Sen. Sue Rezin

Maddy summarySB 161 is a procedural bill that corrects a redundant phrase in the Public Utilities Act's short title section (Section 1-101). It changes the citation from "the the Public Utilities Act" to simply "the Public Utilities Act" for clarity. This bill does not affect policy, regulations, or any stakeholders - it only fixes a technical error in the law's official wording. The change has no substantive impact on how the Public Utilities Act operates.

Maddy summarySB 163 corrects a clerical error in the short title of the Telecommunications Article within Illinois' Public Utilities Act. It fixes a redundant "and and" to read "Universal Telephone Service Protection Law of 1985" (currently misstated as "and and" in the law). This technical amendment does not change any regulations, policies, or obligations for telecommunications providers or consumers. The bill only updates the official citation of an existing law.

Maddy summarySB 162 is a technical correction to the Public Utilities Act's short title section. It removes the redundant word "the" from the citation, changing "the Public Utilities Act" to "Public Utilities Act" in Section 1-101. This bill does not change any regulations, policies, or affect any individuals or entities. It is purely a procedural amendment to align the statute's citation with standard legal formatting.

Provides that the amendatory Act may be referred to as the Kinship in Demand (KIND) Act. Provides that the KIND Act creates the statutory vision and authority for the Department of Children and Family Services to execute a kin-first approach to service delivery and directs the juvenile courts to provide necessary oversight of the Department's obligations to maintain family connections and promote equitable opportunities for youth and families to thrive with relational permanence. Amends the Children and Family Services Act. Contains provisions concerning Department rules on relative, kinship, and licensed foster care; grants to subsidized guardians of hard-to-place children; a requirement on the Department to make reasonable efforts to place a child with a relative; documentation of the Department's reasons for failing to secure a relative placement; foster care maintenance payments for relatives who qualify for certification as a kinship caregiver home; subsidized guardianship support services for children and their guardians; certification and background checks on relative caregivers; annual reports regarding relative and kinship care placements; performance audits; and other matters. Amends the Child Care Act of 1969. Requires the Department to adopt standards for certifying kinship caregiver family homes that are different from licensing standards used for non-relative foster family homes. Contains provisions concerning background screenings of prospective kinship caregivers; a requirement that the Department assist relatives and prospective kinship caregivers with completing the steps required for approval as a kinship caregiver home; orientation activities for prospective kinship caregivers; Guardianship Assistance Program payments and services for relative caregivers; and other matters. Amends the Juvenile Court Act of 1987. Makes changes to provisions concerning "best interest" determinations; emergency placement of a minor with a willing relative pending a temporary custody hearing; court assessments on the Department's effort to place a minor with a relative; court ordered family-finding efforts; required notification to a minor's located relatives that the minor has been removed from the custody of the minor's parents; and other matters. Effective immediately.

Maddy summaryThis Senate Resolution honors the life of Roger Gerald "Jerry" Belt, a resident of Morris who passed away in August 2024. The document outlines his personal history, including his service in the U.S. Army in South Korea, his career as a sheet metal worker at a nuclear power station, and his long-standing musical career with his wife. It also notes his community involvement through various veterans' organizations and his support for local high school football teams. The resolution formally expresses the Illinois Senate's condolences to his family and directs that a copy of the document be presented to them.

Creates the Data Center Construction by Foreign Adversaries Act. Provides that no foreign company may construct or cause to be constructed a data center in the State unless the Illinois Commerce Commission, the Illinois Power Agency, and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity conduct a joint study of the energy consumption of the prospective data center and certify to the Governor and the General Assembly that the energy used by the new data center is a new self-generated load and does not affect the load supply of PJM or MISO. Provides that the term "foreign company" means an entity that (i) is at least 51% owned by a foreign adversary or (ii) is headquartered in a country with a government that is a foreign adversary.

Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Deletes a provision that a person shall not be subject to arrest for resisting arrest unless there is an underlying offense for which the person was initially subject to arrest. Amends the Pretrial Release Article of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. In provisions concerning denial of pretrial release, provides that, upon verified petition by the State, the court shall hold a hearing and may deny a defendant pretrial release if (instead of only if) specified conditions are met. In provisions concerning the specified conditions to deny pretrial release to a defendant, provides that one of the conditions is if the defendant is charged with a felony offense and it is alleged that the defendant's pretrial release poses a real and present threat to the safety of any person or persons or the community, based on the specific articulable facts of the case (instead of specifying that the defendant is charged with a felony offense other than a forcible felony for which, based on the charge or the defendant's criminal history, a sentence of imprisonment, without probation, periodic imprisonment or conditional discharge, is required by law upon conviction). Makes other changes concerning detainable offenses. Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Deletes a provision that at a minimum, any person ordered to pretrial home confinement with or without electronic monitoring must be provided with movement spread out over no fewer than 2 days per week, to participate in basic activities. Provides that a participant in electronic monitoring for home detention may have approved absences from home detention to purchase groceries, food, or other basic necessities with the prior approval of the supervising authority. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Estate and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Act. Makes certain changes concerning estates that contain qualified farm property. Provides that, for the purposes of calculating the State Death Tax Credit, those estates are subject to an exemption of $6,000,000 (rather than an exclusion amount of $4,000,000), which shall be deducted from the net estate value after the net estate value is computed in accordance with the Act. Provides that the exemption shall be adjusted each year according to the increase in the Consumer Price Index. Makes changes concerning the calculation of the deceased spousal unused exclusion amount for those estates. Provides for a special use valuation to provide that the value of the qualified farm property shall be calculated without regard to certain limitations under the Internal Revenue Code. Makes changes concerning the definition of "qualified heir" to provide that a decedent's brother, sister, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, or first cousin is also included.

Amends the Child Care Act of 1969. Provides that the Department of Children and Family Services shall host licensing orientation programs to help educate potential day care center, day care home, and group day care home providers about the child day care licensing process. Provides that the Department shall host licensing orientation programs at least twice annually in each legislative district in the State.

Creates the Child Abuse Notice Act. Requires certain businesses and establishments, including, but not limited to, day care centers, elementary and secondary schools, bus stations, and general acute care hospital emergency rooms, to post in a conspicuous place a notice developed by the Department of Children and Family Services that is aimed toward children under 18 and provides information on what constitutes physical and sexual abuse and how to report such abuse. Requires the notice to be at least 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches in size, written in a 16-point font, unless the notice is provided by electronic means. Requires the Department, in consultation with an accredited Children's Advocacy Center, to develop a model notice no later than 6 months after the effective date of the Act. Requires the Department to make the model notice available for download on the Department's Internet website and provide the notice upon request to eligible business, schools, and other establishments. Provides that the notice shall be printed in English, Spanish, and in one other language that is the most widely spoken language in the county where the establishment is located and for which translation is mandated by the federal Voting Rights Act, as applicable. Imposes certain penalties on those businesses and other establishments that are subject to the Act that fail to comply with the Act's requirements. Exempts school districts and personnel from the penalty provision.