Illinois House and Senate news, Illinois General Assembly news from the Shaw Local News Network
From Capitol News Illinois: Bills banning Glocks, creating a prescription drug board and regulating algorithmic pricing advanced in the final days of session, but not to the governor’s desk
From Capitol News Illinois: House Bill 4418 creates the Plastic Pellets Pollution Control Act, which takes a step toward controlling the amount of plastic that ends up in Illinois waterways
From Capitol News Illinois: Lawmakers on the final day of the General Assembly passed a bill to regulate how minors interact with social media and other online platforms to make them less addictive
From Capitol News Illinois: Gov. JB Pritzker says he intends to sign legislation imposing a statewide ban on cell phones and other wireless communication devices during instructional time in public schools and charter schools
From Capitol News Illinois: An Illinois law banning “swipe fees” on taxes and tips — already delayed twice by lawmakers — appears to be on life support after a federal judge who once permitted it issued a permanent injunction against it this week
From Capitol News Illinois: The General Assembly passed a bill early Monday that would give rideshare drivers the right to form a union
From Capitol News Illinois: Bills expanding privacy for abortion medical records and access to birth control services passed in the final days of the General Assembly’s spring session
From Capitol News Illinois: Illinois lawmakers approved a budget after 4 a.m. Monday, which includes the full $350 million increase in Evidence-Based Funding for public schools. Some education advocates had called for a bigger increase
From Capitol News Illinois: New taxes would be implemented on social media companies based on the number of users in the state, along with prediction markets, fantasy sports, and digital assets
Illinois lawmakers remained hopeful that they could find a way to stop the Chicago Bears from leaving for Indiana after they failed to pass a bill before the end of the spring legislative session that would’ve helped the NFL team build a new stadium in Arlington Heights.
From Capitol News Illinois: Illinois could soon reform the state’s regulations on delinquent property tax sales after the House approved a bill 80-35 along party lines Saturday evening that lets homeowners keep their equity
From Capitol News Illinois: The Illinois Senate filed a more than 3,500-page spending plan late Saturday night but how it will be paid for has not been made public
From Capitol News Illinois: The POWER Act, an expansive bill to regulate data centers, will not pass the General Assembly this spring, but the bill’s leaders say the measure isn’t dead and negotiations will continue through the summer
From Capitol News Illinois: House Bill 4248 would prohibit any retailer from using surveillance pricing, a form of algorithmic pricing in which companies use a consumer’s personal data to generate a personalized price
A proposed Illinois law would require police to delete license plate reader data after three days unless it’s tied to an active investigation.
From Capitol News Illinois: The Illinois House gave final passage Wednesday to bills giving the Illinois Department of Insurance authority to review and approve rates for homeowners and automobile insurance
From Capitol News Illinois: Owners of electric bikes, scooters, and other modes of transportation could soon be subject to new regulations under a bill moving forward in the Statehouse
From Capitol News Illinois: Illinois House lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday that would regulate how the largest artificial intelligence companies report on the capabilities of their models
From Capitol News Illinois: Gov. JB Pritzker suggested on Tuesday that lawmakers could suspend the automatic gas tax increase of about 2 cents per gallon that happens annually on July 1
From Capitol News Illinois: U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin delivered a farewell address to the Illinois General Assembly, reflecting on his decades in public office and warning that today’s political divisions pose a serious threat to democratic norms
From Capitol News Illinois: For Illinois farmers, the math is tough: Food-grade soybeans require older genetics that yield 10-15 fewer bushels per acre, and commodity soybeans are more lucrative
From Capitol News Illinois: Illinois abortion advocates are urging lawmakers to do more to protect reproductive healthcare as the legislative session moves into its final days and the federal landscape keeps shifting
From Capitol News Illinois: The Illinois Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to advance a bill that would regulate how large artificial intelligence model developers handle transparency and catastrophic risk
From Capitol News Illinois: The Illinois House advanced a bill that would regulate the maximum price certain prescription drugs can be sold for in the state
From Capitol News Illinois: As state lawmakers work to pass a school funding plan for the upcoming fiscal year, some are expressing frustration over how this year’s budget has been implemented
From Capitol News Illinois: Senate Republicans are calling on their colleagues and the governor to opt into a federal school choice tax credit program.
From Capitol News Illinois: Illinois lawmakers are considering legislation that a major gun rights organization says would effectively ban one of the nation’s most popular types of firearms
From Capitol News Illinois: A bill heading to the House would allow minors to consent to receiving birth control without parental consent. The governor also says he will sign a measure to ban “junk fees,” or unlisted charges tacked onto the total of cost of ticketed events
A pregnant ER nurse was kicked by a patient. Prosecutors, hospitals and nurses say violence has become routine – and convictions remain rare
From Capitol News Illinois: The Illinois General Assembly is considering extending unemployment benefits to public school support staff during the 10 to 11 weeks of summer break
From Capitol News Illinois: Backers of a bill aimed at limiting law enforcement’s use of biometric surveillance say they’re not looking to move the measure this legislative session
From Capitol News Illinois: Public school advocates have rallied against the tax credit, arguing it is a voucher program, in which the state directly funds students’ private school tuition
From Capitol News Illinois: A proposal that would expand access to a federal program that discounts the price of prescription drugs could end up costing Illinois employers an additional $89 million a year
From Capitol News Illinois: Advocates are calling for the General Assembly to pass the POWER Act to regulate data centers before the legislative session ends on May 31
From Capitol News Illinois: With less than a month left in the spring legislative session, Senate Democrats introduced a package of bills aimed at regulating some artificial intelligence usage.
From Capitol News Illinois: Growing pessimism over the direction of the global economy is leading budget analysts for the governor’s office and Illinois’ legislature to temper revenue expectations
From Capitol News Illinois: JB Pritzker sent a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday, urging the release of $1 billion in broadband infrastructure funds previously allocated to Illinois
From Capitol News Illinois: A Cook County judge on Monday pushed off her scheduled ruling on whether to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate alleged abuses by federal immigration agents during last fall’s “Operation Midway Blitz.”
From Capitol News Illinois: As thousands of Illinois households lose their federal food assistance this month, business owners are also preparing for potential loss
From Capitol News Illinois: There are leaders who question whether the benefits make up for increased energy prices and water use, and they’re calling on the General Assembly to pass regulations this spring through the POWER ACT.
From Capitol News Illinois: The Illinois Senate advanced a bill that would ensure students who commit sexually violent crimes can be expelled from school
From Capitol News Illinois: In an annual May ceremony, friends, family and supporters of law enforcement honored two Illinois police officers who died in the line of duty in 2025
From Capitol News Illinois: Progressive Democrats want to see more taxes on businesses and billionaires and the end of some economic development incentives. Republicans are calling for a measured approach that prepares for the possibility of an economic slowdown
From Capitol News Illinois: Eight months after a federal immigration agent shot and killed a man in the earliest days of “Operation Midway Blitz,” the Illinois State Police has opened an investigation into the fatal shooting
From Capitol News Illinois: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and an army of suburban mayors descended on Springfield on Wednesday to call on the General Assembly to boost funding for local governments
From Capitol News Illinois: As budget negotiations kicked into high gear at the Illinois Statehouse this week, lawmakers from both chambers have begun to assess how much progress has been made under the Evidence-Based Funding formula for public schools
From Capitol News Illinois: The Illinois State Board of Education is asking lawmakers this year for $200,000 to develop a new way of counting low-income students as participation in federal assistance programs declines.
From Capitol News Illinois: The Illinois Accountability Commission is also sending letters to local law enforcement agencies for potential prosecution of federal immigration agents amid Operation Midway Blitz
From Capitol News Illinois: Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey proposed changes to electronic monitoring rules, but said his plan would not call for returning to the use of cash bail. JB Pritzker blamed the judge in the case for deciding to release the man accused
From Capitol News Illinois: A bill to strengthen privacy protections for transgender and abortion patients in Illinois passed a Senate committee Wednesday in a 9-4 partisan vote.