* Oops. Back to the ol’ drawing board…

State Rep. Charlie Meier, R-Okawville, introduced a bill in committee Wednesday that would have created the Eviction Moratorium Clarification Act. It provides that in any eviction moratorium issued by the governor through Executive Order or legislation passed by the General Assembly, the moratorium shall not prohibit the eviction of some people.

Meier told the House committee Wednesday he wants to go after so-called “bad actors” who receive federal rental assistance, but don’t pay their rent.

“We believe that if the tenants have taken the rent money while working, buying new vehicles, going on vacations, that the landlord should have been paid,” Meier said. […]

State Rep. Will Guzzardi took issue with the wording of the bill at a House committee hearing Wednesday.

“That is not how the program works,” he said. “The money was sent to the landlords and not to the tenants, so I believe that this bill maybe attempting to solve a problem that is not if fact happening.”

* Greg Hinz…

A coalition of progressive union and activist groups has unveiled its wish list for this spring’s legislative session, and sponsors certainly are dreaming big, seeking everything from background checks for all gun transfers to statewide sex-education standards for grade and high schools, to 100 percent use of clean energy, and restored voting rights for prison inmates.

The package “demonstrates the Forward Illinois commitment to our shared values of inclusion, opportunity, equity, justice, security, and the freedom to be who you are,” Myles Brady, communications director at Equality Illinois, said in a statement and in a web press conference. […]

Each of the bills backed by Forward Illinois has been introduced in written form and has a sponsor and at least some prospect of advancing in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly. But passage is far from guaranteed, with foes of all of the proposals likely to surface and some splits even among left-leaning groups.

* There’s only so much the GA can do…

A new Illinois law caps insulin prices for those with state-regulated insurance plans, but some lawmakers are saying that is not enough and more needs to be done to address prescription drug prices.

In January, Illinois became the second state in the country to cap insulin costs. The law caps out-of-pocket insulin costs at $100 per month, but only for people covered by a state-regulated insurance plan. That covers about 20% of the plans available in the state. As a result, many Illinoisans still pay much more for insulin.

State Rep. Will Guzzardi, the sponsor of the law, said he’s heard stories about what he calls miscommunication around the question of what it means to be state-regulated.

“You may have seen reports in the media of people who saw that this bill took effect on January 1st of this year and raced down to the pharmacy to get their prescription filled and found out that their plan wasn’t covered by the cap and they’re still paying these high prices,” Guzzardi said.

* Related…

* Lawmakers want role in spending federal stimulus money