Updates from Springfield: Tomorrow I'll be inaugurated for my 5th term! 🏛
Happy new year! I hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday, and that 2023 is off to a great start so far.
On Wednesday at noon, I'll be inaugurated for my fifth term in the Illinois House. I'm so grateful to you all for giving me the opportunity to represent you in the legislature, and I hope you know it's a responsibility I take very seriously.
Before that happens, though, the legislature will take up a few critically important measures I wanted to share with you.
Last week, the House passed a statewide ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. We also passed a comprehensive "shield law" to protect people seeking abortions and providing abortion care in Illinois from prosecution in other states. It's our first legislative response to the Dobbs decision this summer, and probably the strongest in the country.
Our colleagues in the State Senate have some differences of opinion on both of those measures. Frankly, they don't want to go as far as we did. They'd like to pull out provisions regarding high-capacity magazines from our assault weapons ban, and to remove protections for gender-affirming care from our reproductive health bill.
We're fortunate that our state senator, Cristina Pacione-Zayas, is pushing hard for the Senate to adopt our language on these issues. But intense negotiations are likely to continue in the hours to come.
If these measures aren't passed by noon on Wednesday, we'll have to start all over again in the new legislature — not the end of the world, but a setback I think we're all hoping to avoid. So we'll need to come to consensus with our colleagues in the other chamber.
We're also taking up a supplemental budget measure. It has lots of moving parts, but the one I've been fighting the hardest for is a $75 million appropriation for housing. It includes support for people experiencing homelessness and assistance for first-time homebuyers. And it supports the innovative Here to Stay Community Land Trust, an anti-gentrification initiative led by our friends at Palenque LSNA.
In next week's newsletter I'll let you know how all this wound up, and will give you a preview of some of the legislation I'm hoping to take up in the new General Assembly.
Until then, all best —
Will
COMMUNITY MEETING: LOGAN SQUARE SPECIAL SERVICE AREA
Are you a property owner in Logan Square? Join the Logan Square Chamber of Commerce for a meeting on creating a Special Service Area (SSA) in Logan Square at 10am on Thursday January 26th at the Logan Theatre.
Attend to learn about more about what an SSA can do for our local economy and ask questions.
RSVP at info@loganchamber.org
NOMINATE A POET
Do you know an amazing poet that lives in Chicago? Nominate them (or yourself) to be Chicago’s first Poet Laureate! Nominees can be from either spoken or written traditions.
Click here to submit your nomination at Chicago.gov/PoetLaureate >>>
Nominations are open until January 18.
MORTGAGE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM CLOSING ON JAN 31
The Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) reopened their mortgage assistance program designed to assist homeowners financially impacted by the pandemic.
The Illinois Homeowner Assistance Fund (ILHAF) provides up to $60,000 in mortgage assistance to eligible homeowners. This grant can cover overdue mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, and association fees.
Applications will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023.
Applications, program information and updates can be found at www.illinoishousinghelp.org.