EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – State Rep. LaToya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis, was recently named to Secretary of State Elect Alexi Giannoulias’s transition team as part of the Library Enhancement Committee.

“The essential role libraries play in our communities needs to be preserved and I thank Secretary-Elect Giannoulias for giving me an opportunity to make an impact on something so vital,” Greenwood said. “There is a wealth of information, resources and community events that libraries offer, and it can be transformative. I hope I can be a part of preserving the role that libraries play in Illinois.”

Greenwood has been named to the new Secretary of State’s transition team, a series of committees covering a variety of topics. This team includes Greenwood’s Library Enhancement Committee, which is tasked with streamlining and promoting libraries and the role they play today.

“Throughout the course of my life, I’ve taken advantage of libraries as places to learn and relax plenty of times, and I hope the next generation of kids have that chance,” Greenwood said. “Institutions like these need our support to keep providing their services. That’s a responsibility I take very seriously.”

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – State Rep. LaToya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis, maintained her fight for public safety with her support for a measure to correct misconceptions and address good faith concerns regarding the SAFE-T Act.

“My first priority will always be the safety of my community, and addressing the misconceptions and good faith concerns regarding the SAFE-T Act is a vital step in promoting that,” Greenwood said. “By clarifying and strengthening this law, we are ensuring that our criminal justice system is more efficient and equitable for everyone involved.”

Greenwood supported House Bill 1095, which incorporates hundreds of hours of negotiation and feedback from law enforcement, prosecutors, public safety advocates, survivors, and other relevant stakeholders. It addresses good-faith critiques of the SAFE-T Act and corrects misconceptions to ensure a safe and successful implementation.

Specifically, as initially intended in the underlying SAFE-T Act, House Bill 1095 further clarifies that a person who poses a risk to public safety can be detained. This includes crimes such as arson, kidnapping, robbery and other serious offenses that have been incorrectly suggested as no longer being detainable. House Bill 1095 underscores that non-probationable felonies, forcible felonies, hate crimes and other serious crimes – such as aggravated DUI causing great bodily harm – are detainable by a judge.

To address incorrect concerns that all violent offenders will be released Jan. 1, 2023, House Bill 1095 lays out a clear transition process for courts and law enforcement to avoid misinterpretation of the law:

• Anyone charged on or after Jan. 1 will be entered into the new system;
• Anyone charged before Jan. 1 stays in the current system, but the state or defendant have the option to move the case to the new system;
• The motion schedule will prioritize low level non-violent offenders;
• Those defendants who are charged with low level non-violent crimes must receive their offense hearings within seven days;
• Those who are requesting to be entered into the new system but could be considered a flight risk will have an offense hearing within 60 days and those who are considered a threat to public safety will have a hearing within 90 days. A judge will have discretion on whether these individuals will be released pre-trial.

House Bill 1095 further clarifies and makes consistent all language pertaining to what prosecutors must show to detain an individual, which is that the person poses a real and present threat to any person or the community, based on specific articulable facts of the case.

Of note, House Bill 1095 addresses concerns about the enforcement of trespassing to ensure that a trespasser can be cited – and then arrested – if they refuse to leave.

Language is also updated to clarify what is considered as “willful flight.” It defines “willful flight” as intentionally avoiding prosecution and notes that patters of nonappearance or a lack of steps to address nonappearance can be considered as factors in determining willful flight.

Updated language clarifies court authority in setting conditions for electronic monitoring, and removes language that would have made escape chargeable only after 48 hours.

Additionally, the measure creates a state grant program for increasing public defenders to handle an expected increase in caseloads, further clarifies remote hearing rules, further explains bench warrant processes and allows for good reason delays to be excluded from a speedy trial clock. It also allows for the state and defendant to appeal all court decisions related to pretrial release and clarifies that the public defender handling the detention hearing also handles the appeal.

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – State Rep. LaToya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis, recently announced $350 million in grants available through the ‘Connect Illinois’ program to grow broadband access in underserved communities. Businesses, nonprofits, cooperatives, school districts and local governments are welcome to apply.

“Without consistent broadband access, competing in modern life can be a huge challenge,” Greenwood said. “Kids have a less productive education and businesses have a harder time attracting customers; these are the kind of disadvantages that we have to eliminate in our community and across the state. Widespread broadband service will help grow our economy, bolster public schools and generally promote equity. These grants are a substantial step towards making that goal a reality.”

‘Connect Illinois’ Broadband Grant Program is offering $350M in grants to nonprofits, businesses, cooperatives, school district and local governments in unserved or underserved areas. This money can go towards network design, project planning, equipment, construction and deployment of necessary infrastructure. For more information or to apply, please visit https://www.illinois.gov/.

“It’s past time we deliver universal access to high-speed internet,” Greenwood said. “I strongly encourage small businesses and other organizations who have been left without this essential service to apply for assistance.”

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – State Rep. LaToya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis, is announcing a state career and resource fair in partnership with the African American Employment Plan Advisory Council. The fair will be held Saturday, Nov. 3, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Gateway Conference Center-Hall B at 1 Gateway Drive, in Collinsville.

“The foundation of any healthy local economy is stable, good-paying jobs. This resource fair’s goal is to bring jobs like that to our African American community,” Greenwood said. “Too often, workers in the African American community are overlooked or undervalued when it comes to employment assistance. However, the African American Employment Plan Advisory Council is working to even the playing field and combat Black unemployment during these financially-strenuous times.”

This event is also sponsored by the St. Clair County Housing Authority, the Madison County Housing Authority and the Housing Authority of the City of East St. Louis. Those with questions can contact the Illinois Department of Central Management Services at 217-782-4655. For employment opportunities with the state of Illinois, visit work.illinois.gov.

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – State Rep. LaToya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis, announced that the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is hosting virtual workshops for certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) firm owners to hone their entrepreneurial skills.

“Rising inflation has created challenges for our local businesses, especially those in underserved communities, and they deserve a hand during such a trying time,” Greenwood said. “IDOT workshops provide less-supported business owners the tools they need to build a stronger future and bolster local economies. I encourage all entrepreneurs in our community to take part.”

IDOT will be hosting a variety of “Building Blocks of Success” workshops on a variety of topics throughout November. These topics include accounting best practices, improving a business’s credit score, expansion of work category codes and others. Workshops are free for all certified DBE firm owners, and will continue regularly through next April. For more information or to register, anyone can visit www.idot.illinois.gov/dbe or call IDOT’s DBE Resource Center at 312-939-1100. Prior registration is required to attend.

“The lingering impacts of COVID-19 as well as recent inflation were both particularly hard on underserved businesses,” Greenwood said. “IDOT is providing opportunities that will help negate the unequal hardships that are unfortunately prevalent in our society.”

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – State Rep. LaToya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis, has put her support behind a new measure to deliver $170 in relief to Ameren residential and small commercial energy customers.

“High prices of utilities are hurting working families and it’s essential that they get relief,” Greenwood said. “This measure will award an immediate rebate to qualifying customers without a time-consuming application process or unnecessary paperwork.”

Greenwood’s House Bill 5799 creates the Power Price Mitigation Rebate Act, which is focused on helping Ameren region residential and small commercial energy customers with monthly rebates for the months of August through December 2022. The $200 million rebate program would provide customers with a total fixed rebate of around $170 over multiple months.

If passed into law, customers would automatically have the rebate deducted from their bill. In the event that a rebate credit is greater than a customer’s bill, the excess credit will apply to the following billing period.

“Reining in the impact of price spikes for everyday essentials is a priority for me,” Greenwood said. “Illinois’ most recent budget, which provided tax relief on gas and groceries, greatly extended the property tax rebate for low-income households and expanded the earned income tax credit, put a focus on this as well. I will continue to fight for inflation relief for low-income families until prices have dropped.”

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – State Rep. LaToya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis, is announcing that scholarships from the 2022-23 school year are still available for those interested in getting degrees or credentials in early childhood education or childcare fields.

“Kids in our community deserve the best education in the country, and that starts with childcare and early education. Unfortunately, Illinois is currently facing a shortage of workers with degrees in that field. I encourage anyone interested in utilizing these scholarship opportunities to help fill that worker gap,” Greenwood said. “After a good education, jobs in this field are dependable, well-paying and a boon to working parents in the nearby community.”

The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) is encouraging former childcare workers or those interested in the field to apply for the Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity (ECACE) scholarship. This scholarship can cover students’ total cost of attendance, including tuition, fees, books, and room and board.

More detailed information on the scholarship is available at the ISAC website: www.isac.org/ECACEscholarship.

“Working parents, single parents, any caregivers who are having difficulty taking care of their young children all day; they all are very familiar with the need for more trained childcare professionals,” Greenwood said. “Anyone working this job is playing an extremely important and beneficial role in the lives of numerous children and their families. These scholarships provide a simple, affordable path to those roles.”

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – State Rep. LaToya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis, is announcing that the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) will be constructing $754 million in improvements to her community’s highway infrastructure.

“From strengthening our supply chain to making our drives safer, these major improvements to our community’s highways are money well spent,” Greenwood said. “Good-paying jobs created by these projects will also be a boon to working families in our community, while creating more roads and bridges that help our small businesses reach a larger consumer base.”

As part of the Rebuild Illinois Capital Plan, IDOT will be embarking on a six-year $24.6 billion investment plan for construction and repair of roads and bridges across Illinois. Roughly $754 million will go to projects on state and local highways in Greenwood’s 114th district, such as improving road lighting, fixing cracked joints and supports, building new bridges and other developments.

Greenwood voted in favor of the original capital bill in 2019, as well as budgets funding this plan every year she has been in office.

“As we look at all the great things this capital plan is doing, I am proud to have backed Rebuild Illinois multiple times,” Greenwood said. “All over the state, communities like ours are also getting an influx of new infrastructure, and of aid for small businesses fighting the current spike in inflation.”

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – State Rep. LaToya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis, is holding a community shred day on Saturday, Aug. 20, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. It will be held in the parking lot of Mascoutah Middle School on 846 North 6th Street in Mascoutah. Greenwood will be joined by fellow state Rep. Jay Hoffman, and state Sen. Christopher Belt.

“I’m pleased to join my colleagues to offer our community another opportunity to get rid of unwanted documents safely, quickly and freely,” Greenwood said. “Taking advantage of this event will help you clear clutter without worrying about sensitive information getting into the hands of financial criminals.”

Only paper materials will be accepted, but small paper clips and staples do not need to be removed from documents before shredding. Plastic bags are not allowed. The event will end early if the shred truck fills up, so people are encouraged to attend early. For more information, please call Greenwood’s office at 618-857-8124 or email staterepgreenwood@gmail.com.