Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » It’s just a bill
SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax      Advertise Here      About     Exclusive Subscriber Content     Updated Posts    Contact Rich Miller
CapitolFax.com
To subscribe to Capitol Fax, click here.
It’s just a bill

Wednesday, Apr 5, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Environmental lobby day is the 19th…


* Shaw Local

Sometimes lawmakers advance plans that shape the state for generations. Others are simple applications of common sense that solve an obvious problem.

The latter aren’t always headline material, but can have significant benefits. Consider Senate Bill 2288, headed to the House on a 57-0 vote, which Amends the Articulation Initiative Act in hopes of eliminating situations where community college students have to repeat courses at four-year schools

State Sen. Cristina Castro, D-Elgin, introduced the bill and said the idea is to “reduce the burden on our students and accelerate the time it takes them to earn a degree and start a meaningful career.”

So long as the four-year school offers the specific major, a student’s community college transcripts would transfer as fully equivalent. This effort represents another vote of confidence in the vital community college network, one of the state’s best investments in higher education.

* WMBD…

Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Illinois) has introduced bipartisan legislation to strengthen existing laws for mishandling classified documents.

The Classified Documents Accountability Act would create civil penalties of $500,000 per violation, create a screening and certification process for classified materials during administration transitions, and revoke security clearances from officials who violate the act. Outgoing Presidents and Vice Presidents would also be required to certify they do not have any classified documents in their possession.

“So right now the law, the way it’s structured, it really turns on intent or knowledge, and what was your intent and knowledge in that. It doesn’t address carelessness or negligence or sloppiness,” said LaHood. […]

LaHood introduced the bill with Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Chicago), who also sits on the House Intelligence Committee.

* Rep. Yang Rohr will be the lead sponsor in the House. WAND

Sen. Doris Turner (D-Springfield) said her bill allows school buses to have two stop arms with flashing red lights to partially obstruct roads to ensure safety for riders and pedestrians.

“Student safety has to be our top priority,” Turner said. “Allowing school busses to have an extended arm would provide more protections for passengers and hopefully lessen the number of drivers who pass stopped busses.”

Any drivers hitting a bus or outstretched stop arm will face steep fines. […]

Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) passed the same plan nearly five years ago. Although, he stressed that the Illinois Department of Transportation never created administrative rules to implement the law.

“They could’ve done this well before now,” Rose said. “So what this bill is doing now is basically telling IDOT, ‘Too late. We’re just going to go ahead and tell you you have no choice now but to do it.’ Thank goodness that nobody has gotten killed in the meantime.”

* Sen. Dan McConchie introduced legislation after seeing news coverage on a couple claiming the City of Chicago was forcing them to pay a red light violation that wasn’t theirs. Here’s WGN

A new bill has been introduced to protect Illinois drivers from wrongfully issued automated tickets. […]

“It is abysmal that it takes a news outlet such as yours to run a story and contact these elected officials or these employees in order to get them to do the right thing,” Illinois Senator Dan McConchie (R-26) said.

The Department of Finance said the red light violation has been withdrawn, and the motorist will receive a confirmation notice. […]

“It needs to be a streamline simplified process and it cannot be allowed that you prove it’s actually not me that the fine could stick anyway,” McConchie said.

* NIU’s student newspaper

Illinois [legislature] should pass the bill to legalize natural organic reduction, or human composting. Think the circle of life, not the woodchipper scene from “Fargo.”

Proposed by Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, the bill was recently passed by the Illinois House of Representatives. Should it pass the Senate, Illinois will become the seventh state to legalize the procedure. […]

While Neil Blackstone, a professor in the biological sciences department at NIU, notes the logistical downsides of human composting, he said he ultimately supports the bill. Blackstone’s only true critique is the procedure’s unsettling name.
“If people want to do it, what’s the harm? I mean, as long as, you know, people realize that you don’t put a dead body out in your backyard to compost,” Blackstone said. […]

“Turning human persons into compost for the purpose of fertilization of trees, as one would with vegetable trimmings and eggshells, degrades the human person,” according to Catholic Conference of Illinois.

Returning to the Earth should not be so heavily stigmatized. The decomposition of our bodies is not a process we should be afraid of. Joining the soil is one of the few realities we share with every other organism on the planet.

       

9 Comments
  1. - Streator Curmudgeon - Wednesday, Apr 5, 23 @ 11:56 am:

    The community college bill is a no-brainer, evidenced by its 57-0 vote. I’m surprised a new law is needed to ensure something so logical.

    I was fortunate that my credits from two private colleges transferred to ISU, allowing me to start as a junior there.

    One of the points of community college is to let students complete Gen Ed courses at lower cost (perhaps commuting from home). Community colleges have been coordinating curriculum with four-year schools for decades.

    Good on Sen. Castro.


  2. - Suburban Mom - Wednesday, Apr 5, 23 @ 12:11 pm:

    ===Turning human persons into compost for the purpose of fertilization of trees, as one would with vegetable trimmings and eggshells, degrades the human person===

    Is this … not the point of compost?


  3. - Demoralized - Wednesday, Apr 5, 23 @ 12:21 pm:

    ==degrades the human person==

    Apparently the people that want this don’t think so. So what’s the problem


  4. - Jocko - Wednesday, Apr 5, 23 @ 12:30 pm:

    ==degrades the human person,” according to Catholic Conference of Illinois.==

    As opposed to ashes and dust?


  5. - Siualum - Wednesday, Apr 5, 23 @ 12:32 pm:

    “Think the circle of life, not the wood chipper scene from Fargo.” So how am I not supposed think of that scene, now that you brought it up?


  6. - Shibboleth - Wednesday, Apr 5, 23 @ 1:41 pm:

    =“Turning human persons into compost for the purpose of fertilization of trees, as one would with vegetable trimmings and eggshells, degrades the human person,”=

    I would much rather be able to let my body directly benefit another living being than sit in a box or add to emissions by being cremated. Dignity to me is getting to choose to rest in a way that gives back what I took from nature.


  7. - Henry Francis - Wednesday, Apr 5, 23 @ 2:01 pm:

    “Degrades the human person”

    Maryland AG report into Archdiocese of Baltimore alleges 156 Catholic clergy members and others abused more than 600 children.

    https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/05/us/archdiocese-of-baltimore-clergy-sexual-abuse/index.html


  8. - MisterJayEm - Wednesday, Apr 5, 23 @ 2:01 pm:

    “Turning human persons into compost for the purpose of fertilization of trees, as one would with vegetable trimmings and eggshells, degrades the human person.”

    We can’t all be taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven, padre.

    Nourishing a tree is as good as it’s gonna get for most of us.

    – MrJM


  9. - Yooper in Diaspora - Wednesday, Apr 5, 23 @ 10:05 pm:

    The IAI bill is formalizing what’s already been the practice most everywhere except UIUC, I have heard. But there are programs for which it’s a problem not to have a particular sort of course in a major degree sequence. The ability of four year schools to offer unique (rather than statewide streamlined) general education approaches and major degree programs is limited by the rise in early college (community college) course credits. One unintended consequence of this shift is that there is more uniqueness now only at elite private liberal arts colleges and universities, which can limit how much early college credit transfers in and provide a robust liberal arts-based education for four years with professors with terminal degrees in their fields. Public universities increasingly cannot compete with that, because of all the pressure and drive to do college in high school.


Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.


* Showcasing The Retailers Who Make Illinois Work
* Reader comments closed for the holidays
* And the winners are…
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Update to previous editions
* Isabel’s afternoon roundup
* Report: Far-right Illinois billionaires may have skirted immigration rules
* Question of the day: Golden Horseshoe Awards (Updated)
* Energy Storage Brings Cheaper Electricity, Greater Reliability
* Open thread
* Isabel’s morning briefing
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today's edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
* Live coverage
* Selected press releases (Live updates)
* Yesterday's stories

Support CapitolFax.com
Visit our advertisers...

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............


Loading


Main Menu
Home
Illinois
YouTube
Pundit rankings
Obama
Subscriber Content
Durbin
Burris
Blagojevich Trial
Advertising
Updated Posts
Polls

Archives
December 2024
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004

Blog*Spot Archives
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005

Syndication

RSS Feed 2.0
Comments RSS 2.0




Hosted by MCS SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax Advertise Here Mobile Version Contact Rich Miller