It’s just a bill
Friday, Feb 28, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Capitol News Illinois…
Senate Bill 148 would enable Illinois residents to open a special kind of savings account that could only be used to pay eligible costs for the purchase of a single-family residence. Deposits into those accounts would be deductible from state income taxes with some limitations.
The deductions would be limited to $5,000 per year for individuals and $10,000 per year for joint accounts, up to maximum aggregate amounts of $25,000 per individual and $50,000 for joint accounts over a 10-year period.
The accounts would be available to Illinois residents who have not owned or purchased, either individually or jointly, a single-family residence during the prior 10 years. That would include both first-time and “second-chance” buyers – people who may have purchased a home previously and now want to get into the ownership market again.
“When you look at the median sales price of a home in Illinois in 2024, it was almost $300,000,” Sen. Christine Castro, D-Elgin, said during a news conference Thursday. “That’s 8% higher than in 2023 and almost 40% then higher than in 2019. So you see the rapid (rising) cost of homes.” […]
The bill has been assigned to the Senate Revenue Committee and is awaiting further action.
* WAND…
Illinois Senate Republicans are renewing their calls for property tax reform.
Caucus leaders told reporters in Springfield Thursday that Illinois should raise the income eligibility for the low-income senior citizen assessment freeze homestead exemption to $75,000 and tie future increases to inflation. […]
Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) said lawmakers must pass a bill to cap the assessed value of properties at the rate of inflation. He argued Illinoisans should not have to see their property assessments rise higher than the rate of inflation. […]
Another proposal could allow taxpayers to receive a refund for any excess credit. In other words, people paying more in property taxes but less for income taxes would get a refund for the difference.
* House Minority Leader Tony McCombie…
House Minority Leader Tony McCombie is providing an update to constituents in her 89th District on Chronic Wasting Disease, fatal disease of the central nervous system in deer and elk. Since its first detection in a northwest Boone County deer in 2002, state efforts to manage the disease have had a lasting impact—especially in Leader McCombie’s legislative district. As a result, McCombie has filed a legislative package to produce state-based solutions.
“Input from residents has been the driving force behind my efforts to address Chronic Wasting Disease. Because of this feedback, I have identified legislation that represents our community’s voice and will make significant change,” said McCombie.
Based on overwhelming feedback from residents, Leader McCombie is advancing the following measures:
- End the CWD sharpshooting program entirely (HB3858)
- Automatically phase out the sharpshooting program in any area that has not had a confirmed CWD case in three years (HB2339)
- Encourage responsible hunting by allowing special deer, turkey, and combination hunting licenses for landowners with at least 20 acres in counties where CWD has been identified (HB2340)
McCombie is urging constituents to stay involved on the issue. To date, two of the bills have moved forward, HB2339 and HB2340; they are assigned to the Agriculture and Conversation Committee in the Illinois House.
“Our community knows what is best, and I am relying on the voices from local residents to help me forge the path forward and ensure we reach a suitable outcome,” continued McCombie.
* WCIS…
Insurance could potentially look a little different in Illinois. Lawmakers are pushing to enact a new bill that will require gun owners to have insurance.
Illinois State Representative, Bob Morgan, told me this idea has been in the works for years, and the main goal is to make Illinois a safer state.
Morgan is in the early stages of getting a gun insurance task force approved to help this legislation come to life.
“It’s representation from the insurance industry,” Morgan said “ Those who are promoting gun violence prevention, and those who are focused on gun rights, gun owner rights. Basically, have a broad-based representation to have this conversation and figure out whether this is something we can, and should do in Illinois.”
* Rep. Jed Davis…
tate Representative Jed Davis (R-Yorkville) has filed two bills to improve teacher recruitment in Illinois.
“As the son of a teacher who spent over 30 years in the classroom, I know firsthand the value of promoting and supporting educators,” said Rep. Davis. “It’s why I filed these bills – to tackle Illinois’ teacher shortage.”
House Bill 1101 increases funding for the Teach Illinois Scholarship Program, encouraging students pursuing education degrees in Illinois to stay and teach in communities facing critical shortages.
House Bill 1112 updates licensing requirements, allowing individuals with extensive hands-on experience in Manufacturing, Engineering, Technology, or Trade (METT) to earn an Educator License without a bachelor’s degree. This bill not only fills critical teaching gaps but also expands career pathways for young people choosing a route other than college.
“We desperately need more teachers to equip the next generation workforce,” Davis added. “These bills will help remove barriers holding back recruitment and bring more qualified educators into our classrooms.”
* Crain’s…
General Assembly members are also considering several bills involving abortion, as well as attempting to pass an assisted suicide bill, something that’s come up perennially in recent years.
HB 3279, sponsored by Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, would provide immigrants residing in Illinois, whether lawfully admitted for permanent residence under the Immigration & Nationality Act or not, the same family planning medical coverage that the state now provides U.S. citizens under its Medical Assistance Programs. This includes coverage of reproductive services, including abortion. The bill has been sent to the Rules Committee.
HB 2904 and SB 1679, called the Health Care Transparency Act, are designed for the state to identify health care facilities that, for nonmedical reasons, won’t provide services like abortion, transgender care and end-of-life care. […]
HB 3637 is meant to protect health care workers governed by an Illinois licensing board from disciplinary actions for health care actions that aren’t illegal in Illinois, such as abortion services.
* WAND…
A new bill in Springfield could require the state to provide funding for the mutual aid box alarm system to help first responders address disasters at large warehouses.
Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville) said many leaders quickly learned about the importance of MABAS after the 2021 tornado that killed six employees at the Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville.
Stuart told her colleagues Thursday that fire departments deserve state funding for MABAS to alleviate difficulties instead of forcing small governments to pay the bill. […]
House Bill 1271 passed unanimously out of the House Police & Fire Committee Thursday. The measure now moves to the House floor.
- lake county democrat - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 9:07 am:
If you want to address the teacher shortage, reform the ridiculous amounts of hoops it takes in Illinois for people with college degrees to get their teaching certificate - exponentially more than states like New Jersey (and guess who that red tape protects). I know people with both a STEM and a law degree that tried this and had to go back to community college to take classes in American government (!), environmental science, and a class that qualified as “multicultural studies,” in addition to all the teacher education theory. Other states let you start teaching once you take a core amount of education classes while you continue your education studies and have far fewer “undergraduate deficiencies” to make up.
- TNR - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 9:17 am:
Legislators who propose expansion of the senior property tax freeze should be required to declare that it will raise everyone else’s tax, particularly in jurisdictions with an aging population.
- anon2 - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 9:48 am:
To alleviate the teacher shortage, repeal the requirement to work until age 67 to qualify for a full pension.
- Donnie Elgin - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 9:49 am:
Morgan saying he is looking out for gun owners is laughable
“What about physical property damage?” Morgan said. “What about when a firearm is stolen? … in a way that’s actually protecting gun owners?”
Regular homeowner’s insurance will already cover stolen firearms up to $2,500. If you have a large collection of weapons you can purchase an inexpensive rider to cover more. If a home has damage from the discharge of a firearm, that would be covered as well.
Another huge issue would be existing firearms, the ISP has no idea if a person owns a firearm. they know if a person has a FOID/CCL. So this would either be unfairly enforced only on new sales - or it would be a loophole that would lead to a type of firearms registry - which should be illegal. More attempts by Moragn to make owning firearms a pain.
- Dupage - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 10:00 am:
Change the Pensions back to something closer to Tier 1. That would help recruit teachers. One thing that should be put back is the retirement age requirement.
- City Zen - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 10:10 am:
==deductions would be limited to $5,000 per year for individuals==
Does someone making $100,000 need to be completely exempt from state income tax?
==Change the Pensions back to something closer to Tier 1. That would help recruit teachers.==
There is zero evidence college kids are not choosing to enter the teaching profession because of a pension tier offered in only one of 50 states.
- Demoralized - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 10:11 am:
@Donnie
It’s a task force. I think you can stop your hyperventilating. Man you gun owners are sensitive. Take a pill already.
- Donnie Elgin - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 10:28 am:
=It’s a task force=
The Semi-Auto/Magazine ban started as a task force. A task force made up exclusively of Dems appointees and that zero 2A voices on it. So once burned twice shy.
- Bob - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 10:29 am:
@City Zen
If you don’t think tier 2 has an impact on the state’s ability to attract and retain qualified talent, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. The pension plan was one of the big things that convinced qualified people to take lower state pay vs the private sector.
- JS Mill - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 10:32 am:
=Other states let you start teaching once you take a core amount of education classes while you continue your education studies and have far fewer “undergraduate deficiencies” to make up.=
We need to have properly trained professional educators. One of the issues we face is the extent to which teacher preparation is getting watered down and then unprepared teachers hit the classroom and are not ready for what they face, especially student management, and quickly leave the profession. Just because someone has business or even legal experience does not mean they have a clue as to how to effectively teach k-12 students. The online programs available have, in my experience, high failure rates.
What may alleviate some of the issues is for degreed people to be enrolled in intensive, paid internship programs where both teaching pedagogy and real classroom experience work together. I can see good candidates being well prepared in something like this that is 18 months long. IN the past 5 years we have hired several people who had degrees but no credentials but we worked with them to get the education courses while they served with an experienced teacher. They did their course work mostly over two summers and night while working in the classroom every day as “permanent sub”. The three people we have like that are some of our best teachers, but they were also trained by our best teachers. It was a huge investment, but it paid off. We are lucky to be able to afford it.
At the same time we employed two people with the CTE endorsement, and two others that were second career educators that came from the private sector and went through mostly online preparation. None of them are with us anymore.
Davis’s bill is totally repetitive because we already have a process where those in “METT”, as he refers to them, fields can get a license with 2,000 hours of industry experience. That license has been around for at least 8 years that I know of.
I feel like you should know a little about what you are talking about before you file a bill.
=There is zero evidence college kids are not choosing to enter the teaching profession because of a pension tier offered in only one of 50 states.=
It might not be the primary reason, but it is definitely a reason.
- fs - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 10:41 am:
== Does someone making $100,000 need to be completely exempt from state income tax?==
An above the line deduction isn’t a refund, so they’re not getting $5,000 back. Using your example, their 100,000 taxable income would be reduced to 95,000 taxable income.
- Back to the Future - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 10:43 am:
Lake County Democrat makes an excellent point.
People who want to teach should be encouraged to teach and not be bogged down by unnecessary road blocks.
Also more money to help private schools hire and train teachers would be a huge step in the right direction.
- Elmer Keith - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 10:46 am:
“…the main goal is to make Illinois a safer state.” One of the worst aspects of Morgan and others is the lies. They want police to have full auto firearms and armored cars like we saw at the Highland Park shooting. They don’t want citizens to be armed.
Prediction: Morgan and leaders like Harmon will exempt police and retired police from any proposed gun insurance bill.
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 10:46 am:
- Regular homeowner’s insurance will already cover stolen firearms up to $2,500. If you have a large collection of weapons you can purchase an inexpensive rider to cover more. If a home has damage from the discharge of a firearm, that would be covered as well. -
I rarely ever agree with Donnie but he’s right on this. This seems like a handout to the insurance industry with no discernible benefit to the public.
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 10:48 am:
- It’s a task force. -
So? Lots of bad ideas come from task forces.
- Lurker - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 10:59 am:
My experience is only anecdotal, but from being around several teachers, of all ages, and those going into the teaching profession, Bob and Zen are both correct.
Teachers coming out of college do not seem too deterred by the thought of working until 67 (or at least 62) in the profession they adore. However, teachers that have been doing it 10 to 20 years realize there is no way to do this if they were tier 2. And teachers talk. Many Tier 1 are telling the young to get out (or never get in.
Now, all that being said, I still think all of the other things are important issues. Like, low pay (especially in rural areas), parental behavior/disrespect, children’s disrespect and challenging authority with little consequences, low support from community, etc.
- low level - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 11:00 am:
Wow, I actually agree with Chief Illinwek Chapin Rose for once.
- Demoralized - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 11:06 am:
==So? Lots of bad ideas come from task forces.==
My point is that it’s a bill for a task force. Maybe wait and see what comes of it before going into hysterics. Sheesh. Take a breath for pete’s sake.
- Sir Reel - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 11:08 am:
The “home bank account” is yet another example of legislators messing with the tax code instead of directly funding what goal they’re touting. Our state and federal tax codes are full of such well-intentioned tax breaks that hide costs to the public. Folks who don’t qualify for the breaks end up paying more. The codes are so dense now no one can track who benefits and who pays. Another example of legislators taking the politically easy, expedite way to advance their agenda.
- SAP - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 11:33 am:
I’m in favor if increasing the income threshold to qualify for the senior freeze. I could even be for capping the increase in the property tax rate at the inflation rate. In some areas, homes appreciate rapidly and well above the inflation rate. That just means the homes have increased in value, not that taxes are skyrocketing.
- We've never had one before - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 11:42 am:
Bob Morgan: Thank you Bob, you’ve done quite enough for gun owners already.
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 11:44 am:
- before going into hysterics. -
Donnie made multiple points based in fact, and you’re responding with insults. Who is going into hysterics?
- ArchPundit - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 12:06 pm:
==We need to have properly trained professional educators.
Teaching is an actual skill. The notion that because you are good at another thing you are good at teaching is a kind of arrogance we’ve had on display far too much lately. The paid internship model is far more productive and is being implemented in several states as JS Mill notes.
There’s a labor shortage (for now at least) in many fields and we need to find long terms solutions that aren’t just relying on those who want a second career.
- JS Mill - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 12:16 pm:
=People who want to teach should be encouraged to teach and not be bogged down by unnecessary road blocks.
=Also more money to help private schools hire and train teachers would be a huge step in the right direction.=
This line of thought is a huge part of the cultural problem around education.
First, teaching is a profession not a hobby. Should doctors have less “red tape” (education and training) to become doctors? I suppose the new administration would say yes, but thinking people know that is not correct.
I have been around education long enough to remember when parochial and private schools wanted nothing to do with government money and rules. Now the for profit schools want it and so do parochial schools and without any of the same requirements. We are going to get a real close look at what it looks like when you intentionally gut public education. It will be under the facade of “choice” and it is one of the most patently un American movements in our history. Free public education has been around since the early colonial period. It differentiated us from european monarchies and help build the middle class.
- illinifan - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 12:42 pm:
Knowledge from private sector is helpful, but it is key to learn the skills needed to teach and how to set up lessons plans that are achievable and measurable. Like all professions there is an art to being successful. Just as being a good worker will not neccessarily make you a good manager, or being a good cardiac surgeon does not make you a brain surgeon. Everyone has a lane.
- Demoralized - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 12:57 pm:
==and you’re responding with insults==
No, I didn’t. Maybe be a little less “Excitable” @ Excitable Boy. Take a nap already.
- Back to the Fiuture - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 1:06 pm:
When the test scores keep showing without a doubt that 7 years of Pritzker and the special interest groups that are heading up a harmful path for out children, it is time for a change in the system.
Change is overdo and will only come when a change in the Governor’s office.
Time to put our children on a path to a decent future. Investments in private alternatives are increasing across America. Time for a change.
Perhaps leadership from Washington will help. We just can not keep robbing our children of a decent future.
- illinifan - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 2:18 pm:
Back to the Future, the data is mixed but not due and gloom The National Assessment of Educational Progress Illinois students are ahead of their national peers. US News has Illinois ranked as 16th in the nation. That said conservative groups are not supporting this view. I find it strange that states that have moved to privatization are not necessarily doing better nationally such as Florida and Arizona which are below the national average.
- JS Mill - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 3:02 pm:
=Investments in private alternatives are increasing across America. =
And not producing results.
- ArchPundit - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 3:25 pm:
===Investments in private alternatives are increasing across America.
Have you noticed what happened with for profits in higher education? How did that work out?