States that the new Department of Early Childhood and its planning process should prioritize appropriate attention to the facilities needs of our State's mixed-delivery system of early care and education. Additionally states that the State should move expeditiously to award its remaining Early Childhood Construction Grant monies to qualified applicants, to assist providers of critical birth-to-five programs in meeting their growing building-and-repair demands. Finally states that the State should also move as quickly as feasible to replenish Early Childhood Construction Grant resources to help Illinois achieve the long-term vision of the bipartisan Funding Commission for making services "simpler, better, fairer" for young children, their families, and communities statewide.
Sponsored bills
Declares February 7, 2025 as Wear Red Day in the State of Illinois. Urges all residents of Illinois to raise awareness about cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in women, and to show their support for women and the fight against heart disease by wearing the color red to commemorate this day.
Urges the State to increase reimbursement rates, state grants and contracts, and the minimum overhead allowance to meet the rising costs of providing essential human services in Illinois and supporting the workers who deliver those services.
Honors the memory of the Jewish people who were victims of the Holocaust and recognizes the bravery of survivors who have shared their stories with the world. Honors the memory of the millions of additional people, including prisoners of war, ethnic Poles, Romani people, Serbian civilians, people with disabilities, political opponents and dissenters, people labeled as asocial, Jehovah's Witnesses, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and Black Germans, who were persecuted and murdered by the Nazi state and their collaborators. Expresses gratitude for the soldiers, resistance fighters, and all those who helped defeat the Nazi regime and end the Holocaust. Expresses gratitude for the American soldiers who fought around the world during World War II, including the over 980,000 men and women from Illinois who served in the U.S. Armed Forces and the approximately 22,000 who gave their lives in pursuit of liberty. Expresses gratitude for the American forces that liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp on April 11, 1945, and who would go on that month to liberate concentration camps at Dachau, Dora-Mittelbau, and Flossenburg before liberating Mauthausen in early May 1945. Urges all Illinoisans to commit to learning about the Holocaust in order to ensure that such atrocities are never perpetrated again. Urges all Illinoisans to enhance their efforts to combat antisemitism, bigotry, intolerance, and racism.
Urges the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), in consultation with the Illinois Board of Pharmacy, to eliminate the Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Examination (MPJE) as a requirement for pharmacist licensure in the State of Illinois. Encourages the IDFPR and the Illinois Board of Pharmacy to consider alternative approaches to ensuring pharmacists' understanding of state-specific laws and rules, including continuing education, attestation statements, or integration of jurisprudence content within the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX).
Declares March 25, 2025 as Equal Pay Day in the State of Illinois. Encourages the citizens of this State to learn about the pay gap that women experience in society and to learn about these various dates that bring attention to the pay gap that specific groups experience.
Reaffirms commitment to upholding the health, dignity, and civil rights of all people with disabilities, including Autistic individuals across the spectrum of strengths, needs, and identities. Recognizes and honors the rightful presence, contributions, and leadership of neurodivergent individuals in inclusive schools, workplaces, and communities throughout every stage of life.
Congratulates Ronald McDonald House Charities on its 50th anniversary. Commends the organization for its commitment to Illinois families and children in their times of need. Thanks Ronald McDonald House Charities, its partners, its employees, and its volunteers for their dedication to providing a caring and compassionate environment where families can rest, find support, and heal together. Wishes the organization continued success in its mission.
Amends the Public Utilities Act. Provides that a gas utility may cease providing service if the Illinois Commerce Commission determines that adequate substitute service is available at a reasonable cost to support the existing end uses of the affected utility customers. Provides for cost-effective energy efficiency measures for natural gas utilities that supersede existing provisions concerning natural gas energy efficiency programs and take effect beginning January 1, 2027. Provides that gas main and gas service extension policies shall be based on the principle that the full incremental cost associated with new development and growth shall be borne by the customers that cause those incremental costs. Provides that, no later than 60 days after the effective date of the amendatory Act, the Commission shall initiate a docketed rulemaking reviewing each gas public utility tariff that provides for gas main and gas service extensions without additional charge to new customers in excess of the default extensions as specified in administrative rule. Adds the Clean Building Heating Law Article to the Act, with provisions concerning emissions standards for heating in buildings, as well as related and other provisions. Adds the 2050 Heat Decarbonization Standard Article to the Act, with provisions concerning options for compliance, measures for customer emission reduction, customer emission reductions, tradable clean heat credits, banking of emission reductions, equity in emission reductions, enforcement, the 2050 Heat Decarbonization Pathways Study, gas infrastructure planning, a study on gas utility financial incentive reform, and reporting requirements. Adds the Statewide Navigator Program Law Article to the Act, with provisions concerning creation of a statewide navigator program, as well as related and other provisions. Amends the Energy Transition Act to add electrification industries to clean energy jobs. Effective immediately.
Creates the Municipal and Cooperative Electric Utility Planning and Transparency Act. Provides that, by November 1, 2025, and by November 1 every 3 years thereafter, all electric cooperatives with members in the State, municipal power agencies, and municipalities shall file with the Illinois Power Agency an integrated resource plan. Sets forth provisions concerning the plan. Amends the Illinois Power Agency Act. Authorizes the Illinois Power Agency to develop capacity procurement plans and conduct competitive procurement processes for the procurement of capacity needed to ensure environmentally sustainable long-term resource adequacy across the State at the lowest cost over time. Amends the Public Utilities Act. Changes the cumulative persisting annual savings goals for electric utilities that serve less than 3,000,000 retail customers but more than 500,000 retail customers for the years of 2025 through 2030. Provides that the cumulative persisting annual savings goals beyond the year 2030 shall increase by 0.9 (rather than 0.6) percentage points per year. Changes the requirements for submitting proposed plans and funding levels to meet savings goals for an electric utility serving more than 500,000 retail customers (rather than serving less than 3,000,000 retail customers but more than 500,000 retail customers). Provides that an electric utility that has a tariff approved within one year of the amendatory Act shall also offer at least one market-based, time-of-use rate for eligible retail customers that choose to take power and energy supply service from the utility. Sets forth provisions regarding the Illinois Commerce Commission's powers and duties related to residential time-of-use pricing. Provides that each capacity procurement event may include the procurement of capacity through a mix of contracts with different terms and different initial delivery dates. Sets forth the requirements of prepared capacity procurement plans. Requires each alternative electric supplier to make payment to an applicable electric utility for capacity, receive transfers of capacity credits, report capacity credits procured on its behalf to the applicable regional transmission organization, and submit the capacity credits to the applicable regional transmission organization under that regional transmission organization's rules and procedures. Makes other changes.