* Click here for a list of new laws.

* Chicago Tribune…

After a six-month election-year reprieve, drivers will see taxes go up at the pump twice in 2023.

The first hike, on New Year’s Day, will be an increase of 3.1 cents, to 42.3 cents per gallon.

Under a 2019 measure that doubled the gas tax to help pay for Pritzker’s $45 billion Rebuild Illinois construction program, the tax is supposed to increase each July based on the rate of inflation.

But faced with soaring prices for gas and other necessities during what was expected to be a tough election year, Pritzker and the Democratic-controlled legislature pushed off last July’s gas tax hike until after the November balloting.

* WTTW…

Advocated fighting domestic violence applaud a law (SB3667) that gives domestic violence survivors more flexibility in seeking court protections, by allowing for the online filing of petitions for protective orders.

In the nine counties with populations of 250,000 residents or more (Cook, DuPage, Lake, Will, Kane, McHenry, Winnebago and Madison counties) courts must also offer the option of remote proceedings. […]

In 2023, employees can take a maximum of 10 working days of leave due to an unsuccessful IVF procedure, failed adoption, stillbirth or miscarriage (Senate Bill 3120 / Public Act 102-1050). […]

The statewide minimum wage will notch up in 2023 to $13 an hour. State law provides that it will go up by another dollar the next two years, until it reaches $15 in 2025.

* NBC Chicago…

If you hold an Illinois driver’s license, several new driving laws in effect for 2023 may impact you.

According to Chicago personal injury attorney Lance D. Northcutt, one of the bigger changes is a shift in language for a number of laws related to traffic collisions. The change replaces the word “accident” with “crash.” […]

As carjackings continue to rise across Illinois, lawmakers approved a bill in the spring that makes it so “a person shall not be liable for violations, fees, fines, or penalties during the period in which the motor vehicle was reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency as stolen or hijacked.” […]

This new law will add community service as a penalty for failing to stop for a school bus that is “receiving or discharging pupils and has displayed visual signals,” or for speeding in excess of 20 miles per hour or more in a school zone or while traveling on a roadway on public school property or where children pass to go to and from school.

* NBC Chicago…

Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, in addition to at least four hours of required leadership training and professional development in education labor law, financial oversight and accountability, and fiducial responsibility of a school board member, this new law states that school board members and superintendents must also complete a State Board of Education course in trauma-informed practices for students and staff.

According to the bill, the training may include, but is not limited to, the recognition of and care for trauma among students and staff, the effects of trauma on student behavior and learning, the prevalence of trauma among students and those at higher risk of experiencing trauma, and more. […]

HB3296 states that school boards must, no later than July 1, 2025, establish a career and technical education pathway program for students in grades 6 through 12.

The bill goes on to say that that the framework must “prepare students enrolled in grades 6 through 12 to make informed plans and decisions about their future education and career goals, including possible participation in a career and technical education pathway, by providing students with opportunities to explore a wide variety of high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand career fields.”

* Many laws address issues in education. Daily Herald…

To address a shortage of substitute teachers throughout the state, House Bill 4798, signed April 27, allows students enrolled in approved teacher training programs who have earned at least 90 credit hours to obtain a substitute teaching license. Before, applicants had to hold a bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited institution.

House Bill 4716, signed May 27, calls on the Illinois State Board of Education to adopt “rigorous learning standards” for classroom and laboratory phases of driver education programs for teens. Those will include, at a minimum, the Novice Teen Driver Education and Training Administrative Standards developed by the Association of National Stakeholders in Traffic Safety Education in association with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

In an effort to get more people to pursue careers in human services, Senate Bill 3925, signed June 10, establishes a student loan repayment program. Subject to appropriations, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission will award loan repayment grants to qualified individuals with an associate degree or higher who work for a human services agency that contracts with or is grant-funded by a state agency that provides “direct or indirect services that ensure that individuals have essential elements to build and maintain physical, emotional, and economic well-being at every phase of life.”

Awards can be made for a maximum of four years. Maximum amounts are $3,000 per year for someone with an associate degree, $15,000 per year for a person with a bachelor’s degree and $25,000 per year for a person with a master’s degree or higher, with a $5,000 per-year add-on if the applicant holds certain professional licenses.

* NBC Chicago…

Passed in May, the Student Confidential Reporting Act, establishes a program where officials from schools, the state and Illinois State Police can receive reports and other information regarding the potential harm or self-harm of students or school employees.

The Safe2Help helpline will involve a toll-free telephone number and other means of communication allowing messages and information to be given to operators. […]

The Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair Act, also known as the CROWN Act, is an amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act and aims to further combat discrimination in the state. According to the General Assembly, the bill “provides that ‘race,’ as used in the Employment Article, includes traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles such as braids, locks, and twists.”

*Peoria Journal Star…

Several new criminal laws will go into effect Jan. 1, including three that deal with sex offenses.

One of those prevents people who solicit sex from a minor or a person with a severe or profound intellectual disability from asserting a defense that they simply did not know the person was underage or intellectually disabled.

House Bill 4593, signed into law May 27, puts the burden of proof on the defendant that they did not know the age or disability status of the other person, rather than the other way around.

Another new law changes the definition of when a person is “unable to give knowing consent.” Under current law, a person cannot give knowing consent when the accused person “administers any intoxicating or anesthetic substance or any controlled substance” that causes the victim to lose consciousness of the nature of the act.

House Bill 5441, signed June 16, broadens that definition to include when the victim has taken any intoxicating or controlled substance causing them to lose consciousness of the nature of the act, even if the substances were administered by someone else.

Another bill expands certain employment restrictions that apply to convicted child sex offenders. Currently, they are prohibited from being employed by, or even being present at, child day care centers, schools that provide before- and after-school programs for children or any facility that provides programs or services exclusively for people under age 18.

* Sun-Times…

Senate Bill 3707, signed May 27, requires all employees and people who work for agencies that contract with the Illinois Department on Aging who provide direct services to individuals participating in its Community Care Program to receive at least two hours of training in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, as well as safety risks, communication and behavior associated with the disease.

Starting Jan. 1, deer hunters in Illinois will have a new option for the type of firearm they use. House Bill 4386, signed May 27, authorizes the use of single-shot centerfire rifles — guns that can fire only a single round of ammunition that contains primer in the center of the cartridge and not in the rim of the cartridge. Before, only shotguns, handguns and muzzleloading rifles were allowed.

Illinois will have two new official state symbols effective Jan. 1. House Bill 4821 establishes the eastern milksnake as the official state snake. That was an initiative of Gentry Heiple, a snake enthusiast and Carterville Junior High School seventh grader. And House Bill 4261 establishes dolostone as the official state rock. That was an initiative of a group of students from Pleasantdale Middle School and Maplebrook Elementary School.

People who own vehicles that were manufactured in Illinois will be able to apply for a slight break on their registration fees starting Jan. 1. Senate Bill 3609 allows those drivers to apply for a one-time $25 rebate “if the vehicle is manufactured in this state and the application for title is made no more than one year after the month in which the vehicle was manufactured.”

* CBS 2…

Two children were accidentally shot over the New Year’s weekend – 9-year-old Jarvis Watts was killed in what family said was an accidental shooting inside a house in the South Side’s Brainerd neighborhood, while a 10-year-old boy as also shot in the face in Back of the Yards.

As CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey reported Monday, this happened as two different laws impacting guns storage just went into effect in Illinois.

One of the laws requires the state to develop a public awareness campaign on how to safely store your gun. Lurie Children’s Hospital and the Illinois Department of Public Health are leading the charge - because they don’t want to see any more children accidentally ending up in the crosshairs. […]

Sen. Villivalam was a sponsor of that second bill. It requires safe gun storage be added to the safety education lessons taught in Illinois schools. […]

Both lawmakers said the events of this weekend underscore the timeliness of both of these news laws. Rep. Willis is hoping we will start seeing commercials and social media campaigns on safe gun storage in the next few months.