It’s almost a law
Thursday, Jul 16, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Politico…
Gov. JB Pritzker is set to sign a pair of bills aimed at helping law enforcement agencies fill vacancies and stiffening consequences for some of the most serious violations of Illinois’ Move Over Law.
One measure, sponsored by state Sen. Bill Cunningham and state Rep. Mary Gill, loosens age restrictions for certain sheriff’s department hires in an effort to address staffing shortages. Beginning in 2027, individuals as young as 20 will be able to serve as county police officers if they have completed two years of approved law enforcement studies. The age at which correctional officers and full-time deputy sheriffs not employed as county police officers can be appointed would be lowered from 21 to 18 under the measure.
The second bill, sponsored by state Sen. Julie Morrison and state Rep. Jay Hoffman, expands penalties tied to Illinois’ Scott’s Law, which requires drivers to slow down and move over for emergency vehicles. Under the new law, drivers convicted of causing injury or death while violating the law will face license revocation rather than suspension, making it more difficult to regain driving privileges.
It’s all part of an effort by the Pritzker administration to support law enforcement recruitment while strengthening safety measures on Illinois roadways.
* WAND…
A plan on Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk could help schools alert first responders about emergencies faster.
The bill requires public and private schools to consider using a mobile panic alert system for emergency and crisis response. Sponsors said the Illinois State Police will work with the State Board of Education and Illinois Emergency Management Agency to develop rules for the panic alert system.
“This law is named for Alyssa Alhadeff, a young student who was killed in a school shooting,” said Rep. Nabeela Syed (D-Palatine). “Her parents asked a basic question afterward: ‘Why wasn’t there a faster way to alert first responders?’ States across the country responded with Alyssa’s law, and today, Illinois joins the movement.”
House Bill 5107 received unanimous support in both chambers.
* National Federation of Independent Business…
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the state’s leading small business association, applauds the Illinois General Assembly’s passage of legislation expanding career and technical training opportunities for Illinois students.
“There is a skills gap in Illinois’ workforce,” said NFIB Illinois State Director Noah Finley. “SB 3070 addresses this challenge head-on, creating pathways for students to pursue career and vocational training. It’s a win for students, a win for small-business employers, and a win for the state.”
SB 3070, sponsored by Senator Willie Preston (District 16) and Representative Will Davis (District 30), grants high school students the option to meet graduation requirements by taking career and technical courses instead of foreign language classes.
Small-business owners are struggling to find skilled workers in today’s economy. In NFIB’s April Jobs Report survey, 29% of small-business owners reported openings for skilled workers.
Small business owners in Illinois overwhelmingly support career and technical training. In a recent NFIB member ballot, 96% of NFIB small-business owners in Illinois supported this proposal.
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is the largest small-business advocacy organization in Illinois and the nation, representing more than 10,000 small-business owners in Illinois alone. NFIB member businesses are independently owned and reflect the diversity of Illinois’ small-business community, including small businesses in retail, construction, transportation, hospitality, professional services, manufacturing, and agriculture.
* WAND…
Legislation on Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk could help local governments lower their default speed limit to improve safety.
The bill would let communities adopt lower speed limits through resolutions or ordinances.
The statutory speed limit in Illinois is 30 miles per hour in urban districts, but many drivers speed into or through cities. IDOT wants to let local governments lower the limit without conducting costly speed studies. […]
The proposal could also let communities lower speed limits in residential areas to 20 miles per hour and 10 miles per hour for alleys.
House Bill 5081 passed out of the Senate on a 51-5 vote. It received a 116-1 vote in the House.
* Press release…
A measure—sponsored by state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, and state Sen.Willie Preston, D-Chicago—that would help parents better protect children online passed both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly and awaits Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature.
Gong-Gershowitz’s House Bill 5511 would create the Children’s Online Social Media Safety Act, a landmark bill that would enable parents to more effectively control the types of content their children can consume online, standardizing and improving on many existing private-market parental controls.
The bill would have device-makers supply a settings panel where parents could input their child’s age while setting up a new device. When new software is installed or a new website is visited, a number of settings will trigger by default, unless a parent authorizes otherwise. These settings include:
- Prohibitions against social media companies using addictive algorithms and limiting social media notifications to daytime hours.
- Requiring apps to obtain parental consent for in-app purchases or any transaction between children and third-party users.
- Requiring companies to apply default privacy settings based on a user’s age to protect the user’s location data and profile information.
Parents would be able to tailor these restrictions to meet their child’s needs and better monitor their online activity.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is calling on the governor to veto HB5511…
The Illinois legislature recently passed House Bill 5511, which imposes a sweeping, device-level age-gating framework across nearly all internet-enabled hardware, operating systems, and online services. This well-intentioned but deeply flawed piece of legislation will harm young people who rely on the internet to access essential information and find community. That’s why we’re urging the Illinois governor to veto the measure.
Under this new regime, digital platforms are forced to collect and share users’ ages to platforms and websites. It also strips away basic, everyday features like personalized content feeds and overnight notifications for young people unless they can secure “verifiable parental consent.”
Much of H.B. 5511 is modeled after controversial legislation passed in California (A.B. 1043) and New York’s Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act, both of which have already drawn immense blowback from open-source communities, privacy advocates, and tech stakeholders. For Illinois to copy this suspect age-bracketing regime before either law has even gone into effect, been tested in court, or proven functional is premature, economically risky, and legally wasteful.
For a deeper look at the constitutional, policy, and technological concerns with H.B. 5511, you can read our full letter here.
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Thursday, Jul 16, 26 @ 10:45 am:
I’m all for enhanced penalties for Scott’s Law, but the more time I spend on I-57 in southern Illinois, the more stupid I see.
Some nitwits will never get it.
- Hoosier Daddy - Thursday, Jul 16, 26 @ 11:15 am:
A retired Chief of Police was killed on I 74 by the Prospect Ave exit in Champaign when he was moving a orange barrel in a clearly marked construction zone by a car hauler. It is long past time that cameras be installed in long term projects such as the I 74/I57 interchange is. The suspect was travelling at 68 in a clearly marked and posted 45 zone with workers present. All of this was at 0230am.
Enough is enough.
- Candy Dogood - Thursday, Jul 16, 26 @ 11:16 am:
===The age at which correctional officers and full-time deputy sheriffs not employed as county police officers can be appointed would be lowered from 21 to 18 under the measure.===
I’ve already commented on this, but this really seems to be the opposite of having high standards for qualified candidates for the job, even with a caveat for “county policing.”
===I spend on I-57 in southern Illinois===
If this is your very specific example it might be appropriate to consider that the issue isn’t the penalty, it might have to do with vehicle operators who are unfamiliar with the law and the practice of moving to the left when approaching a stopped vehicle of any kind, much less a police or emergency vehicle. I-57 is a significant roadway for interstate travel and commerce.
More might need to be done to make sure people not familiar with Illinois’ specific law know about it.
- JS Mill - Thursday, Jul 16, 26 @ 11:18 am:
=House Bill 5107 received unanimous support in both chambers.=
As always, if this was really important to them, the state could adopt one of the many apps or offerings statewide and provide it for free. More posing by the politicians. BTW- we already have a system so we don’t need another. Every teacher has it on their classroom device and can have it added to their personal phone.
=Some nitwits will never get it.=
Agreed. What I see/experience a lot of is people moving to the left lane for cars on the side of the road. They move over regardless of whether or not there is a vehicle next to them or they are cutting someone off. You cannot fix stupid.
- Tom - Thursday, Jul 16, 26 @ 11:29 am:
I like the intent of Scott’s law, but sometimes it it near impossbile to get over. Revoking a license seems way overboard.
- Joseph M - Thursday, Jul 16, 26 @ 11:36 am:
Wow. Two bills that seek to fill staffing shortages by tweaking existing rules for young Illinoisans:
-”SB 3070, sponsored by Senator Willie Preston (District 16) and Representative Will Davis (District 30), grants high school students the option to meet graduation requirements by taking career and technical courses instead of foreign language classes.”
-”One measure, sponsored by state Sen. Bill Cunningham and state Rep. Mary Gill, loosens age restrictions for certain sheriff’s department hires in an effort to address staffing shortages.”
Not terrible ideas alone, but these are both examples of Springfield missing the forest for the trees.
Employers can’t hire enough workers? Then we simply need more people. And the number one way to expand the population is to boost housing production: stop banning multifamily housing, expedite permitting, and crack down on municipal micromanagement. Legislators need to see the bigger picture, and they’re failing to do that.
IL’s population is stagnating because young people like me can’t afford housing, and families are choosing to move instead of raising kids in the Land of Lincoln. Keep it simple, stupid: stop fighting over scraps, and instead just give employers more people to choose from. (If anyone is tired of seeing my rants in the comments, get used to it. I’m not stopping until the BUILD package is written into law.)
- Retired and miss Illinois - Thursday, Jul 16, 26 @ 11:56 am:
Tom- the revocation is part of the penalty for a Scott’s Law violation that results in death or injury. I don’t think this is excessive. I retired from the state police after 30 years and was always more worried about getting hit by a vehicle traveling at 70+ than I was about getting shot. I’ve seen the outcome of both and a ballistic vest had protection for one but not the other.
- Anotheretiree - Thursday, Jul 16, 26 @ 12:26 pm:
=Tom= There is an exception: “…. requires drivers approaching stationary or active emergency vehicles, tow trucks, and highway maintenance vehicles with flashing lights to immediately change lanes to an adjacent lane, if safe. If changing lanes is unsafe or impossible, drivers must significantly reduce their speed and proceed with caution.”
- No relation - Thursday, Jul 16, 26 @ 12:41 pm:
“…. requires drivers approaching stationary or active emergency vehicles,”
This info taken from a website is out of date. The law was changed in 2017 and it applies to all vehicles with flashing hazard lights not just emergency vehicles. The part about slowing down is still correct.
- Anotheretiree - Thursday, Jul 16, 26 @ 12:48 pm:
=No relation= Yeah, I noticed that about regular vehicles being included was missing, but was more interested in the option to not move over. Was lazy and used Googles AI. Another lesson in not relying on AI lol !
- Stix Hix - Thursday, Jul 16, 26 @ 2:24 pm:
–Small-business owners are struggling to find skilled workers in today’s economy.–
Here’s an idea: Train them yourself like I always did. It’s a cost and a benefit of doing business.
- Remember the Alamo II - Thursday, Jul 16, 26 @ 2:33 pm:
=== IL’s population is stagnating because young people like me can’t afford housing, and families are choosing to move instead of raising kids in the Land of Lincoln. ===
Housing costs are primarily the result of high interest rates and very low supply (which is a result of people not moving due to to high interest rates). But granny flats are not going to solve this problem. That will only come after interest rates drop (which is not going to happen for a very long time because of the economic policies being pushed in Washington DC. You can build more housing, but the costs are still going to be high due to high interest rates.
Maybe the legislation that you were responding to that gives younger people access to higher paying employment can help them deal with the higher housing costs.
- Demoralized - Thursday, Jul 16, 26 @ 3:27 pm:
==and provide it for free. ==
I don’t think I ever see you not complain when a law is passed addressing schools, especially this law. First of all it isn’t that expensive. You would find a way if you cared about student safety. Second of all, it’s recommended and not required. It’s up to you to explain to your parents why you wouldn’t take advantage of it.
==we already have a system so we don’t need another==
So why are you complaining?
- Demoralized - Thursday, Jul 16, 26 @ 3:29 pm:
==More might need to be done to make sure people not familiar with Illinois’ specific law know about it.==
You shouldn’t have to tell people they need to move over in those situations. It should be common sense.
- Joseph M - Thursday, Jul 16, 26 @ 4:47 pm:
Re:Remember the Alamo II
You are not wrong about interest rates being a factor. But you are wrong that we need to wait until interest rates drop to see housing costs go down.
The entire country deals with the same Fed decisions. Yet, housing prices went down in cities like Houston, Denver, and Austin after looser regulations allowed booms in construction. If your premise was correct, we wouldn’t have seen an effect in these cities.
You’re also wrong that granny flats aren’t going to solve the problem. California legalized ADUs a few years ago, and as of 2023 they are 20% of all new homebuilding permits. Sure, granny flats ALONE might not make a huge difference, but they’re far from the only housing typology that the BUILD package would re-legalize. Every extra bedroom helps, and we’d be foolish not to get rid of burdensome restrictions.
- JS Mill - Thursday, Jul 16, 26 @ 5:14 pm:
=So why are you complaining?=
Have you ever looked at the school code? I mean the printed two volume set. Thousands of pages.
=I don’t think I ever see you not complain when a law is passed addressing schools=
There have been many that I supported. But again, see my comment above. The school code is full of redundant legislation.
In this case it is pure grandstanding to make them look effective or caring. I don’t do performative. I would rather they take up something like free lunch for all kids or a singular data system that all district would use. These things would actually provide value. I have suggested both to my local legislators.
I care because we have so many issues that need to be addressed and they spend time passing legislation on a recommendation. Just like a number of things I have commented on, most schools already employ them, and yes they are cheap, but it is the constant drip drip drip of “just one more thing” that get old. “It doesn’t cost much” is true and we get the same “not much from” the state. The state is a 16% player in our finances (as I sit working on our FY 27 budget” yet they get 75% say in what we must do and it keeps growing. The inequity is astounding. So yeah, I complain about the state and I will continue as long as Rich allows it when I think it is correct.
And of course you never complain or criticize. Pot meet kettle.