SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Patricia Van Pelt (D-Chicago) listened as families relived the terrible days their loved ones were murdered during a Senate Public Health Law committee hearing this afternoon.

“Our voice is not being heard, “said Kristena Hopkins, Director of Missing and Murdered Women and Girls, whose cousin, Shantieya Smith, was slain back in 2018. “I feel like they want us to just shake it off and keep moving, but I refuse to because she has a eight-year-old daughter who deserves to know what happened to her mom.”

Latonya Moore, Shantieya’s mother, was also in attendance. After nearly two years of painfully awaiting any updates on her daughter’s case, she expressed her frustration about the lack of justice. This was her third time testifying before this committee.

“…My daughter, to me, feel like a John Doe... She don’t even exist.” Moore cried. “If you was born in my same shoes, how would you feel? Because it feel like I’m reaching out and I’m not getting no help.”

Director Brendan Kelly of the Illinois State Police said they have made progress in reducing the backlog by using new technology to reduce the delay in processing evidence and by hiring additional forensic scientists. The number of delayed cases are down by 16 percent since the changes were made.

“We want those kits to be tested. That has to be done.” Kelly said about the rape and murder kits.

After hearing from several witnesses and organizations during the committee, Van Pelt was unwavering in her pursuit of justice for these families.

“I am encouraged to see that ISP has made some progress in the last several months regarding the backlogs, but there is still a lot of work that needs be done.” Van Pelt said. “People have been waiting for due process for too long. I don’t care how we fix the problem, as long as it gets fixed.”

The task force is set to meet again near the end of February.

Today, members of the Illinois Senate joined the House of Representatives to hear Governor JB Pritzker’s second State of the State address. Here are some of our senators' reactions to what he said in his address and what they anticipate in this new legislative session.

Sen. Christopher Belt (Centreville): “I am glad to see Gov. JB Pritzker’s top priorities will revise our state’s ethics procedures, early childhood education and provide property tax relief for residents throughout the state. Providing property tax relief will help people with their basic expenses and hopefully retain our residents. I also support his vision for economic development for Illinois. He is continuing to push a statewide construction and infrastructure plan, which will help the economic growth in my district by creating jobs and increasing the quality of life of the community.”

Sen. Scott Bennett (Champaign): “I was pleased to hear the governor’s plans to invest in early childhood education and college affordability initiatives. College has never been more expensive and much work remains for all involved—everyone can agree on that, regardless of political affiliation. Under the governor’s leadership, I look forward to joining my fellow lawmakers to continue the fight to improve college access, affordability and completion for everyone in Illinois.”

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) has been appointed to serve as Deputy Majority Leader of the Illinois Senate, Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) announced.

“I’m honored to take on the role of Deputy Majority Leader,” said Murphy. “It’s a privilege to be entrusted to represent my colleagues in this capacity, and I look forward to working with them to advance legislation that brings positive change to our great state.”

In her new role, Murphy will assist the Majority Leader to work with caucus members on policy issues and help advise them on legislative agendas.

As Deputy Majority Leader, Murphy hopes to unify the legislature to accomplish shared goals, like improving the state’s educational resources, fighting for the middle class and implementing ethics reform to restore the public’s trust in government.

“It’s exciting to be given the opportunity to help the Senate President move the Senate toward a common purpose,” said Murphy. “We are stronger when we stand together.”

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Michael E. Hastings (D-Tinley Park) was named to Senate President Don Harmon’s leadership team as the Majority Caucus Whip Tuesday.

“I am deeply humbled President Harmon has given me the distinct honor of serving on his leadership team,” Hastings said. “I have no doubt that under his leadership we will continue down the right path as we move into the next part of the 101^st General Assembly.”

“While we accomplished monumental tasks in 2019, we have our work cut out for us in 2020. First and foremost, the inexcusable culture of corruption and greed in Springfield must end. As elected officials, it is our duty to live up to the oath we took to serve our constituency, and that mandate should not be taken lightly by anyone.”

Hastings’ top priorities for the 2020 legislative session include:

• Investing in clean energy infrastructure
• Continuing to improve mental health care programs
• Increasing efficiency and coordination between state and local government
• Fully funding early childhood education and investing in K-12 programming
• Passing a balanced, bipartisan budget

Hastings has served the 19^th Legislative District since 2012, when he was elected as one of the youngest Senators in state history. Since then, he has worked tirelessly to pass legislation with the goal of improving the social and financial climate of the state of Illinois.

CENTREVILLE – State Senator Christopher Belt (D-Centreville) recently announced school districts in Cahokia and East St. Louis have received the Illinois State Board of Education Property Tax Relief Grant.

“This is the first step in creating long-term property tax relief for homeowners,” Belt said. “Taxes are a huge burden for Illinois residents, which is why I am pleased to announce that several communities in my district will benefit from this grant.”

The Property Tax Relief Grant helps school districts with high tax rates relative to other school districts with an opportunity to lower the property tax burden on local taxpayers with the state replacing a portion of foregone tax revenue with state funds.

The amount the school districts receive will be included in future calculations of those districts.

School districts receiving Property Tax Relief Grant:

• Cahokia Community Unit School District 187
• East St. Louis School District 189

More information on the Property Tax Relief Grant and a listing of each eligible school district can be found at www.ISBE.net/proptaxrelief.

SPRINGFIELD, IL - Today, State Senator Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) and State Representative Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield) join legislators from around the country in unveiling a national bipartisan campaign to phase out corporate giveaways by establishing an interstate compact. This bold proposal seeks to liberate states from participating in tax-payer funded subsidy battles by having states join together and refuse to provide companies with tax breaks or other incentives, as in the case of the Amazon HQ2 bidding war.

As of January 28, the legislation is filed in New York, Hawaii, Maryland, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, West Virginia and New Hampshire.

The legislation would bring each state into a formal agreement with other states to phase out corporate giveaways through two main provisions. First, member states agree to end the practice of offering tax breaks to a facility located in another member state as an inducement for the company to move. Second, member states participate in a national board of appointees to discuss and propose enhancements to the existing agreement for future consideration by each state.

WOOD RIVER – Pleased by the governor’s executive order signed Monday to strengthen the state’s commitment to addressing the opioid epidemic and increasing the state investment by over $4 million in this fiscal year, State Senator Rachelle Crowe (D-Glen Carbon) issued the following statement:

“I commend the governor’s work to fight against opioid abuse. As members of the Senate’s Opioid Crisis Abatement Committee have studied this crisis, we’ve been able to identify areas lacking support and ways to improve access to opioid addiction prevention and treatment programs.

I’ve been meeting with experts from state and local agencies to draft initiatives addressing the discrepancies in resources and will soon introduce legislation to curb the opioid epidemic.

I thank Gov. Pritzker and his administration for prioritizing this burden affecting thousands across our state. I look forward to his partnership.”

SPRINGFIELD – More affordable property taxes, an ambitious plan to soften the effect of the increased minimum wage on local businesses and ethics reforms that target the culture of corruption in Springfield will be among State Senator Dave Koehler’s (D-Peoria) top legislative priorities for the upcoming year, he announced today.

“It’s vital that we continue to what we can to protect working families, first and foremost,” Koehler said. “Easing the property tax burden, assisting thoseby power plant closures and ensuring a smooth transition for small businesses ahead of future minimum wage increases are all feasible steps we can take to continue working on their behalf.”

Among Koehler’s top priorities for the spring legislative session:

• Property tax reform
• Seamless implementation of the $45 billion infrastructure plan
• Ethics reform
• Transition of communities harmed by power plant closures
• Minimum Wage Impact relief for small businesses and not-for-profits
• Addressing the rising debt of state pension plans