NORTHBROOK, Ill. – State Rep. Jonathan Carroll, D-Northbrook, continued to push for accessible medical treatment for all Illinois with his support of a new law expanding mental health care training in all schools.

“We need to ensure our schools are equipped to provide support for any students who are dealing with mental illness,” Carroll said. “Accessible health care is one of the most important things we can give to our kids, so it is critical that the people responsible for their wellbeing know how to respond to these all-too-common problems. In the past, mental health care has been treated as a secondary issue that only warrents a few trained specialists in a school. It’s time for that to change.”

Carroll sponsored Senate Bill 1731, which requires all school personnel responsible for kids in Kindergarten through 12th grade be trained to handle mental health issues. These issues include depression, bipolar disorder and substance abuse, among others. This legislation receive strong bipartisan support and is now law.

“I’m committed to building a stronger, fairer Illinois, and that means providing a health care system with the resources to assist everyone,” Carroll said. “Health care isn’t limited to doctors and nurses, it includes therapists, social workers and even teachers. This law will provide our educators with the tools and training to help students facing mental illness.”

NORTHBROOK, Ill. – State Rep. Jonathan Carroll, D-Northbrook, is supporting legislation which will combat the exploitation of student athletes by allowing them to take advantage of endorsement opportunities and obtain professional representation.

“Student athletes work long, strenuous hours and generate tremendous amounts of revenue for the schools they attend, and they deserve fair compensation for their hard work,” Carroll said. “For too many years, wealthy universities have raked in huge profits from their sports teams while the dedicated athletes on those teams get almost nothing in return. It’s time for that to end.”

Carroll is sponsoring House Bill 3904, the Student Athlete Endorsement Act, which allows student athletes at any public or private university or college to accept endorsement opportunities. Endorsements can result from a company wishing to use students’ names, images or likenesses.

This legislation is following a recent court ruling which stated the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) could not prevent payments to student athletes without violating anti-trust laws.

“This bill is about treating college athletes who have been taken advantage of with the fairness and dignity they deserve,” Carroll said. “Whether someone is working in a factory, in an office or on a basketball court, they should be getting reasonable compensation for their time and effort. No school can take that right away.”

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – State Rep. Jonathan Carroll, D-Northbrook, backed a new law to ensure lifesaving prescriptions are available quickly by cutting insurance industry bureaucracy and streamlining filling proceedures.

“It’s passed time we streamline the process pharmacies use to get prescriptions. Massive insurance companies have put up so much red tape that patients have to get around, it is putting some people with serious illnesses in real danger,” Carroll said. “If you or someone in your family is battling a debilitating allergy attack, working with pharmacists to fill out a stack of forms isn’t an option. We need a simple system that gets people what they need quickly and safely.”

Caroll passed House Bill 2160, which requires the Department of Insurance (DOI) and the Department of Health and Family Services (HFS) to develop simple, uniform authorization forms for prescription drugs, which providers and insurers must use. There are currently numerous unique authorization forms necessary for every specific insurer; Carroll’s new law combines those forms into one for commercial insurers and one for managed care organizations. The bill received strong bipartisan support and is now law.

“All this bureaucracy is expensive and the costs get passed on to patients,” Carroll said. “Our community deserves more affordable health care, not a bloated system that exists to boost the bottom line of insurance companies.”

​SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – State Rep. Jonathan Carroll, D-Northbrook, is helping establish more vocational jobs opportunities with his support for a bill creating the Training in Building Trades Program to award grants to community organizations in support of jobs education classes.

“Good-paying jobs are the foundation of a thriving economy and a stronger Illinois, and robust jobs training programs will bring us closer to that goal,” Carroll said. “Our community needs more educational opportunities for people to learn new skills that will equip them to build better lives for themselves.”

Continuing his efforts to boost economic opportunity and practical, good-paying jobs, Carroll passed House Bill 2304, which creates the Training in Building Trades Program in the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). The goal of this program is to provide opportunities for people between 18 and 35 to learn trade skills, especially in construction, electrical trades or plumbing. The bill received strong bipartisan support and is now law.

“There is still a long way to go, but we are making great progress toward a brighter, fairer economic future for all Illinoisans,” Carroll said. “I will continue to fight to ensure the next generation of workers have fair salaries, lower taxes and the employment prospects they deserve.”

​NORTHBROOK, Ill. – State Rep. Jonathan Carroll, D-Northbrook, is promoting the Illinois Breast Cancer and Cervical Cancer Program’s (IBCCP) offer of free breast cancer screenings and mammograms in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October.

“It’s critical that women take advantage of this opportunity to check on their health,” Carroll said. “With big insurance and pharmaceutical companies working to make mammograms and similar proceedures increasingly expensive, these efforts by the IBCCP could not come at a better time.”

Carroll is encouraging women concerned with their health to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the IBCCP to ensure they are healthy. There will be breast exams, mammograms and other health care measures available at no charge for uninsured women between 35 and 64. More information about IBCCP’s services can be found at www.dph.illinois.gov or the Illinois Women’s Health Line at 1-888-522-1282.

“Mammograms and breast cancer screenings are increasingly effective at catching serious illnesses early, now we just need to make sure people who are at-risk have access to these tests,” Carroll said. “While I continue to build a stronger Illinois, more accessible and more affordable health care is a top priority for me and the families I represent.”

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – State Rep. Jonathan Carroll, D-Northbrook, is promoting a new tax amnesty program, which will relieve financial burdens on middle-class families by offering a window to pay off back taxes without late fees or interest charges.

“The hard-working taxpayers in our community have a chance to pay off back taxes without the extra strain of interest payments and tacked-on fees,” Carroll said. “Our families deserve better than a mountain of debt that they can never overcome. I want to build a stronger Illinois, where everyone has financial opportunity to thrive, and paying off your debts is a positive step in that direction.”

Carroll backed a recent law, Senate Bill 689, which creates an opportunity for any taxpayer who owes back taxes from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2018, to pay back their full debt without any late fees or interest payments. More information on the program is available on the Illinois Department of Revenue’s website, tax.illinois.gov.

“Illinois taxpayers have had to put up with an unfair tax burden for years; that some people couldn’t keep up with their taxes isn’t a shock,” Carroll said. “Now those people have a chance to start fresh. I will keep fighting to build a better system based on a balanced budget and fairer property taxes so more people can afford to own homes.”

 NORTHBROOK, Ill. – Seeking local assistance in his state district office, state Rep. Jonathan Carroll, D-Northbrook, is inviting high school students in the community to apply for his fall internship program.

“I want to offer students a chance to learn how their state government really works,” said Carroll. “We handle so many questions, concerns and issues that every moment in government is exciting and offers anyone a chance to learn something new.”

Carroll is seeking interns to assist with his office’s outreach to area residents. This includes door-to-door contact with constituents, policy research, event planning and constituent services across the district. Interested applicants should send resumes to Carroll’s Chief of Staff, Mike Amarilio, at ma@repcarroll.com.

“This is one great way to get involved locally and listen to what is on peoples’ minds on any given day,” said Carroll. “I look forward to working with new students and cannot wait to show them the positive impacts we have on peoples’ lives.”

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – State Rep. Jonathan Carroll, D-Northbrook, is ensuring students remain safe in case of active shooters with his backing for a new law requiring them to generate and put into place threat assessment procedures.

“Everyone deserves to live in a community where their schools are completely safe,” Carroll said. “That means being ready to handle the worst kinds of danger. Our schools are up to the challenge on many fronts, but, despite the countless national tragedies in recent years, they are not nearly prepared for the real possibility of gun violence. This law is about ensuring that schools take decisive, rapid action to prevent the next massacre.”

In addition to numerous other legislative initiatives aimed at keeping Illinoisans safe, Carroll supported House Bill 1561, which requires school districts to create threat assessment teams made up of teachers, school social workers, law enforcement members and other relevant officials. The teams will be tasked with putting together a comprehensive response plan in the case of an active shooter entering the school with the goal of minimizing violence and apprehending the assailant as quickly as possible. This legislation received strong bipartisan support and is now law.

“We can’t leave it to gun safety laws alone to make our schools safe, although that is a huge part of the overall solution,” Carroll said.  “Well-prepared threat assessment procedures will save countless lives, and it is a big step toward protecting school children from gun violence.”

NORTHBROOK, Ill. – State Rep. Jonathan Carroll, D-Northbrook, recently toured the new Maple School Facility to welcome returning students and look ahead to better education for local students.

“Our schools are the brightest gems in the community, and teach our students to reach their best potential,” said Carroll. “I am an advocate for public schools and making sure that our families, schools and educators have every possible resource they need to help guide our students toward success.”

Carroll attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony of Maple School’s newest facility and, alongside other community leaders, welcomed new students to the school. Before its June demolition this year, community residents approved a measure to rebuild the school to reflect growing population trends and better fit the needs of students, teachers and school administrators. The new school reopened earlier this month.

During his time in Springfield, Carroll has supported measures that strengthened local public schools like this year’s balanced budget that increases state funding to schools by an additional $375 million dollars.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Fighting to provide more tax relief for local families through his newly created Property Tax Relief Task Force, state Rep. Jonathan Carroll, D-Northbrook, will serve as the chair of the Government Consolidation subcommittee to examine thousands of bureaucratic governmental entities that inflate middle-class families’ property taxes.

“I pledged to my constituents that I would work to lower property taxes, and eliminating duplicative units of government will help ease the tax burden,” said Carroll. “Families in my district already pay too much, and they deserve a break. My work from this committee will generate bipartisan solutions to reducing property taxes for homeowners across Illinois.”

Carroll has led the charge for property tax relief in Springfield, and the latest reform he passed was Senate Bill 1932, which created the Property Tax Relief Task Force. The task force consists of seven subcommittees proposing various solutions for direct property tax relief. Carroll chairs the Government Consolidation subcommittee where he and other lawmakers will examine township elimination, shared services between municipalities and more.

Carroll also supported other property tax relief measures like the Property Tax Relief Fund, a township dissolution measure and a balanced budget that better funds schools, easing the heavy local reliance on property taxes, and a new law that creates a five-year pilot program designed to ease the application process for the Senior Homestead Exemption for Cook County seniors.

“Illinois has taken great steps this year to address one of its most crushing problems, and now Republicans and Democrats must work together to propose those solutions,” said Carroll. “We owe it to middle-class families to lower these taxes and finally do what is right for them.”