* Rep. Kam Buckner…

State Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, is leading the House efforts to reform law enforcement hiring practices in response to the 2024 murder of Sangamon County-resident Sonya Massey.

“Last year, Sonya Massey lost her life because our process for hiring law enforcement has fundamental flaws,” Buckner said. “The man responsible for her murder concealed serious indiscretions and, as a result, he was given a badge, which he used to gain entry to Sonya Massey’s house, and a gun, which he used to shoot her. Reforms we are putting in place will close the loophole that put Sean Grayson, a person clearly unfit to be a member of law enforcement, in a position to perpetrate this tragedy.”

Continuing his record of fighting for safer and more equitable policing in Illinois, Buckner is sponsoring Senate Bill 1953. This measure requires the release of personnel records between law enforcement agencies and hiring boards prior to the hiring of police or law enforcement officers.

Senate Bill 1953 was written with input from the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and the Illinois Sheriffs Association. It has the support of the ACLU, the Attorney General’s Office and numerous law enforcement organizations. Senate Bill 1953 was passed with unanimous support in the Senate, and is currently being considered in the House.

* WAND…

A 2023 law will allow Illinois to start building small nuclear reactors next year, but some lawmakers argue the state should lift the 1987 moratorium on large nuclear reactors as well. […]

“The MISO and PJM grids are under severe power pressures,” Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) said Friday. “Numerous grid study reports have sounded the alarm that the US is and will be short of power in the 2030s.” […]

Industry leaders said it could take eight to 10 years for Illinois to build more nuclear facilities. Although, sponsors believe this expansion could help downstate communities that saw their economy once boom with coal plants. […]

Senate Bill 1527 had 27 co-sponsors as of May 5. Rezin hopes to move the legislation before the chamber’s committee and third reading deadline of May 9.

* G-PAC…

Illinois Representative Maura Hirschauer, Chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Committee, today announced a key Wednesday hearing on Safe At Home (SB8), which will protect more children, teens, and vulnerable people from accessing guns in Illinois.

Safe At Home is sponsored by Hirschauer and Rep. Kevin Olickal and will strengthen the state’s safe storage law and reporting requirements for lost and stolen guns. Working together, these safety measures will protect more children, teens, and vulnerable and prohibited people from accessing deadly weapons, helping to prevent the increasing number of instances of accidental shootings, suicide, mass shootings, and crime and violence in Illinois communities. […]

Provisions of Senate Bill 8 include:

- Outlines improved safe storage requirements in homes where a minor, at-risk person, or someone prohibited from using firearms could gain access to them.
- Changes definition of “minor” to a person under 18 years of age (military and national guard excluded).
- Adds civil penalties associated with the failure to safely secure firearms; at first violation, courts may impose community service or restitution.
- Strengthens requirement for reporting a lost or stolen firearm from 72 to 48 hours after the owner first discovers the loss or theft.
- Requires education for gun owners of the obligation to report a lost or stolen firearm at the time of firearm purchase and FOID/CCL application and renewal process.
- Requires ISP to create a portal for law enforcement to report individuals who have failed to report the loss or theft of a firearm.
- Imposes penalty of revocation of FOID card on second violation for failure to report lost and stolen firearms.

* Capitol News Illinois…

Health care unions continue to rally for legislation to address understaffing they say strains hospitals and threatens both patient safety and staff well-being.

Lawmakers are considering the Hospital Worker Staff and Safety bill, which would establish mandatory nurse-to-patient staffing ratios and increase support for underfunded hospitals.

The proposed legislation, Senate Bill 21 and House Bill 3512, aims to establish minimum staffing ratios in hospitals and fund critical safety-net hospitals across the state. Advocates with health care worker unions have been holding a series of rallies at the Capitol in support of the legislation in recent weeks. […]

But similar versions of the proposed legislation have been introduced at the Statehouse for recent years and have failed to gain traction. Generally backed by unions representing nurses, such as the Service Employees International Union, previous staffing ratio measures have run into opposition from hospital groups that say they’re unworkable.

The proposed legislation filed this year has yet to receive a hearing in a substantive committee, meaning it will be an uphill battle for it to move by the time the legislature adjourns at the end of the month.

* Streetsblog Chicago…

Good news for rail fans: Recently, Illinois legislators discussed a groundbreaking bill to launch statewide train service.

Senate Bill 1901 and House Bill 3285 and would beef up the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Railroads, giving it the clout to plan, engineer, and coordinate elements of a statewide rail program. The Senate Appropriations-Public Safety and Infrastructure Committee mulled over the proposed law on April 23. The analogous House committee considered the bill on April 30.

The aim of this initiative is coordinate train and bus service all across the Land of Lincoln. The backbone of the system would be high-speed rail between Chicago and St. Louis, and service would be aligned with local public transportation.

In addition to supersizing IDOT’s railroad bureau, the legislation would help bankroll the maintenance and construction of existing and new track and bridges. It would also help pay for electrifying track, purchasing new trainsets, and supporting ongoing operations.

Something to keep in mind: HB3285 and SB1901 are both appropriation bills.

* Sen. Mike Simmons…

State Senator Mike Simmons is leading legislation that would allow the use of municipal wastewater for industrial processing, reclaiming it from a variety of sources.

“Utilizing treated wastewater reflects our commitment to sustainable resource management,” said Simmons (D-Chicago). “This initiative not only conserves water but also supports environmental resilience.”

By reclaiming water from a variety of sources, treating it and reusing it, industrial wastewater could be used for power generation or cooling of data centers. Because this water may have limited contact with humans, it tends to be less costly and less energy intensive to treat and reuse, ultimately saving money and resources for communities.

House Bill 2391 would allow the use of treated municipal wastewater for industrial purposes.

“We need to rethink how we use every drop,” said Simmons. “Recycling treated wastewater is a smart, forward-thinking way to conserve resources and protect our environment.”

House Bill 2391 passed the Senate Environment and Conservation Committee on Thursday.