Illinois in Focus

Illinois’ gun and magazine ban remains in place after being upheld by a split Illinois Supreme Court. The anticipated ruling in the case brought by state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, was released Friday. "First, we hold that the exemptions neither deny equal protection nor constitute special legislation because plaintiffs have not sufficiently alleged that they are similarly situated to and treated differently from the exempt classes," the majority opinion said. "Second, plaintiffs expressly waived in the circuit court any independent claim that the restrictions impermissibly infringe the second amendment. Third, plaintiffs’ failure to cross-appeal is a jurisdictional bar to renewing their three-readings claim. Accordingly, we reverse the circuit court and enter judgment for defendants on the equal protection and special legislation claims. We express no opinion on the potential viability of plaintiffs’ waived claim concerning the second amendment."

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A new report from the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting Accountability shows a dramatic increase of overall taxpayer spending over the past six years. COGFA’s report on fiscal year 2024 released Monday reviews the annual budget that began July 1. The report details the budget process and how much each state agency and program is set to receive in annual appropriations. While a lot of reporting focuses on the state spending of $50.4 billion in Illinois General Revenue Funds, overall taxpayer spending is much higher at more than $193.5 billion when taking into account federal and special funds. That’s up from the $99 billion in total spending for fiscal year 2018, or a 95.3% increase.

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Illinois lawmakers are calling for accountability into the state's handling of unemployment payments during the COVID-19 pandemic after an audit showed $5.2 billion was overpaid, including tens of millions to some who were incarcerated or deceased. Unemployment spiked at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 after Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued stay-at-home orders impacting the economy in an effort to slow the spread of the virus.

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With the Illinois Supreme Court decision to end money bond statewide, prosecutors and the law enforcement community are bracing for impact. On Tuesday, the Illinois Supreme Court upheld the Pretrial Fairness Act as constitutional. County court systems across the state have 60 days to implement the law. Supporting the end of cash bail statewide, Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said there are still sureties a court can require of criminal defendants awaiting trial like requirements they not contact a particular person or not violating other laws.

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Motions continue back and forth between former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s attorneys and federal prosecutors alleging Madigan ran a criminal enterprise from through the Illinois Statehouse. In the summer of 2020, federal prosecutors revealed a deferred prosecution agreement between utility ComEd and the government that had the utility agree to pay $200 million for bribing “Public Official A.” It was later revealed through indictments the official was Madigan.

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Gov. J.B. Pritzker says he has reached a tentative agreement with the state's largest union regarding their new contract with the state. However, the taxpayer cost has yet to be revealed, leading some to expect increased taxes as a result. With Illinois’ gun and magazine ban being challenged in a case expected to go to the U.S. Supreme Court, Gov. J.B. Pritzker says there needs to be a federal ban. On the one-year anniversary of the Independence Day parade shooting in Highland Park Tuesday, Pritzker said there needs to be more gun control.

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Two taxes on basic necessities in Illinois are set to increase beginning Saturday. With the start of the new fiscal year July 1, the state's gas tax will increase by 3.1 cents a gallon to a total tax of 45.4 cents. That's the second increase of the motor fuel tax since Jan. 1, when it increased by an additional 3.1 cents. The state's tax on groceries will also go back to 1% after Gov. J.B. Pritzker put a hold on the tax during last year's election cycle. Whether Illinois' gun and magazine bans are constitutional is now up to a federal appeals court. The consolidated cases challenging state and local gun and magazine bans in Illinois were heard Thursday by a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

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Rules for how Illinois taxpayers will subsidize the ballooning costs of health care for noncitizen migrants in the state are now on the books after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a Medicaid omnibus bill Friday. The Chicago City Council and Mayor Brandon Johnson heard Wednesday from Chicago residents upset about the influx of migrants in their communities and the resources that have been allocated to assist them. Chicago city officials and community members are looking to address ongoing issues of crime in the city. Crime in Chicago has been increasing over the past few months, with several violent weekends in which many have died. On Tuesday night, a group of individuals in the city ransacked a gas station while causing property damage to the building and to other vehicles in the area.

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Former Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner said he faced a lot of headwinds during his time in office, but didn’t want to talk about politics after his official portrait was unveiled Monday. The former one-term Republican governor had a tumultuous time in office with a more than two-year long budget impasse. Democrats who controlled both chambers still blame Rauner for the impasse. As Illinois implements more requirements on local libraries in order to access state tax dollars, some are questioning whether state government is overstepping its boundaries. Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday signed a first-in-the-nation law that restricts state tax dollars for local libraries that don't follow certain guidelines from a national group. House Bill 2789 requires state libraries to adopt the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights if they want to receive state grants.

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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday signed the state's $50.6 billion budget, which includes pay raises for state lawmakers, health care for undocumented migrants, and new taxpayer-funded programs for education. With the consolidated gun ban challenge being briefed and soon heard in the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal, an Illinois attorney is asking a federal district judge for partial judgment. Effective immediately, Illinoisans wanting to challenge the constitutionality of state laws or executive actions in state court can only file litigation in two of the state’s 102 counties.

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