The bill comes as several state officials warn that Illinois is falling behind on its clean energy goals. The state’s main funding mechanism for renewable energy projects also faces a potential $3 billion budget shortfall in the coming years.

Karina’s Bill seeks to protect domestic violence victims by creating uniform processes for removing guns from alleged abusers who are subject an order of protection.

Nearly two centuries after losing its reservation in Illinois in a land sale that most people now concede was illegal, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation could soon get its land back.

The Kindship in Demand Act, or KIND Act, puts an obligation on the Department of Children and Family Services to use a “kin-first approach” when placing children in foster care settings.

Illinois’ new batch of lawmakers will face a number of challenges in 2025. Chief among them is a projected $3.2 billion budget deficit.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson wants the state to come through for him in a major way to boost spending on the city’s schools and transportation networks — but Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Johnson and his team “don’t reach out very often, and it seems like they don’t have good relationships in Springfield.”

In addition to requiring the salary range being made public, the law also requires companies to internally post opportunities for advancement.

Child welfare experts have long touted the benefits of foster children staying with kin. Advocates say those arrangements offer children more stability, decrease the trauma they experience, improve their mental health and reduce the number of times the child is moved from home to home.

The measure must clear the full Senate in the first week of January to reach Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk, otherwise it must go through the entire legislative process again after a new General Assembly convenes Jan. 8. 

Illinois has nearly 300 new laws taking effect on Jan. 1, 2025, covering everything from specialty plates for motorcycles to the creation of a task force on water quality.

Changes that would make Illinois pension systems compliant with Social Security by improving benefits for government employees hired since 2011 could be on the table when lawmakers return to Springfield in January.

Illinois lawmakers passed legislation in 2018 to allow the commercial production of hemp, the same year Congress legalized hemp nationwide through the 2018 Farm Bill.

No state is immune from the negative effects of an economic downturn, but Illinois is more prepared today than it was for the Great Recession of 2007-2009 or the COVID-19 recession of 2020, according to a new report from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Project for Middle Class Renewal.

The Illinois Flag Commission chose the 10 finalists from nearly 5,000 submissions in a contest that closed in October. The fate of Illinois’ official banner will ultimately be up to lawmakers and the governor.

The Illinois Senate last spring passed a proposal to require the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board to develop or approve a hate crimes training program, which would become part of police officers’ introductory and continuing mandatory education. The measure did not advance.

The November ballot included a referendum asking some downstate residents whether they support exploring how to break away from Illinois and form their own state. Seven counties were added to the growing list, signaling their dissatisfaction with what’s happening in Springfield and Chicago.