The women of the Illinois Senate Democratic Caucus play an integral role in the historic changes being made to make Illinois successful. This Women’s History Month, senators took the time to highlight some of the most influential women who have had a deep impact in their lives. From women who helped found the NAACP, to those who spearheaded the Women’s Suffrage Movement, these women in history have paved the way for the women in the Senate to obtain powerful leadership roles in government.

SPRINGFIELD – In collaboration with a 20th district constituent, a new initiative led by State Senator Cristina H. Pacione-Zayas to connect more children with intellectual or developmental disabilities to essential supports has just passed the Senate, making it one step closer to becoming law.   

“When caregivers find out about the resources available from the PUNS database, they are often frustrated before feeling relieved, as they could have sought access for the necessary supports to improve their child’s quality of life if this program had been better publicized,” said Pacione-Zayas (D-Chicago). “Our goal with this legislation is to prevent further miscommunications or frustration and simply connect caregivers to helpful resources as soon as possible.” 

The Prioritization of Urgency of Need for Services (PUNS) database is a statewide database maintained by the Illinois Department of Human Services that records information about individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities potentially in need of services. The PUNS database is available to all children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who have unmet services needs anticipated within the next five years. 

SPRINGFIELD – To further increase student safety, State Senator Doris Turner spearheaded a measure through the Senate that would allow school busses to have two extended stop arms.

“Student safety has to be our top priority,” said Turner (D-Springfield). “Allowing school busses to have an extended arm would provide more protections for passengers and hopefully lessen the number of drivers who pass stopped busses.”

Senate Bill 2340 would allow a school bus to be equipped with a maximum of two stop arms that partially obstruct the roadway. The extensions would be required to be on the driver's side of the school bus and contain a system of flashing red lights.

“Too often, the safety of our students at bus drop offs and bus pick-ups are placed in jeopardy by distracted drivers. While we hire great bus drivers and teach children to look both ways, we can’t control the actions of a distracted motorist,” said Tip Reedy, Superintendent of Williamsville School District. “We value and appreciate the efforts of Senator Turner and other lawmakers who are taking steps to prevent the occurrence of unsafe and illegal passing of stopped school buses before a tragedy occurs.”

SPRINGFIELD – Recognizing staff shortages in the EMS workforce, Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford advanced legislation in the Senate to attract and retain EMS workers.

“The pandemic further exacerbated how vital the EMS professionals are,” said Lightford (D-Maywood). “We need to expand the workforce by prioritizing recruitment and retention of highly-skilled workers.”

Senate Bill 761 works to tackle the emergency medical field workforce shortage head on by allowing more flexibility for EMS directors to use alternative staffing models and creating a task force to bring greater training, recruitment and retention to the field.

Senator Holmes seeks to bring paint recycling to Illinois

SPRINGFIELD – Many homeowners have something lurking in their basement or garage that could be disposed of, but there hasn’t been a means to get rid of it safely: unused household paint. A new initiative sponsored by State Senator Linda Holmes would establish a program to dispose of household paint, and the legislation passed Thursday in the Senate.

The Paint Stewardship Act in Senate Bill 836 creates a means for consumers to dispose of household paint in Illinois. No state resources are in place today to deal with this waste. Under this law, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will use PaintCare, a nonprofit organization that operates the post-consumer program with paint manufacturers to run the process and provide convenient, free dropoff sites statewide.

“It is exciting to offer this prospective service to Illinoisans with old paint taking up space in their homes,” Holmes (D-Aurora) said. “To get rid of it in an environmentally safe manner will give us an opportunity to make our state’s soil and water cleaner for our children and to safely produce our crops to feed the state and nation.”

Under this program, paint manufacturers are required to submit a plan and pay a fee to the Illinois EPA to stand up a paint collection site, service or event, which will allow residents to drop off unused paint to specified locations free of charge. Those collection sites or events will be within a 15 mile radius for 90% of Illinois residents.

“Consumers will now have the opportunity to declutter their homes of old paint and feel confident that their waste is being recycled and disposed of in an environmentally sustainable way,” Holmes said.

PaintCare operates similar programs in several other states with paint stewardship laws, including California, Minnesota, Colorado and New York. They have collected 62.6 million gallons of paint.

Having been approved by the full Senate, Senate Bill 836 will now go to the House for their consideration.

SPRINGFIELD – A measure sponsored by State Senator Sara Feigenholtz that will alleviate obstacles for adoptees to obtain post-adoption information related to their birth and adoption passed the Senate on Wednesday.

“This measure levels the playing field for all adopted adults who are seeking information about themselves through the confidential intermediary program. Permitting record access for those who were placed through child welfare agencies that have since closed their doors, does exactly that,” said Feigenholtz (D-Chicago). 

Senate Bill 2134 adds clarifying language to the Adoption Act to permit a confidential intermediary to have access to stored records from closed adoption agencies. Currently, records of closed agencies are housed at the central state storage facility.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Christopher Belt advanced a measure through the Senate Thursday to tackle the increasing number of food deserts in Illinois.

“People should be able to have easy access to healthy and affordable food at all times,” said Belt (D-Swansea). “By providing financial assistance to grocery stores, we can incentivize the establishment and expansion of stores in areas that are considered food deserts.”

Under this legislation, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity would be required to provide grants and other forms of financial assistance to privately-owned grocery stores and grocery stores owned by a unit of local government, school district or community college district, located in or to be located in a food desert.

SPRINGFIELD – Families of children with behavioral health challenges that require mental health assistance have faced multiple barriers when seeking mental health assistance.

Working alongside Dr. Dana Weiner, the governor’s newly appointed Children's Behavioral Health Officer, State Senator Sara Feigenholtz championed Senate Bill 724, which defines the Interagency Children’s Behavioral Health Services Act and lays out a roadmap to finally get children the help they need.

“The importance of this roadmap to appropriate treatment cannot be overstated,” said Feigenholtz (D-Chicago). “This work is transformative and will be a game changer for children's behavioral health in Illinois.”

Senate Bill 724 would implement recommendations from the Governor’s Behavioral Health Transformation Blueprint that was released in February. The initiative, which set out to research the current state of mental and behavioral health issues facing children in Illinois and develop recommendations to better help families, was spearheaded by Dr. Dana Weiner and Senator Feigenholtz in collaboration with the Illinois Departments of Human Services, Healthcare and Family Services, Children and Family Services, Juvenile Justice, and Public Health, and the State Board of Education.