on Wednesday, but the sponsor decided to hold back because of hesitation on the part of new members.

State Sen. Julie Morrison, a Deerfield Democrat, said freshmen in her party had questions about the Tobacco 21 initiative. She said those members did not feel comfortable voting on the bill without being fully informed, so she held the measure. […]

About two weeks ago, state Rep. Camille Lilly, D-Oak Park, who sponsors the House version of the bill, said advocates were going to try a different approach this session.

“What we’re doing this time is running it through the House first, because we have more people to deal with,” she said. “In the Senate, there’s only 56 people — there’s 118 in the House. It’s easy to get it through the Senate.”

There’s, um, 59 people in the Senate.

* Sun-Times editorial…

Legislation has been introduced in Springfield that would rescind a statewide ban on rent control.

We understand the good intentions behind the bills, HB 255 and HB 2192. We get why the Lift the Ban Coalition, a group of community organizations, has ramped up an effort to build public support for scrapping the 22-year-old ban. […]

Rent control would seem to be the easy fix. Just cap what landlords can charge.

But it’s a superficial and ultimately counterproductive fix, as the experiences of other cities have shown. And there are better ways to address the problem of too little affordable housing in Chicago.