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* Shaw Local…
State Sen. Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet, has introduced a bill that would stiffen penalties Ascension Saint Joseph-Joliet hospital would face for falling short on state staffing requirements.
Ventura is bringing the proposed law amid a nine-month contract standoff between Ascension and union nurses at the Joliet hospital in which staffing has been a central issue.
Ascension Saint Joseph–Joliet is the only hospital in the state to have been found in violation of the law and has been flagged three times, Ventura said.
“This is not about all hospitals,” she said. “This is about one bad actor.”
Senate Bill 3217 would add the threat of taking away a hospital’s license to operate for repeat violations, Ventura said. Fines would increase from $500 to $1,000 for first offenses and from $1,000 to $5,000 for second offenses. […]
“There needs to be accountability for hospitals who negotiate and operate in bad faith,” Ventura said in the release. “Numerous nursing strikes have gone on and yet no changes have been implemented — it’s dangerous to the patient and nurses to be understaffed.”
Consumer advocates are pushing for a change to state law that would bar utilities from collecting money from customers for those expenditures, liability insurance covering executives and for the cost associated with filing rate cases. The bill also explicitly bans charging customers for political contributions, a practice already disallowed in Illinois.
The proposal, contained in Senate Bill 2885 and House Bill 5061, is backed by AARP Illinois and the Citizens Utility Board, a nonprofit created by the General Assembly to represent customers in front of utility regulators.
The bill would also require public hearings, like two held last year, whenever a gas, electric, water or sewer utility requests a rate increase. Rate cases, which generally take a year to complete, are currently conducted primarily online through written testimony from utilities and advocates as well as written comments submitted by members of the public.
An analysis from CUB found that last year, companies spent about $28 million for legal representation, expert testimony and other costs accrued in six Illinois Commerce Commission cases that resulted in electric and gas rates going up for most Illinoisans. The state’s two largest water utilities, Aqua Illinois and Illinois American Water, are going through rate cases right now, which could cost the companies about $3.2 million in expenses.
* HB4745 filed by Rep. John Cabello…
Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Provides that on or after the effective date of the amendatory Act, the Department of Corrections and the Department of Juvenile Justice shall establish procedures to ensure that a committed person convicted of: (1) a sex offense, (2) first degree murder, or (3) second degree murder is discharged from custody within the municipality, or if the committed person was residing in an unincorporated area, the county where the committed person was residing immediately before his or her conviction for the sex offense or murder offense for which the committed person is serving a sentence in the Department of Corrections or the Department of Juvenile Justice. Effective immediately.
* Chicagobars…
* Rep. Sue Scherer…
State Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, is working to ease the property tax burden facing seniors by expanding the eligibility pool of senior freeze applicants.
“Making sure that our seniors are taken care of is one of my most important priorities,” said Scherer. “Those who are on a fixed income face additional difficulties and every bit of assistance we can offer helps.”
Scherer’s House Bill 3054 would amend the property tax code by allowing the maximum income limitation for the Low-Income Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze Homestead Exemption to be $85,000. Currently, access to the freeze exemption is limited to seniors who earn $65,000 or less annually.
“Inflation has hit seniors especially hard. Those who were fine before the sharp increases in the price of food, fuel and other necessities may now be struggling,” said Scherer. “I will always stand up and fight to make changes to the law that lift up our seniors and ensure that they can live happy, whole lives.”
* WPSD…
A new bill in Illinois could implement gender neutral terms in certain sections of civil law. The proposed bill would protect people’s access to their property regardless of their gender identity.
According to a news release from Illinois Senator Natalie Toro, Senate Bill 2777 would replace words like husband or wife with gender neutral terms such as spouse or married couple in sections of civil law related to property. The bill will also removes legal ambiguity when preparing real estate paperwork, and ensure compliance with Illinois’ same-sex marriage law.
“With this simple language change, more Illinoisans will not have to worry about restrictions to accessing their property should they change their gender identity or if they are in a same-sex marriage,” said Toro. “This is a long time coming to make Illinois a more inclusive state.”
The bill would make the legal code more inclusive to nonbinary, intersex and gender-nonconforming people as well as those in same-sex marriages.
An Illinois state senator is looking to regulate social media companies in order to protect children from harm, but some see a patchwork of laws across the country causing problems and possibly infringing on constitutional rights.
Last week, state Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, revealed some of her legislative priorities in her “Safe Screens, Healthy Minds” initiative. […]
Among the proposals are to require high default privacy settings for children and parents. Another would require social media companies to have a free customer support service to address complaints. A third would require platforms to create an identity verification process. […]
David McGarry, a policy analyst with the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, said states passing standalone measures regulating services like those found on the internet could force consumers to use tools regulated by the most draconian policies, let alone possibly running afoul of constitutional rights.
* Daily Herald…
Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said Wednesday he is staying neutral on the question of whether the state should end road exams for seniors.
Two lawmakers recently introduced separate bills seeking to remove or revise the mandate.
Illinois is the only state in the U.S. that requires individuals age 79 and older to take a driving test when renewing their licenses. The AARP calls the policy discriminatory.
“As secretary of state, I’m committed to ensuring that Illinois roads are as safe as possible, and that will always remain my top priority whether or not this proposal passes,” Giannoulias said.
The secretary of state’s study issued a report last year that found in 2022, Illinois motorists age 75 and older had a crash rate of 24.39 per 1,000 drivers, the second lowest in the state.
posted by Isabel Miller
Thursday, Feb 15, 24 @ 10:06 am
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I am curious how the crashes per million miles driven varies by age groups. It is possible that crashes are low for the 75+ group because they do not drive as much.
Comment by thechampaignlife Thursday, Feb 15, 24 @ 10:18 am
The senior citizens property tax exemption income requirement should be indexed to inflation, so this issue is resolved for future generations too.
Comment by Steve Polite Thursday, Feb 15, 24 @ 10:30 am
https://aaafoundation.org/rates-motor-vehicle-crashes-injuries-deaths-relation-driver-age-united-states-2014-2015/
Google is your friend
Comment by very old soil Thursday, Feb 15, 24 @ 10:35 am
== The secretary of state’s study issued a report last year that found in 2022, Illinois motorists age 75 and older had a crash rate of 24.39 per 1,000 drivers, the second lowest in the state. ==
Second lowest when you’ve already weeded out people who can’t pass the test. That is like saying a country with a low firearm death rate should repeal its firearm restrictions as unnecessary.
Comment by Homebody Thursday, Feb 15, 24 @ 10:48 am
Rezin more concerned with protecting kids from
Facebook than an AR-15.
Comment by Henry Thursday, Feb 15, 24 @ 10:55 am
== Second lowest when you’ve already weeded out people who can’t pass the test. That is like saying a country with a low firearm death rate should repeal its firearm restrictions as unnecessary. ==
Wait that’s actually such important context I hadn’t thought of. I was shocked to see it was so low, especially when the conventional wisdom would state otherwise.
I wonder if the Secretary of State’s study took that into account at all.
Comment by That Guy Thursday, Feb 15, 24 @ 10:55 am
It’s not that 79+ age drivers have a relatively low overall crash rate, but when they do get in a crash, they have a high injury and fatality rate and fatalities to others go up, too. Figure 2 in very old soil’s link tells the story. Homebody’s note that IL’s process helps keep our 75+ crash rate down as compared to the rest of the US is spot on. If I am fortunate enough to be driving at age 79, I don’t mind the extra step of proving I am capable.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, Feb 15, 24 @ 10:56 am
Very courageous of Alexi. He very clearly wants a different office but can’t even take the one he’s in seriously.
Comment by Torco Sign Thursday, Feb 15, 24 @ 11:20 am
Why is the metric on crash rate per drivers (of a certain age) and not crash rate per miles driven (on average by drivers of a certain age)?
Never understood that.
Comment by ChicagoBars Thursday, Feb 15, 24 @ 11:30 am
Never heard of a legislator looking to shut down a hospital? Must be nice to be in the suburbs and have options.
Maybe find ways to help them staff up? Find out what the problem is as why they aren’t fully staffed.
Comment by Frida’s boss Thursday, Feb 15, 24 @ 11:54 am
=Rezin more concerned with protecting kids from
Facebook than an AR-15.=
Right now social media is doing more damage and leading to the use of the AR 15 in some cases I suspect. But both can and should be done.
Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Feb 15, 24 @ 12:27 pm
As a senior closer to 79 than I would like to be, I strongly oppose efforts to get rid of the in person driving test. Past driving records are an inadequate metric for safe driving in the furure. Seniors’ physical and mental abilities fade as they grow older. I have seen relatives and friends who insist on driving but no longer have the skills necessary to drive safely. Hearing, eyesight and response times fade for most of us as we age. In person testing is the only way to keep people off of the road who are no longer safe drivers.
Comment by froganon Thursday, Feb 15, 24 @ 12:31 pm
===Figure 2 in very old soil’s link tells the story===
I am surprised by the drop between 25-29 and 30-39. I guess a lot of maturing happens in the 30s, although some of the steepness in drop could be an artifact of the change from 5 to 10 year cohorts.
The death rate for 80+ is clearly bad for the driver and passengers, but about average for others. So don’t ride with an 80+ year old driver, but no need to fear them more than someone in their late 20s.
Those injuries and deaths for 16-17 are just as troubling. It would be great to see some data specific to Illinois and its graduated drivers license program. Hopefully, we are well below average.
Comment by thechampaignlife Thursday, Feb 15, 24 @ 2:58 pm
===“This is not about all hospitals,” she said. “This is about one bad actor.”===
Then it doesn’t warrant statewide legislation, which will add burden to already overly burdened hospitals when it comes to staffing
Comment by Central Illinois Centrist Thursday, Feb 15, 24 @ 4:30 pm