* Center Square…

State Rep. William Davis’ legislation allows Chicago principals to unionize to have more power at the bargaining table with Chicago Public Schools.

The legislation amends the Illinois School Code to make principals eligible for collective bargaining. Principals are considered “supervisors” in Illinois which does not give them the ability to collectively bargain. House Bill 5107 would change that language. […]

The bill also includes language that would prohibit the principals from striking at any point.

Davis’ bill was passed through the House by a vote of 63-35 and now could be taken up by the Illinois Senate.

Democrats who took a walk on the roll call included Reps. Andrade, Croke, Delgado, Mayfield, Ness, Robinson, Ann Williams and Yednock. Two Democrats voted “Present,” Hurley and Zalewski.

* Beth Hunsdorfer…

A bill meant to stem nutrient pollution resulting from farm runoff has met opposition from a formidable foe – the Illinois Farm Bureau – as negotiations on a final package continue.

Nutrient loss is one of the most serious pollution threats in the country, creating a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, poisoning local lakes and streams and causing serious health problems for people and domesticated animals.

Illinois, a major contributor to nutrients in water, pledged to develop strategies to reduce the nutrient loads leaving the border.

The state aimed to reduce nitrates and nitrogen by 15% and phosphorus by 25% by 2025, but the latest Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy Implementation Report showed that nutrient loss increased by 13% and phosphorus losses increased by 35%, compared with a baseline period from 1980 to 1996.

The bill, Senate Bill 3471, was introduced in January, but was amended in early February, changing substantively from its original form that funded a program incentivizing the planting of cover crops by offering discounts on crop insurance.

* Safer Foundation…

Amendment 2 to HB2538 would require general contractors to obtain a State license. A provision in the bill allows the State to deny a license to a general contractor who has a felony conviction. That means that a general contractor with a felony conviction who has been operating without incident for years with a local license could be put out of business by this bill.

There is no good policy to support this barrier. In fact, creating barriers to employment for justice-involved individuals is bad policy. Post-release employment is a key predictor of whether a formerly incarcerated individual will recidivate. Further, statistics show that:

“States which consider license applications from returning citizens are demonstrably safer. In states willing to consider applications from [persons with felony convictions], the recidivism rate declined by 4.2 percent; in the 29 states where licensing boards outright reject applications from [persons with felony convictions], the recidivism rate actually rose by 9.4 percent.”[i]

Recent legislation in Illinois, including PA 100-0286, has recognized such data by lowering the barriers to the issuance of occupational licenses to the formerly incarcerated. This bill not only reverses a portion of the benefits gained by this trend, it also threatens to put existing general contractors out of business – for no reason supported by objective evidence.

HB2538 would create bad policy that would have a bad outcome for Illinois. Worse, it would put existing general contractors who have been operating without incident for years out of business. It should be defeated.

* Sun-Times…

A new bill in Springfield would change the way Illinois school districts solicit food service contracts, allowing officials to negotiate for higher quality products amid complaints that many schools offer unhealthy food.

As state law stands, Illinois school districts participating in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program are required to accept the lowest bid for their food contracts. Oftentimes that means districts can’t push for better options since vendors know the lowest bid wins.

Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria, is sponsoring a bill that would carve out exemptions from those procurement requirements for schools, much like has been done for transportation services.

“To say that it must be the lowest-rate food, the cheapest-quality food, and that is the metric by which we are determining what our children are putting into their bodies every day, I just think that we can do better,” Gordon-Booth said.

* This bill hasn’t yet made it out of committee, but its passage deadline was extended yesterday to the end of the month…

A proposed bill in the Illinois statehouse would expand access to health care for thousands of people.

Dubbed Healthy Illinois For All, the proposal would add an estimated nearly 150,000 low-income people to the state’s Medicaid health insurance program. This group includes people who are undocumented or have been legal residents for fewer than five years and are 19 to 54 years old. These are the last populations in Illinois who aren’t eligible for Medicaid, or for insurance through the Affordable Care Act, according to the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, which is part of the Healthy Illinois campaign.

Glo Choi, who is undocumented and came to the U.S. from Korea as a boy, was among several community organizers, advocates and lawmakers who supported the proposal at a news conference on Monday. He spoke of his 27-year-old sister, who has severe autism and can’t live independently. […]

Advocates say the proposed bill would not only increase health care access for people, but it would also save money. They argue that many uninsured patients wouldn’t avoid going to the doctor until they’re so sick that they’re more expensive to treat.

* High Speed Rail Alliance…

In February, Representative Moylan introduced HB 5695 and Senator Stadelman introduced a companion bill, SB 4174, which would appropriate $18 million for the development of an integrated passenger rail network in Illinois.

Please ask your representatives in Springfield to support these bills.

These bills come on the heels of last year’s creation of the Illinois High-Speed Railway Commission and would be another important step towards the creation of an integrated high-speed rail network.

The bill includes three related appropriations:

1. $3 million to IDOT’s Rail Division to hire additional employees.

2. $5 million for the Illinois High-Speed Railway Commission for support and planning purposes.

3. $10 million to IDOT for engineering support.

This funding would help Illinois advance planning for a statewide network, which would help the state take advantage of the unprecedented level of funding in the recently passed infrastructure bill. As the home of the nation’s railroad hub, Illinois should be moving quickly to secure federal funding and become a leader by developing a high-speed rail network for the Midwest.

Voice your support by contacting your legislators. We need your help to advance an integrated high-speed rail network in Illinois.