BREAKING: Springfield news

Dear friend,

As you may have heard, we had an eventful special session last week.

Our biggest accomplishment is one that you've been hearing about from me since I first started running for office: an elected, representative school board for the city of Chicago. Many of you knocked doors with me circulating a ballot referendum way back in 2012 - the results of which, by the way, were overwhelming support across our district.

Well, after passing school board measures literally five separate times, we finally reached consensus with the Senate and sent a measure to the Governor. The bill will create a 21-member board, with the first group of members elected in 2024 and the entire board elected in 2026.

It's an incredible transformation for Chicago, which has had direct mayoral control over its schools since 1995. The families in every other city in Illinois have a say in what happens in their kids' schools. Our families deserve it too.

We passed a number of other measures as well, including most significantly a couple of firearm-related bills. These changes will reduce the state’s backlog of FOID cards and create a registration system for firearms purchases that will help prevent illegal weapons transfers. More details about those bills here.

Now as I mentioned in my last email, we're also contemplating a major clean energy bill. That legislation, unfortunately, didn't get finished. Fossil fuel companies came in with last-minute demands that derailed negotiations. But don't worry: we're continuing to work, demanding environmental justice and racial equity while we build a green economy for our state.

I'll send another email recapping the rest of session shortly. Just wanted to give you the latest news as it happens.

Take care,

- Will