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Chicago Tribune
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Illinois lawmakers ban police from ticketing and fining students for minor infractions in school
Illinois legislators on Wednesday passed a law to explicitly prevent police from ticketing and fining students for minor misbehavior at school, ending a practice that harmed students across the state. The new law would apply to all public schools, including charters. It will require school districts, beginning in the 2027-28 school year, to report to the state how often they involve police in student matters each year and to separate the data by race, gender and disability. The state will be required to make the data public. The legislation comes three years after a ProPublica and Chicago Tribune investigation, 'The Price Kids Pay,' revealed that even though Illinois law bans school officials from fining students directly, districts skirted the law by calling on police to issue citations for violating local ordinances. 'The Price Kids Pay' found that thousands of Illinois students had been ticketed in recent years for adolescent behavior once handled by the principal's office — things such as littering, making loud noises, swearing, fighting or vaping in the bathroom. It also found that Black students were twice as likely to be ticketed at school than their white peers. From the House floor, Rep. La Shawn Ford, a Democrat from Chicago, thanked the news organizations for exposing the practice and told legislators that the goal of the bill 'is to make sure if there is a violation of school code, the school should use their discipline policies' rather than disciplining students through police-issued tickets. State Sen. Karina Villa, a Democrat from suburban West Chicago and a sponsor of the measure, said in a statement that ticketing students failed to address the reasons for misbehavior. 'This bill will once and for all prohibit monetary fines as a form of discipline for Illinois students,' she said. The legislation also would prevent police from issuing tickets to students for behavior on school transportation or during school-related events or activities. The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police opposed the legislation. The group said in a statement that while school-based officers should not be responsible for disciplining students, they should have the option to issue citations for criminal conduct as one of a 'variety of resolutions.' The group said it's concerned that not having the option to issue tickets could lead to students facing arrest and criminal charges instead. The legislation passed the House 69-44. It passed in the Senate last month 37-17 and now heads to Gov. JB Pritzker, who previously has spoken out against ticketing students at school. A spokesperson said Wednesday night that he 'was supportive of this initiative' and plans to review the bill. The legislation makes clear that police can arrest students for crimes or violence they commit, but that they cannot ticket students for violating local ordinances prohibiting a range of minor infractions. That distinction was not clear in previous versions of the legislation, which led to concern that schools would not be able to involve police in serious matters — and was a key reason legislation on ticketing foundered in previous legislative sessions. Students also may still be ordered to pay for lost, stolen or damaged property. 'This bill helps create an environment where students can learn from their mistakes without being unnecessarily funneled into the justice system,' said Aimee Galvin, government affairs director with Stand for Children, one of the groups that advocated for banning municipal tickets as school-based discipline. The news investigation detailed how students were doubly penalized: when they were punished in school, with detention or a suspension, and then when they were ticketed by police for minor misbehavior. The investigation also revealed how, to resolve the tickets, children were thrown into a legal process designed for adults. Illinois law permits fines of up to $750 for municipal ordinance violations; it's difficult to fight the charges, and students and families can be sent to collections if they don't pay. After the investigation was published, some school districts stopped asking police to ticket students. But the practice has continued in many other districts. The legislation also adds regulations for districts that hire school-based police officers, known as school resource officers. Starting next year, districts with school resource officers must enter into agreements with local police to lay out the roles and responsibilities of officers on campus. The agreements will need to specify that officers are prohibited from issuing citations on school property and that they must be trained in working with students with disabilities. The agreements also must outline a process for data collection and reporting. School personnel also would be prohibited from referring truant students to police to be ticketed as punishment. Before the new legislation, there had been some piecemeal changes and efforts at reform. A state attorney general investigation into a large suburban Chicago district confirmed that school administrators were exploiting a loophole in state law when they asked police to issue tickets to students. The district denied wrongdoing, but that investigation found the district broke the law and that the practice disproportionately affected Black and Latino students. The state's top legal authority declared the practice illegal and said it should stop.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wealthy Illinois residents, ‘mega-corporations' could face new taxes to fund public services
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — Illinois legislators and advocacy groups are pushing for higher taxes on the wealthiest people in the state and 'mega-corporations.' State Senators and House Representatives have proposed joint resolutions to raise over $6 billion in new revenue, citing that the state's current tax system is unfair to low-income residents. Advocacy groups that are a part of the Illinois Revenue Alliance have all shown support for the proposed bill. Those groups include: Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Chicago Brighton Park Neighborhood Council Chicago Teachers Union Grassroots Collaborative Healthy Illinois Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights Jewish Council on Urban Affairs ONE Northside PEER Illinois SEIU Healthcare Illinois Shriver Center on Poverty Law The People's Lobby Workers Center for Racial Justice Here are the tax increases and new taxes that would be implemented, according to the Illinois Revenue Alliance: $725 million tax on digital advertising $1.2 billion corporate tax worldwide, combined reporting $200 mil Tax corporate offshore sheltered income $1.5 billion to close the carried interest loophole $840 million billionaire wealth tax $1.7 billion excise tax on capital gains $830 million to raise corporate income tax $175 million to close corporate tax loopholes $150 million to reform the estate tax The policy briefing claims these new taxes will support immigrant communities, schools, public transit, healthcare access for all, senior home care, child tax credit and direct cash assistance, re-entry employment programs, violence prevention and affordable housing. Representative William Davis (D) filed the joint resolution in the House on February 26th, while Senator Karina Villa (D) filed the proposal in the Senate on February 25th. The proposal has been referred to assignments in the Senate and the Rules Committee in the House. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to MyStateline | WTVO News, Weather and Sports.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Pritzker's proposed budget to eliminate health care program for non citizen adults
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) – Governor Pritzker pitched his budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year Wednesday and while it doesn't include tax increases, it does make some cuts. The proposed budget eliminates a health care program for non citizen adults. 'There are lots of priorities I'd like to do immediately if we had the resources to do it. We cannot do it this year and so that's why we had to make some changes,' Pritzker told reporters following his budget address. The Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults (HBIA) program, which covers adults ages 42 to 64, costs the state more than $400 million every year. Pritzker already scaled back the program in 2023 when it was expected to come in way over budget. 'I really do believe that we should be covering everybody,' Pritzker said. 'Unfortunately, we expect that the federal government is going to stop reimbursing for any of that cost and they were reimbursing for some of that cost.' The Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus didn't agree with the idea. 'We believe that healthcare is a human right and we believe that taking people off of health care is not the right answer,' State Sen. Karina Villa (D-West Chicago) said during a press conference after the governor's speech. The members say they're going to fight to keep the program going. 'This is just the beginning,' Villa said. 'This is the governor's proposed budget and now we have a few months here to work hard and look line item by line item to see where we're going to be able to make things up.' Republicans have been calling on the state to completely eliminate the non citizen health care programs. 'I'm glad he's finally listened on the immigrant health care piece, eliminating a lot of that,' State Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet), said. 'He didn't eliminate all of it.' But Republicans don't think the program will get cut at the end of the day. 'I don't think it's real,' House Minority Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savanna), said in a press conference following the governor's budget address. 'I think it's just going to set us up for a tax increase.' While the proposed budget cuts the non citizen health care program for adults, it does keep funding for a program for non citizen seniors 65 and up to get health care. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
