SPRINGFIELD – More support for veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder could be available under a measure led by Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford (D-Maywood).

House Bill 2126 authorizes K9’s for Veterans to issue decals for the universal special license plate. The fees collected for issuing and renewing the plates would be deposited into the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Fund to be used for support, education, and awareness of veterans with the disorder.

“Our veterans who are struggling with mental health issues need our support, and we are giving Illinoisans an opportunity to do so through the special license plate program,” Lightford said.

Applicants would be charged a $25 fee in addition to the standard registration fee each year the decal is renewed. The Universal Special License Plate was established in 2016 to allow drivers to support any organization who has been authorized for a decal. An organization that would like to create a decal for the universal plate must have at least 2,000 applications before the Secretary of State can approve their application for a universal plate.

The legislation was approved by the Senate Transportation Committee and will head to the full Senate for consideration.

SPRINGFIELD – To protect consumers from being taken advantage of due to misinformation from alternative retail electric suppliers, Senate Majority Kimberly A. Lightford (D-Maywood) is leading legislation that was approved by the Senate on Wednesday.

“The data clearly demonstrates that alternative suppliers focus their signup efforts on low-income neighborhoods, those where English is a secondary language, and communities of color,” Lightford said. “I am proud to stand with Attorney General Raoul to protect our most vulnerable residents from unknowingly signing contracts that will result in rate hikes they cannot afford.”

According to the Attorney General’s Office, over the last three years consumers enrolled with alternative retail electric suppliers have paid almost $400 million more in electricity costs than consumers who stayed with their default public utility.

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Senate approved a constitutional amendment that would allow the state to implement a Fair Tax structure on Wednesday. Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford (D-Maywood) released the following statement after the vote:

“Our working and middle class families have been forced to cover the cost for running our state under a tax structure that does not require wealthy people to contribute their fair share, and we are working to give voters a chance to change that.

“We desperately need to repair our infrastructure, fund our schools and provide services that lift our communities up. That cannot be done under our current tax structure, and I hope to see the potential we voted for today come to fruition.”

The image of more than 40 white, male Suburban Chiefs of Police, standing with the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police to chastise and call for the resignation of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx over her handling of the Jussie Smollett case and her management of the office should disturb all Cook County residents and anyone who supports efforts to reform our criminal justice system. Skepticism is the natural reaction when there are calls for increased “law and order” and tired and misguided epithets such as “soft on crime.” These misguided and outdated positions are undoubtedly what helped create the wrong-headed and fiscally imprudent policies which gave rise to the failed “War on Drugs,” militarization of law enforcement agencies, explosion of our prison population, the policies that have fueled the school to prison pipeline, destroyed and dismantled countless families and continued the marginalization of black, brown and poor communities.

The outrage of the Chicago FOP and the suburban Chiefs of Police is amazingly ironic considering these same individuals stood silent or had no response other than to blame the communities where the violence is occurring in regards to the uptick in homicides, Jason Van Dyke’s virtual slap on the wrist for murdering Laquan McDonald or ignoring the nearly $500 million that Chicago taxpayers spent on police misconduct cases since 2011. That’s in addition to the nearly $3 million they will have to pay annually to oversee a federal consent decree to monitor law enforcement – community interactions. The hypocrisy and irony is mind-blowing as these officials decry the $130,000 spent to investigate the Smollett case.

The Illinois Legislative Black Caucus has worked with both the State’s Attorney and law enforcement to improve the quality of life for the communities we represent, but there must be open and honest conversations about the realities which exist in these communities who feel over-surveilled, under siege and devalued. It is certainly not lost on the communities we represent that the individuals, none of whom are African-American, standing with the Chicago FOP were the leaders of their respective Departments. This fact begs the question: How can we ever expect to repair the relations between law enforcement and the communities they serve, if law enforcement leadership fundamentally disagrees that our criminal justice system needs reform?

Yes, State’s Attorney Foxx is African-American, and this provides her and the members of our caucus with a unique perspective on the daily impact of the policies of marginalization and disinvestment. She has worked with our caucus as we have led the fight in this country to implement policies which will reform our criminal justice system, such as moving away from the use of cash bail for nonviolent offenders, rightsizing and modernizing our thinking on prosecuting retail theft or how we approach the crisis of low-level drug offenders and their addictions, while also working together to pass legislation targeting repeat gun offenders, gun-runners and criminal enterprises. Our caucus stands with State’s Attorney Foxx because she is a State’s Attorney who is working with us to reform a criminal justice system that has marginalized and destroyed communities for far too long.