It’s just a bill
Tuesday, Apr 14, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* The Labor Alliance for Public Transportation…
Today, Tuesday, April 14, at 12 p.m. CT, Teamsters and other unions affiliated with the Labor Alliance for Public Transportation (LAPT) will hold a press conference announcing a new partnership to stop the Autonomous Vehicle Pilot Project Act. This marks the coalition’s second initiative, following last year’s success in saving Illinois’ public transit system.
The legislation, which is being backed by Big Tech companies like Waymo, would harm middle-class jobs and jeopardize motorist safety by allowing Autonomous Vehicle (AV) companies to unleash untested and dangerous products on Illinois roads within the next three years.
Polling of Illinois voters shows that they overwhelmingly oppose fully driverless cars and trucks operating on the state’s roads. In recent months, multiple states have cancelled or postponed plans to expand AV legalization, including Minnesota, New York, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, D.C.
WHO:
Tom Stiede, President of Teamsters Joint Council 25
Rashonda Hudson, Member of Teamsters Local 727
Chris Duncan, Member of Teamsters Local 727
Tim Drea, President of the Illinois AFL-CIO
Keith Hill, President of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241
Members of the Teamsters Union and LAPT
WHEN: Tuesday, April 14, 2026 12-1 p.m. CT
* WTTW…
[House Bill 1611, the Anjanette Young Act,] specifically outlaws no-knock warrants in cases where the only suspected crime is drug possession. However, [Rep. Angelica Guerrero-Cuellar,] a member of the House Judiciary Committee, expressed concerns with how the bill makes this distinction.
“The way the bill was presented, … they were trying to give a distinction between ‘low-level’ and ‘high-level’ crimes. And for me, if it’s a crime, it’s a crime,” Guerrero-Cuellar said. “We don’t know what’s necessarily inside of a home or in a building until the warrant is executed.”
Another concern Guerrero-Cuellar has is how the bill might affect rural and urban police departments differently. Coordinating medical services or backup support might be difficult in rural areas where staffing is low, and law enforcement might need to be drawn in from different counties. […]
[Rep. Kam Buckner] highlighted how judges can take these factors into account when issuing a warrant.
“One of the problems with no-knock warrants is that they’re all about speed,” Buckner said. “And speed does not necessarily mean efficiency or success. What this (bill) does is it requires a judge to look at the totality of the circumstances.”
* WICS…
Since 2020, the Champaign Public Library says the cost of e-books has increased by 30% to 40% each year, forcing tough decisions about how taxpayer dollars are spent. […]
House Bill 5236 — legislation years in the making designed to stop publishers from setting what some call unreasonable prices for digital books.
“It sets contracting rules around what is and isn’t appropriate in a taxpayer dollar contract for a library book. So the publishers are free to offer terms that do or don’t comply, but the libraries are not to enter these contracts anymore, and if they do, they will be declared void because they are not compliant with these state contracting terms,” said Tracy Katz Muhl, Illinois state representative and bill sponsor.
[Nanette Donohue, technical services manager at Champaign Public Library,] says the library is hopeful as the bill continues to move forward after passing committee. The bill is expected to head to the House floor this week.
* WVIK…
[T]wo Quad Cities state lawmakers are backing legislation that would raise the [home care and child care providers’] wages by two dollars to $20.75. Rep. Gregg Johnson (D-East Moline) and Sen. Mike Halpin (D-Rock Island) both agree the legislation is needed to help address what Service Employees International Union Healthcare (SEIU) Illinois describes as a growing crisis in home care and child care services.
“Essentially, what the bill does is to increase the amount of money that we put into our agencies to pass along through the care programs to the frontline workers doing the job. It makes sure that a dedicated portion of the increase goes to those workers to make sure they can more easily make ends meet,” said Halpin in a phone interview with WVIK. […]
SEIU suggests the funding deficit could be made up by closing corporate tax loopholes, requiring tax haven reporting, implementing a billionaire wealth tax, and imposing a digital ad tax. […]
“I’m open to a variety of ideas to see how we can accomplish that goal,” Sen. Halpin said. What I don’t want to do is raise taxes on everyday working people here in the state. We really need to focus our efforts on ways to broaden that revenue base among the folks who are benefiting most from the state that we have.”
* WAND…
House Bill 5093 would require university boards to treat undocumented students as Illinois residents if they attended a public or private high school in the state and graduated from the high school or received a GED. The plan also states eligible students must attend an Illinois high school for three years before graduating and register as entering students at a community college no earlier than the fall 2026 semester.
Students who are not citizens or permanent residents of the United States would be required to provide the community college with an affidavit stating they will file an application to become a permanent resident as soon as possible.
“It seems like we should just limit it to US citizens or permanent residents without having this affidavit of intent to apply,” said Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis).
The proposal passed out of the House on a partisan 71-37 vote and currently sits in the Senate Assignments Committee.
* Center Square…
House Bill 4137 would allow school districts to provide for an extended motel stay for a child who is at risk of becoming or is homeless. Currently, school districts can already give rental or mortgage assistance and other financial support that could result in a child losing permanent housing.
Clarifying her bill, Rep. Michelle Mussman, D-Schaumburg, said it could actually be a cost-saving measure for school districts alreadying supporting unhoused students, who may be displaced far from their school if staying with family.
“It will reduce the transportation costs for the school districts by allowing them to house the family closer to the district,” Mussman said. “School districts are spending significant resources on Ubers and taxis, et cetera, trying to transport these kids back to the home district.”
* More…
* WAND | Poll shows strong bipartisan support for Illinois POWER Act: According to the survey, nearly 70 percent of likely 2026 voters support the legislation after hearing a brief description, with support climbing to 75 percent as voters learn more about the bill’s details. Backing spans across political parties, including Independents and Republicans, as well as voters outside the Chicagoland area. The measure, supported by the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition, would require data centers to be more accountable for their energy and water use, limit so-called backroom deals, and ensure facilities supply their own clean energy.
* Press release | Families USA Submits Testimony Supporting Illinois Bill To Address High Drug Costs: On April 14, 2026, Families USA submitted written testimony to the Illinois Health Care Availability and Accessibility Committee in support of HB1443/SB66. This proposed legislation would establish a PDAB with the ability to set UPLs, empowering the state to evaluate the affordability of life-saving and sustaining medications and lower the financial burden of prescription drugs for their residents. It would also ensure that all prices negotiated by Medicare are given UPLs, which is an effective way to systematically extend these savings to non-Medicare populations while minimizing state administrative burden. These reforms would allow the state to limit the amount that plans will pay for a drug that the PDAB has deemed to be unaffordable, build on the success of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation program for more Illinoisans, and provide much needed savings for Illinois families.
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 10:03 am:
=== Big Tech companies like Waymo===
Reckless driving is a crime. If the “self driving” vehicle does something reckless who is responsible?
Do we lock up the car? The programmer? The CEO? Who is responsible?
- Leatherneck - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 10:20 am:
=Teamsters and other unions affiliated with the Labor Alliance for Public Transportation (LAPT) will hold a press conference announcing a new partnership to stop the Autonomous Vehicle Pilot Project Act.=
Are Bigfoot and the other monster trucks which first became popular in the 80s still around and active? If so, I recommend that Teamsters and the other unions schedule another press conference–this time for the State Fair Grandstand. With Bigfoot on hand to crush an entire fleet of Waymos.
- Remember the Alamo II - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 10:33 am:
=== Reckless driving is a crime. If the “self driving” vehicle does something reckless who is responsible? ===
Nobody. Because the Reckless Driving statute only applies to people:
§ 11-503. Reckless driving; aggravated reckless driving.
(a) A person commits reckless driving if he or she:
(1) drives any vehicle with a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property; or
(2) knowingly drives a vehicle and uses an incline in a roadway, such as a railroad crossing, bridge approach, or hill, to cause the vehicle to become airborne.
(b) Every person convicted of reckless driving shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor, except as provided under subsections (b-1), (c), and (d) of this Section.
(b-1) Except as provided in subsection (d), any person convicted of violating subsection (a), if the violation causes bodily harm to a child or a school crossing guard while the school crossing guard is performing his or her official duties, is guilty of a Class 4 felony.
(c) Every person convicted of committing a violation of subsection (a) shall be guilty of aggravated reckless driving if the violation results in great bodily harm or permanent disability or disfigurement to another. Except as provided in subsection (d) of this Section, aggravated reckless driving is a Class 4 felony.
(d) Any person convicted of violating subsection (a), if the violation causes great bodily harm or permanent disability or disfigurement to a child or a school crossing guard while the school crossing guard is performing his or her official duties, is guilty of aggravated reckless driving. Aggravated reckless driving under this subsection (d) is a Class 3 felony.
- H-W - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 10:36 am:
Re: Banning No Knock Warrants
=== for me, if it’s a crime, it’s a crime,” Guerrero-Cuellar said ===
That says it all. Authoritarian personality complex at its finest.
“If it’s a crime” does not justify “arrest by any means necessary, beginning with overwhelming force.” The nature of the presumed crime does matter. If the presumed crime does not involve imminent threat to life, then breaking and entering with overwhelming force is not called forth.
- ArchPundit - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 11:03 am:
===Nanette Donohue, technical services manager at Champaign Public Library,
Bluesky fans might recognize her efforts at music brackets.
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 11:09 am:
===Nobody. Because the Reckless Driving statute only applies to people:===
I think you’re making my point for me. However, someone is responsible for the Waymo. It didn’t just materialize on the road all by itself in some miraculous case of immaculate auto manufacture. Someone somewhere hit a switch, pressed a button, or hit enter that caused a vehicle begin operating. Trusting a computer to stop, turn, and operate safely outside of your direct ability to control the vehicle is something I would describe as willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property.
I don’t even think you could call it an accident.
So who is catching the felony charges?
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 11:11 am:
=Clarifying her bill, Rep. Michelle Mussman, D-Schaumburg, said it could actually be a cost-saving measure for school districts=
Sorry, but I am calling baloney on that one.
=Re: Banning No Knock Warrants=
If I am not mistaken, and I might be, the concept of the no knock warrant for for situations where the suspect was deemed extremely dangerous. Where they were expected to be armed and put up a fight so the no knock was implemented for safety. In those rare situations they make sense. Not when they are looking for a shop lifter or undocumented immigrant. The problem seems to be that the concept was abused and that has resulted in deaths. So now the LEO’s have done this to themselves. And yes, crime if it’s a crime, it is a crime. But not all crimes are the same or receive the same punishment, once someone is actually convicted.
- Google is Your Friend - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 11:12 am:
==Guerrero-Cuellar pointed to ongoing training within CPD that could address some of the concerns around no-knock warrants.==
LOL. Trust the same people who have to be hauled into federal court in order to get them to follow the minimum standards of the U.S. Constitution? Which, by the way, they still aren’t meeting with just 23% of required areas of the consent decree being fully met as of 6/30/25 (last full report from the monitoring team).
- Huh? - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 11:15 am:
I am not in favor of autonomous vehicles. They are an experimental vehicle being tested on an unsuspecting populace. Furthermore, these are fair weather vehicles.
- Chambanalyst - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 11:21 am:
Interesting question on who’s catching the charges for Waymo. Software is driving the car, and perhaps an uncomfortably large percentage of that software was AI generated. Now what?
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 11:22 am:
===Software is driving the car===
So they say.
- ArchPundit - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 11:29 am:
==If I am not mistaken, and I might be, the concept of the no knock warrant for for situations where the suspect was deemed extremely dangerous
It expanded in drug cases to what if the dealer disposes of the drugs which should suggest that they are not dealing that much unless it’s LSD. There should be high standards for a no-knock and Buckner seems to have a reasonable take on it here where the standard is raised, but judges can use the totality to make a decision.
- Remember the Alamo II - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 11:36 am:
=== However, someone is responsible for the Waymo. ===
Yes, and that responsibility would likely result in civil liability whenever there is an issue pertaining to an autonomous vehicle. There would be no criminal liability under the reckless driving statute because there is not a person who is driving the vehicle.
- Rudy’s teeth - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 11:38 am:
Last week, I hailed a cab in front of my building.The driver folded the cart, placed it in the trunk, and drove me to the grocery store. Too far to walk both ways but fine to walk home.
Not happening with Waymo.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 11:41 am:
===because there is not a person who is driving the vehicle===
You don’t know that for sure.
- City Zen - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 11:43 am:
==allow school districts to provide for an extended motel stay==
Probably not good that Ted Koppel just did an expose on this housing option.
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 11:55 am:
“they were trying to give a distinction between ‘low-level’ and ‘high-level’ crimes. And for me, if it’s a crime, it’s a crime,” Guerrero-Cuellar said”
I think there should be an “alleged” somewhere in there.
You know, like there is with certain suspects.
- Lurker - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 12:02 pm:
I’m fine with riding in autonomous cars and when all vehicles are autonomous, it will be better/safer. But I’d miss driving. I like to do it
- Chambanalyst - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 12:04 pm:
===Software is driving the car===
So they say.
Is it your belief that these vehicles are being operated remotely by a human somewhere?
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 12:05 pm:
===You don’t know that for sure. ===
Rich is right. They have acknowledge “remote human assistance” being done by overseas based employees. There is some speculation that they may be using remote overseas based drivers and then doing a lot of debate about what constitutes “driving.”
Waymo’s self driving vehicles may just be a fleet that saves money by having foreign workers earning less than domestic workers to periodically perform tasks and functions that some people would call driving the vehicle and Waymo doesn’t think counts as driving the vehicle.
It’s not like these companies have any transparency and now they’re asking for laws where they’re indemnified if their products are responsible for killing hundreds of people, which, you know, should raise some concerns.
===Software is driving the car===
You’re moving towards the software being at fault when the reckless driving occurs by leaving the vehicle operating and driving up and down streets without a human operator. If someone throws a brick on the gas pedal and jumps out of the car they’re still responsible for what the vehicle hits. Software is just a fancy high tech brick that someone willfully engaged to operate the vehicle without being inside of it, sitting at the steering wheel and fully intent.
If I were to set my cruise control and drive into the back of another car cruise control doesn’t catch the felony charge. Just because the manner in which someone is reckless is high tech doesn’t mean that the silicon chips and sequences of ones and zeroes are responsible.
Perhaps Waymo can tell us who should be catching charges.
- Teve DeMotte - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 12:20 pm:
Do we really need driverless cars and trucks? The tech people will use the argument that their technology will save lives. I don’t buy this argument personally. I do however strongly believe that this will put a lot of people out of work over time and that is not a good thing.
- Remember the Alamo II - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 12:23 pm:
=== If someone throws a brick on the gas pedal and jumps out of the car they’re still responsible for what the vehicle hits. ===
But they wouldn’t be on the hook for reckless driving. I think you need another analogy.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 12:38 pm:
===this will put a lot of people out of work over time===
Americans? Yes. Overseas? No.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 12:43 pm:
=Yes, and that responsibility would likely result in civil liability whenever there is an issue pertaining to an autonomous vehicle. There would be no criminal liability under the reckless driving statute because there is not a person who is driving the vehicle.=
Correct. How many airline execs have gone to jail when a plane crashes? None to my knowledge. These inevitable issues will fall under civil liability.
- Perrid - Tuesday, Apr 14, 26 @ 1:05 pm:
Rich it really seems like you think the 35 Waymo employees who help their cars navigate rarely are driving them like remote control cars which is frankly silly. There are over 3k cars on the streets, c’mon now. And unless the company is lying (please cite your sources if you’re going to say that) the fleet navigation employees act more like a passenger saying “Hey go that way” which the car may or may not listen to. It’s not that big of a deal.
There’s a lot of safety data out there about Waymo and everything we have says they’re safer than human drivers. Yes that’s not apples to apples because the company limits where and when they drive to certain degrees, but it seems like probably saving lives is worth some people having to find other jobs.