SPRINGFIELD, Ill.— State Rep. Mary Gill, D-Chicago, passed a resolution to recognize August 26, 2026 as Hero Day to honor the bravery, dedication and sacrifices of first responders who lost their lives in the line of duty.

“We are so grateful to our first responders who willingly went above and beyond serving and protecting their communities, and ultimately paid the greatest sacrifice with their own lives,” Gill said. “They deserve the highest tribute.”

House Resolution 649 names Hero Day in August and also honors the 100 Club of Illinois on its 60th anniversary. The 100 Club of Illinois provides training and support to the families of fallen first responders. The organization provides extraordinary support for over 300 families, and has contributed $17 million in emotional and financial support since its inception.

“We want to offer a special thanks to our first responders,” Gill said. “And we want to thank and acknowledge their families who have endured so much and send them comfort. We’re proud to have a day for our heroes. Rest in peace to any who are no longer with us.”

CHICAGO – State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford, D-Chicago, is partnering with local public health organizations, elected officials, and researchers from Brown University to highlight new research on the efficacy of overdose prevention sites (centers) in reducing preventable overdose deaths and improving public health outcomes. 

“Although some of the most notorious open-air drug markets are on the West Side of Chicago, the problem does not stay local. That’s why a majority of West Side residents support overdose prevention sites, which are grounded in scientific evidence and help reduce harm,” said Ford. “Opioid abuse has devastated families in every region, and it’s up to us to take a smart, public-health-driven, and compassionate approach to tackling this issue.”

Ford, who is sponsoring House Bill 2929—legislation to authorize a state-sanctioned overdose prevention site pilot program in Illinois—is partnering with researchers from Brown University, a public health expert from Rush University, community leaders from the West Side Heroin/Opioid Task Force, and other local elected officials to highlight the need for overdose prevention sites at a press conference on May 11 at Rush University Medical Center.   

The pilot program will be kick-started with an $18 million allocation from the Illinois Opioid Remediation Advisory Board, which manages a portion of the state’s opioid settlement funds from litigation against opioid manufacturers, with additional support and oversight provided by relevant state agencies.  

Simply put: these centers save lives—whether it’s through on-site medical staff reversing overdoses before they become fatal or a social worker connecting an individual to a service provider,” said Ford. “While they alone cannot cure someone of addiction, they save lives by meeting people where they are and treating them like patients instead of criminals.”

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – In an effort to reduce the wrongly inflated property tax burden for many Illinois homeowners, state Rep. Natalie Manley, D-Joliet, has proposed legislation aimed to add accountability that would give county supervisors of assessments authority to step in and correct when township assessors fail to assess commercial and industrial developments properly, completely, or at all. The potential shift in assessed properties could mean millions of dollars for a staggering number of wrongly-taxed homeowners.

“Property owners are bearing the brunt of higher taxes in areas where some township assessors are not properly addressing new construction, warehouses, and other commercial and industrial properties,” Rep. Manley said. “House Bill 5086 would give the county-level assessor oversight, creating a more equitable system, regardless of which township residents are from. This is only the first step in a series of necessary property tax reforms.”

New construction of residential warehouses, or other commercial and industrial properties, should spread the property tax burden across a broader number of payees. When these new developments are not correctly factored in, the result is higher taxation for some residential property owners, while the warehouses, or other commercial properties are not taxed correctly or at all.

The legislation was initiated after Will County identified several missed new construction properties that had not been added to the property tax assessment rolls, including several large distribution warehouses. The cost to homeowners could potentially result in millions of dollars of property taxes.

By law, township assessors are currently required to review all property in their jurisdiction every four years, and to provide the county with the value of any new construction in order to factor into the annual property taxes for all. However, many of the township assessor offices, this is not being done thoroughly, consistently, or not at all.

Data from the most recent reporting cycle supports this need for oversight and accountability. For example, in Will County, less than half (48%) of all required residential properties were revalued across Will County’s 24 townships, according to the four-year assessment cycle in 2023.

Concerning commercial and industrial properties for the same time frame, less than a third (27%) were revalued. Ten of those 24 townships failed to revalue nearly all (97%) of their commercial and industrial properties. And, an alarming five townships had revalued zero of the commercial or industrial properties.

“Ensuring accurate tax bills for homeowners should be a top priority,” said Village of Channahon President Missey Moorman Schumacher. “If passed, this legislation would create checks and balances locally to ensure that residents can have confidence in how their properties are assessed.”

This bill would not only empower a county’s supervisor of assessment to evaluate and re-assess properties, but it would put the financial burden caused by township assessors back onto the townships. County-level assessors would be able to invoice townships for additional costs incurred in completing the re-assessments.

The threshold that would trigger a county-level re-assessment would happen when either new construction was omitted, or when at least 20% of any properties were not reassessed or revalued. This would occur during the general assessment year that occurs every four years by township assessors.

“Illinoisans deserve a system of checks and balances, especially when it comes to taxation,” Rep. Manley said. “House Bill 5086 will shine a light on wrongly-assessed or under-assessed property taxes, and create necessary accountability for those who determine our taxation. Townships and their assessors that are following the law and assessing properly will not experience an impact from this proposed legislation. The intent is for this oversight to nudge townships toward prioritizing assessments more thoroughly.”

“This legislation creates a more accurate and fair tax bill,” said Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant. “The existing process is creating inaccuracies due to countywide inequities. Commercial and large-scale industrial properties are not seeing the same tax impact that homeowners are.”

Rep. Manley is a Certified Public Accountant, who serves as vice-chair of the House Financial Institutions and Licensing Committee, in addition to serving the House Counties and Townships Committee, and other committees. She also serves on the state’s Legislative Audit Commission.

EVERGREEN PARK, Ill.—State Rep. Rick Ryan, D-Evergreen Park, is seeking to remove the two-year foreign language requirement Illinois high school students must complete to receive a high school diploma.

“Schools are facing a shortage of qualified teachers who can teach foreign languages,” Ryan said. “And that gap is only growing. Students should still be able to graduate even if their school is unable to secure an instructor for these subjects, which is why we’re working to have that requirement removed.”

Schools are struggling to find foreign language teachers for high school classes. The two- year foreign language requirement, which also includes American Sign Language, has been expressed by school principals as difficult to maintain. House Bill 4334 would remove the two-year requirement.

The Illinois Association of School Administrators, Illinois Association of School Business Officials and the Illinois Association of School Boards all support the move.

“This change would also give schools a chance to be more flexible with their academic planning,” Ryan said.

GRAYSLAKE, Ill. – Following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, dismantling a critical provision in the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, state Representative Laura Faver Dias, D-Grayslake, released the following statement:

“Last week, we learned that the United States Supreme Court ruled against critical protections provided by the federal Voting Rights Act. Their ruling is frankly appalling, as it devastates decades of progress made for the voting rights of minorities across the country. 

“With this move, the Supreme Court has removed the last check against extremists who want to silence communities of color, and it opens the floodgates to even more extreme and politically motivated gerrymandering, as radical groups seek to silence minority voices.

“We’re not going to let that happen here. My colleagues and I are dedicated to ensuring that the people of Illinois are a part of a state that truly represents them. We understand that every individual deserves to feel seen by their government, and, here in Illinois, we remain committed to that ideal.”

CHICAGO – The House Democratic AI Working Group, chaired by state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, held a subject matter hearing on Monday, May 4, to discuss efforts to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) in order to protect consumers and safeguard elections in Illinois.

“These discussions are about protecting consumers and ensuring fairness in our state’s liability statutes,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “AI-powered technologies are no longer simply an emerging technology, they’re impacting almost every aspect of our lives right now.”

Four bills were discussed during the hearing, all pertaining to AI regulation and consumer protection.

Gong-Gershowitz’s House Bill 4557 would create the Digital Forgeries in Politics Act, which places new disclosure requirements on the use of digital manipulation in images, video and audio in political advertising. 

“When voters can no longer trust what they see and hear, democracy itself is at risk,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “AI-generated deepfakes of political candidates and elected officials are not a distant threat — they are already being weaponized to deceive the public, suppress participation and undermine elections. HB4557 draws a clear line: if you use artificial intelligence to fabricate the words or likeness of a political figure to deceive voters, there will be consequences. Illinoisans deserve to make their voices heard based on facts.”

House Bill 5044, also by Gong-Gershowitz, would create the Chatbot Provider Liability Act, defining chatbots as products and establishing that providers have a duty to ensure that the use of a chatbot does not cause injury to a user.

“We have always held manufacturers accountable when their products cause serious harm — and an AI chatbot is a product,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “When companies deploy these systems knowing they have the potential to deceive, manipulate or injure the people who interact with them, they should be held to exactly the same standard we apply to any other dangerous product under Illinois law,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “This legislation closes a loophole that Big Tech has been counting on. If your chatbot causes real harm, you bear real responsibility — full stop.”

State Rep. Daniel Didech’s House Bill 4705 would create the Artificial Intelligence Public Safety and Child Protection Transparency Act, requiring frontier AI developers and large chatbot providers to create a public safety and child protection plan.

“The pace of AI development and the capabilities of frontier models are accelerating, and the General Assembly has an obligation to ensure that Illinois residents are protected from catastrophic outcomes,” Didech said. “This legislation puts enforceable guardrails in place so Big Tech companies must prioritize safety, be transparent about the risks tied to their systems and take responsibility for preventing serious harm, especially when it comes to protecting children.”

State Rep. Maura Hirschauer’s House Bill 5756, would create the Algorithmic Pricing Transparency Act, requiring online retailers to disclose their use of “surveillance pricing”—a growing phenomena that uses artificial intelligence-powered tools to charge higher prices for certain customers based on a user’s personal data.

“House Bill 5756 prioritizes transparency and fairness,” Hirschauer said. “This legislation makes clear that pricing powered by personal data cannot happen in the shadows. By requiring disclosure, banning the use of sensitive information, and guaranteeing an opt-out, we are putting fairness and accountability back into the marketplace.”

The House Democratic AI Working Group was established by Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch earlier this year in order to launch a multifaceted approach to AI policy in Illinois.

JOLIET, Ill. – State Rep. Natalie Manley, D-Joliet, along with the Carpenters Local 174, replaced the raised garden planter boxes at the National Hook-Up of Black Women (NHBW) Joliet Chapter administrative office. The community garden serves the surrounding community, as well as to teach young people how to grow their own vegetables.

Located at 1705 Richards St., Joliet, Tyrone Upshaw, husband to NHBW Joliet Chapter President, Debra Upshaw, teaches children each year using about 15 raised planter boxes, in different sizes. The existing planter boxes had been made out of untreated wood, that had been painted, and had fallen into disrepair over the years.

Rep. Manley donated the treated wood and materials, and volunteers from the Carpenters Local 174, volunteered their time to reconstruct the boxes. The process involved first building new wood frames around the existing frames, so that the dirt would not spill when the old boxes were removed. The Carpenters are also building new child-sized picnic benches for the youth program.

“What Debra and Tyrone Upshaw are doing for their community through the National Hook-Up of Black Women, is empowering children to learn how to feed themselves, in addition to teaching them how to grow and tend to their plants,” Rep. Manley said. “It is an honor to play a small role in their great efforts. Also, thank you to the Carpenters Local 174, who we can always count on to help their community in this big way.”

The National Hook-Up of Black Women Joliet Chapter is a non-profit, 501c3 charitable community service organization dedicated to improving the lives of families through support of the arts, culture, health and human services programs, that serves the whole family.

NHBW membership reflects a rich diversity of women from varied business, professional and community disciplines and represents a broad constituency which crosses economic, social and educational levels. Membership is open to all women who are concerned about and committed to the mission and vision of the organization.

In addition to ongoing literacy and youth programs, the NHBW Joliet Chapter also hosts a weekly food pantry.

To learn more about the NHBW, visit www.NHBWJoliet.com.

Carpenters Local 174 was chartered April 17, 1897. Today, with the leadership and support of the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local 174 represents nearly 2,500 skilled, trained and professional union carpenters.

The area of jurisdiction for Local 174 covers Will, Grundy, Kankakee, Iroquois, Kendall, Southern Kane, LaSalle, Marshall, Putnam, Bureau and Stark Counties in Illinois.

To learn more about Carpenters Local 174, visit www.Local174.org.

EVERGREEN PARK, Ill.—State Rep. Rick Ryan, D-Evergreen Park, is expanding legal assistance for Illinois drivers charged with driving under the influence (DUI) with a new measure that will allow public defenders to represent DUI clients in both criminal cases and civil hearings. 

“If a driver charged with DUI requires a public defender to help with their criminal case, then there’s no reason that the same lawyer shouldn’t be able to assist their client in the civil part of the case,” Ryan said. “We want to make sure that the system is offering all defendants equitable services.”

Under the current law, public defenders are assigned to represent defendants who need free services for criminal cases. But, defendants are not given legal assistance for Statutory Summary Suspension (SSS) hearings, where drivers with DUIs may have their licenses revoked and suspended. House Bill 4217 would amend this to allow public defenders the choice of extending this representation. 

“Many defendants can’t afford a private attorney to help with the civil portion of their case,” Ryan said. “It’s not fair that they should have to try to find that assistance when other defendants can easily afford help. The free option should at least be available for defendants who need it.”