Credit Capitol News Illinois file photo
Editor’s note: This story is part of an ongoing “Lame Duck Look Back” series in which Capitol News Illinois is following up on the major bills that passed both chambers of the General Assembly in the Jan. 8-13 lame duck session. This is one of several stories examining the criminal justice reform backed by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus.
SPRINGFIELD – A criminal justice package that passed both chambers of the General Assembly last month contains provisions that would grant the state increased power over police discipline and standards of conduct starting in 2022.
The omnibus package, which was backed by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, has not yet arrived at the desk of Gov. JB Pritzker, although he has said he looks forward to reviewing the bill which needs only his signature to become law.
“You can’t do anything out of state with those certificates,” Pearson said. “You can’t travel with a concealed carry permit with a certificate.”
“I think they’re operating outside the law, that’s pretty obvious,” Pearson said. “It’s a real problem for everybody concerned. So I think they want to solve this problem. We want to solve this problem. So we have to move forward some way or another.”
Pearson said there aren’t many other remedies other than suing the state. Several lawsuits are pending.
In one lawsuit filed in federal court in July 2020, plaintiffs sued over the delays. They’ve since requested an injunction. While the state has motioned for some plaintiffs to be removed from the case citing they’ve received their cards, Pearson said other impacted gun owners have signed on.
By Capitol News
SPRINGFIELD Gov. JB Pritzker pushed back on criticisms of the state’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout Thursday, Jan. 29, saying state officials are “doing everything we can” to ensure timely delivery of doses.
Illinois currently ranks 47th among all 50 states in vaccine distribution, with 4.8% of the state’s 12.7 million residents having been vaccinated so far. The state has issued 829,488 total doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Thursday, with only 1.4% of the state’s population having received both required doses.
Some state lawmakers have criticized the Pritzker administration for the slow delivery of the vaccine, especially at long-term care facilities that have been prioritized under the state’s vaccine distribution plan.
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NATIONAL REPORT Attorneys general from nearly half of the states are pushing for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take action against menthol cigarettes.
In a letter submitted to the FDA on Jan. 22, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden led a coalition of 23 attorneys general arguing that a ban on menthol cigarettes would benefit public health overall, decrease youth smoking and help mitigate the harm menthol cigarettes do to minority populations. I am asking the FDA to ban menthol cigarettes because even though cigarette use has decreased over the years, menthol-flavored cigarettes continue to attract and addict new smokers particularly youth and minority smokers, Raoul said. The FDA s own data underscores the need to ban menthol cigarettes, which could save thousands of lives and support state efforts to combat youth smo
SPRINGFIELD â The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched an investigation to determine whether Illinois has violated federal law by enacting and enforcing the 2019 Reproductive Health Act which, among other things, requires certain health insurance plans to cover abortion services.
In a letter dated Jan. 19, which was the last full day of the Trump administration, HHSâs Office of Civil Rights notified the Chicago-based Thomas More Society that it had received a complaint the group filed in October 2019 and had agreed to open an investigation to determine if certain portions of the act violate federal law.
Specifically, the letter stated that HHSâs Office of Civil Rights âis investigating whether the state of Illinois, through its Department of Insurance and Department of Central Management Services, is discriminating against health plan issuers and plans that would offer health coverage that limited or excluded abortion coverage but for the Re