ILGA

Pritzker Freezes Funds to Madigan-Sponsored Projects

Original article written by Chuck Neubauer and Sandy Bergo on March 8th, 2022 for the Better Government Association. You may find a link to the article HERE Gov. J.B. Pritzker has agreed to freeze tens of millions of dollars in state funding for four projects sponsored by indicted former Speaker Michael J. Madigan, his office…

Final nail in ‘The Velvet Hammer’s’ political coffin? Madigan’s record run as speaker could be nearing an end

Original story published by Rachel Hinton of the Chicago Sun-Times on 11/19/2020. Photo credit to Tim Akimoff of WBEZ. A link to the article may be found HERE   Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan may soon be out of the leadership post he’s held for nearly four decades. After members of his inner circle were…

New Study Finds Prevalence of Sesame Allergy, as Illinois Becomes First State to Mandate Sesame Labeling on Packaged Foods

Original Article published by Food and Drug Law at Keller and Heckman LLP on August 7th, 2019 for the National Law Review. Link to original story may be found HERE A new study by researchers from Northwestern University found that 0.49% of Americans, or 1.5 million children and adults, reported having an allergy to sesame, based on…

New Laws taking effect in 2019

Written by outgoing State Representative David Olsen of the 81st District. This is a comprehensive document, and Representative Olsen gave me permission to share it with all of you. If you would like to see the full text of any of the bills described, please visit  http://ilga.gov There are 253 new state laws with a January 1, 2019 effective date. Many of these new laws simply clarify existing statutes, while others improve transparency…

Illinois Legislators Urge Rauner to Increase Smoking Age to 21

Link to original article found HERE CHICAGO (CBS) — A bill proposing to raise the legal smoking age from 18 to 21 will soon be on Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner’s desk. Senate Bill 2332, commonly referred to as “Tobacco 21”, recently passed the General Assembly, with a 61-49 vote in the Illinois House of Representatives…

Governor Rauner’s Amendatory Veto

On February 28th, I was very excited to pass House Bill 1468, creating a 72-hour waiting period for assault weapon sales in Illinois. I am pleased to announce it passed the House with overwhelming, bipartisan support. It was my first bill in Springfield, and after passing the Senate, it landed on Governor Bruce Rauner’s desk…