January 31, 2025
104th ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY:
The Illinois General Assembly has adjourned for the week. While both chambers were scheduled to be in session from Tuesday through Thursday, Thursday’s session was canceled. One Senate committee met; no House committees did.
Although floor action was minimal this week, the House approved changes to its Operating Rules. Among the alterations: creating and renaming the committees previously identified; reducing the number of bills on the consent calendar from 80 to 25; and exempting the bills on the consent calendar from 3rd Reading deadlines. The House did not assign any bills to standing committees, but the Senate Assignments Committee assigned an additional 70 bills and resolutions to various committees.
Committees for the 104th General Assembly have been officially organized. A list of members of Senate committees is available here; House committee members are here. It is unlikely that legislation requiring amendments will be considered before the bill drafting deadline, as the Legislative Reference Bureau is not accepting amendment requests between now and February 7.
Information on upcoming Senate committee hearings is here. No House committee hearings are scheduled for next week.
Friday, February 7 is the bill filing deadline. Note that staff are reporting an increase in bill drafting requests over previous years.
The ongoing internal conflict within the House Republican Caucus continues. This week, members of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus issued press releases expressing dissatisfaction with Republican Leader McCombie for not reappointing some of them to committee leadership positions and removing access to caucus staff and other resources. On January 8, four members of the Freedom Caucus (along with Representative McLaughlin) participated in a private inauguration ceremony instead of attending the House inauguration ceremony -- thereby avoiding the need to vote for (or against) Leader McCombie.
Republican Senator Dan McConchie (26th Senate District) will retire on February 2. He served since 2016 and was elected Senate Republican Leader from 2020 to 2022. McConchie will lead the Accessibility Policy Institute, a non-profit addressing accessibility for disabled individuals. Local Republicans have one month to select his replacement. Republican Representative Martin McLaughlin (who currently represents half of the 26th Senate District) has expressed interest in the appointment. He won reelection in November by a mere 47 votes. McConchie, meanwhile, is endorsing Joe Salvi for the position. Salvi is the son of Kathy Salvi, who serves as the chair of the State Republican Party, and former State Representative Al Salvi.
House Republicans filed a lawsuit with the Illinois Supreme Court this week, claiming that Democrats maintain a supermajority due to gerrymandered House districts. The lawsuit argues that the current map violates state constitutional requirements for compact and fair elections, resulting in a bias towards Democratic candidates. The Republicans’ goal: to invalidate the maps and appoint a special master to redraw district boundaries. After failing in federal court, they are now presenting new data and an expert witness to strengthen their case in state court. Read more here.
A brick was thrown through the Mt. Vernon office window of Republican Senator Terry Bryant and Representative Dave Severin this week. In a joint statement, they emphasized that violence is not the answer despite rising political tensions and pledged to cooperate with law enforcement to ensure the safety of their employees and nearby businesses.
2025 Spring Session Key Dates and Deadlines:
January 24 – February 7: LRB Blackout – No amendments will be drafted
February 7: Deadline – Bill Introduction Deadline Both Chambers
February 19: Governor’s Budget and State of the State Address
March 21: Deadline – Committee Deadline Both Chambers
April 11: Deadline – Third Reading Deadline Both Chambers
May 9: Deadline – Committee Deadline Bills in Opposite Chamber
May 23: Deadline – Third Reading Deadline Bills in Opposite Chamber
May 31: Adjournment
GOVERNOR’S HIGHLIGHTS:
Tech Incubator Enhancement Grants: The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity announced $7 million in funding for the Tech Incubator Enhancement Grants Program (TIEG). Aimed at supporting entrepreneurship and innovation in key growth industries through startup incubators, the funding will strengthen the state’s technology ecosystem by enhancing the resilience of existing incubators. Grantees will be selected through a Notice of Funding Opportunity process. Read more here.
Illinois Adds Publicly Funded Pre-School Spots: Governor Pritzker and the Illinois State Board of Education announced the addition of 5,150 publicly funded preschool seats, funded through the FY 2025 Early Childhood Block Grants. The Smart Start Illinois plan is now in its second year and seeks to expand early childhood education by adding more preschool seats for working families. Read more here.
IDOC Cadet Training: The Illinois Department of Corrections has established two new partnerships to address training needs and expand opportunities for cadets. For the Southern region, IDOC signed an intergovernmental agreement with Carterville’s Logan Community College to prepare cadets for careers at several area correctional centers. Then, with respect to training efforts for cadets serving at facilities in the Northern region, IDOC signed a similar agreement with Elementary School District 54 in Morris. These collaborative agreements were developed in discussions with AFSCME Council 31. Read more here.
Law Enforcement Officer Recruitment and Retention Grant: The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board announced $6.5 million in competitive funding for the Officer Recruitment and Retention Grant to bolster police officer recruitment and offer incentives for retention statewide. Local governments, public institutions of higher education, and qualified nonprofits may apply. Read more here.
Illinois State Police: The Illinois State Police have announced new partnerships that will advance educational opportunities for members of law enforcement. Troopers and officers who graduate from the ISP Academy will now be able to earn credit hours toward a bachelor's degree; the collaboration exists with Eastern Illinois University, Governors State University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and Western Illinois University. Read more here.
Illinois Marketplace Reports Record-High Enrollment: The Illinois Department of Insurance has announced a record-high enrollment during the open enrollment period for the Get Covered Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace. Since November 1, nearly 466,000 individuals have enrolled in the Illinois Marketplace -- a 17% increase compared to the previous year. Read more here.
Regional Site Readiness Program: Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity announced $31 million in Regional Site Readiness Program awards for 24 sites statewide. The program offers two funding opportunities: Planning grants for due diligence activities, and Capital Ready grants for infrastructure improvements. This includes 13 Planning grantees and 11 Capital Ready grantees working on projects to attract investment and job opportunities in Illinois’ Economic Development Regions. The program aims to help municipalities, economic development organizations, and landowners improve sites to entice industrial businesses. Read more here.
Gubernatorial Appointments: Governor Pritzker reappointed a handful of Commissioners to the Workers’ Compensation Commission. Continuing in that role will be Raychel Wesley, Stephen Mathis, Deborah Simpson, Christopher Harris, and Carolyn Doherty.
OTHER NEWS:
AI Task Force Releases First Report: What are the impacts of generative AI on civil rights, education, labor, consumer protections, and the environment? These aspects are addressed in a report published by the Illinois Generative AI and Natural Language Processing Task Force, chaired by Representative Rashid and Senator Peters. The report also includes recommendations for AI regulations and standards in Illinois, keying in on efforts to support workers, safeguard civil rights, protect Democracy, enhance privacy and consumer rights, and foster sustainable AI development. Rashid indicated he will seek to extend the task force into the future to allow for ongoing monitoring of the effects of AI in Illinois. Read the report here.
Federal Funding Cuts: On Tuesday, state agencies, nonprofit organizations, and other entities dependent on federal funding faced disruption and chaos following the release of a White House memo that would have temporarily halted the distribution of all federal grants, loans, and financial assistance programs. The original memo is here, and the spreadsheet with impacted programs is here. Meanwhile, many states, including Illinois, reported they had lost access to their Medicaid systems Tuesday morning, with the White House later reporting that the situation was attributed to “a system outage.” By Tuesday afternoon, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and four other Democratic attorneys general filed a lawsuit in Rhode Island to block the directive from the federal Office of Management and Budget. U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan blocked the Trump administration efforts just minutes before the order was set to take effect at 4 pm Tuesday. By early Wednesday morning, the White House rescinded the previous order. Governor Pritzker has subsequently directed state agencies to report on the impacts of potential federal funding cuts. Read more here and here.
Chicago Mayor Asked to Testify Before Congress: Mayor Brandon Johnson and the mayors of three other sanctuary cities have been called to testify before Congress as part of an investigation into how local policies are affecting the enforcement of President Donald Trump’s promise of “mass deportations.” Johnson, who characterized the request as “disingenuous” has declined to say whether he will testify. Read more here.
