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Sen. Mattie Hunter

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Mattie Hunter (D-Chicago) passed a measure into law last week to help families in extreme poverty meet their basic needs.

House Bill 3129 eliminates the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) full family sanction. The TANF program provides monthly grants to help families meet their basic needs, including rent, utilities, clothing, personal hygiene products, diapers, transportation and more. Eligible families sometimes may receive a sanction, which suspends a TANF grant, when an adult does not meet certain participation requirements.

The measure, sponsored by Hunter and Rep. Mary Flowers (D-Chicago), would designate 75 percent of a family’s TANF benefit as the children portion that cannot be cut for any reason. When sanctioning, the remaining 25 percent is considered the parent’s portion and is subject to sanction. 30 percent of the parent’s portion can be reduced if a parent is not complying with TANF participation requirements.

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SNAP Benefit Program

CHICAGO – A bill sponsored by State Senator Omar Aquino (D-Chicago) that would allow specified people to use their SNAP benefits at participating restaurants was signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker today.

House Bill 3343 would allow elderly, homeless and people living with a disability to redeem their SNAP benefits at private establishments that contract with the Department of Human Services and on hot food served in grocery stores.

“When we get older, preparing meals at home becomes increasingly difficult,” said Aquino. “I saw firsthand how hard it was when I was a case manager for the Community Care Program. Seeing that made me want to make changes to our food assistance programs so they can effectively serve the people who rely on them.”

House Bill 3343 takes effect immediately.

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Mother and infant

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Jacqueline Collins and State Rep. Mary Flowers issued the following statements today as Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law part of the legislative package aimed at reducing rising infant and maternal mortality rates:

“We brought this plan forward to fight against an environment where women’s concerns over their bodies and their children’s well-being are diminished or ignored, often in ways that can be deadly for women of color in particular,” Collins said. “When we see studies that show a college-educated black woman in a high-paying career is more likely to die as a consequence of childbirth than a white woman without a high school diploma, we have to act.”

“I want to thank the governor for signing House Bill 1 and Senator Collins for shepherding the bill through the Senate,” Flowers said. “For some reason, African American women in Illinois are dying at a rate six times greater than white women for doing something that should come naturally: giving birth. My committee on Health Care Access and Availability convened hearings in September and October of 2018 where testimony from care providers showed that they see disparities due to racism, chauvinism and misogyny, and that health care professionals often do not listen to or respect African American women when they talk about their health problems. Why are there more African American women dying from giving birth? House Bill 1’s purpose is to have a task force to investigate this racial disparity in death from childbirth.”

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Sen. Julie A. Morrison

SPRINGFIELD – News that Land of Lincoln Goodwill in Springfield is laying off dozens of workers with disabilities without a valid explanation is drawing concern from State Senator Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield).

“It is disheartening that Goodwill would use false excuses to terminate the employment of reliable, hardworking staff with disabilities in Illinois,” Morrison said.

Morrison – who is chair of the Senate Human Services Committee and founder of the Special Needs Caucus – passed a series of measures this year aimed at increasing state employment of individuals with disabilities, all aimed at breaking down the barriers to employment.

  1. Bush job fair brings more than 100 jobseekers
  2. Tom Cullerton works to eliminate Franchise Tax
  3. Morrison announces $61 million for overhaul of Lake Bluff interchange
  4. Bennett applauds funding for building safety, educational programs at University of Illinois

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