Statement on Protests, Springfield Session Legislative Recap, Upcoming Town Hall
As I ride out the post emergency session isolation period, I’m reflecting on what can only be described as the most unusual session I could never have imagined. I have written and rewritten this message several times as the heartbreaking images from around the city and country have kept coming. Everything from leaving Springfield in March expecting to be back there in a week to get ready for the rush of deadlines that begins the sprint section of an ordinary session, to the extraordinary feat of rebuilding the House chambers in the Bank of Springfield Center to allow us to work with appropriate social distancing, and the post session self-isolation that follows, has been unprecedented. With the news of a staff person at the facility where we held session having tested positive, I’m taking the advice of my physician to self isolate for the full 14 days as recommended by the CDC and urge everyone who has participated in protests this week to take appropriate steps of isolation and testing to protect the people around you.

While taking all of this in, we also find ourselves in the midst of a heartbreaking and infuriating crisis around race in our country. We are living in a time when a video depicting a brutal murder is on every screen, where our president calls armed protestors screaming at law enforcement in Michigan “good people” while calling for violence against the protestors standing up to brutal racism around the country and perpetrating violence on protestors outside the White House. My friend and colleague Council member Andrea Jenkins of Minneapolis very powerfully spoke to the emotions she felt upon seeing her constituent beg for his life in that video, “We feel that knee on all of our collective necks...I am a part of this system to help get the knee off our necks.” (See her incredibly powerful statement here .) Those of us in public service know the challenge we face, and many of us have been working to unwind the tangle of the myriad ways institutionalized racism has infected the fabric of our society, and our government. Our work is usually incremental and sometimes it’s hard to see the benefit of the small wins and in times like these, it’s easy to feel like whatever gains we’ve made are too minuscule to justify the work and feel that true change is out of reach. In those moments, I look to friends and colleagues around the country also engaged in the work and remember how many of us are making incremental change every day and consider the power we collectively bring to bear as a good reason to keep fighting. Working together, we can maybe find a way to make those increments larger. Maybe we can collectively bring about sustainable and meaningful change, but that won’t happen without an inside and an outside strategy. Protests are vital to meaningful change. Discrediting the righteous anger of the protesters around the country, even those who go outside our personal comfort zones fails to acknowledge the source of that anger. To my friends heading out to protest and draw attention to the injustices, please be safe. Use care, keep in mind the risks that COVID-19 still presents and use face masks, social distance, and look out for others around you so everyone can get home safely.

As the unrest of the past week begins to settle, I’ve been heartened to see people coming together to help clean up the damage and restore neighborhoods hardest hit. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Many of us have begun talking about ways our laws need to be changed to prevent and appropriately respond to everything we’ve seen and heard over these tumultuous weeks. I appreciate the calls and emails with policy suggestions and am working to educate myself on new ideas while looking to the leadership of colleagues from the impacted communities to guide our actions. The members of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus released a list of steps and a joint press release to call for action. A few members of the House have asked for a special session to address the urgent need for reforms. It’s a rapidly developing situation as we seek the right answers and work to build support for legislative changes. Expect a more thorough newsletter on some of the ideas being discussed as well as steps being taken in other jurisdictions that can be instructive as we chart a path forward.
Springfield Session Legislative Recap
The emergency session was a very different experience than our regular session in many ways. Obviously, we weren’t meeting in the Capitol and had to figure out ways to do the work that usually involves a fair bit of contact and conversations in close quarters. We also didn’t use the standard committee process, instead convening a single committee to consider all of the bills before us to avoid having to move people around as much and limit the number of staff people needing to be present at any given time. Our goal for this abbreviated session was to pass a balanced budget that adjusted for the extraordinary impact the COVID-19 crisis has had on our state, take up emergency legislation that was specifically in response to the COVID-19 crisis, and take up legislation addressing matters of a time sensitive nature in the event we are unable to reconvene before the end of the year. There were several packages of legislation compiled to address these matters. I’ll briefly summarize them here, but plan to participate in our post session town hall with Senator Heather Steans and Representative Greg Harris on Monday, June 8 at 7pm. Please submit questions here and you can watch on Blueroom Live Steam (no login is required). Heather Steans’ session summary was so good, I decided to share it here rather than try to reinvent the wheel.

"Building a budget in this uncertain time proved challenging. With the pandemic and associated closures of many economic sectors, revenues have dropped precipitously in Illinois, as in every state. It remains unclear what additional assistance the federal government will provide states, how Illinois’ economy will bounce back as the state reopens, and whether or not enacts a progressive income tax.
 
Given these unknowns, we opted for a budget that preserves services during this time of need, knowing we may need to adjust the budget in the fall. Overall the budget keeps most programs funded at the same as the current year. K-12 education, higher education, public safety programs and general government services are preserved so that our school districts, universities and community colleges, and police and correctional institutions can maintain critical services. In human service arena most programs are also maintained at current levels, with some new investments in the Department of Children and Family Services and programs that care for elderly and developmentally disabled individuals. We also implemented a new funding mechanism in the Medicaid program to direct additional resources to health care providers around the state.
 
If additional assistance from the federal government is not provided and Illinois does not change its income tax structure, we provided authority for the administration to borrow up to $5 billion through the new Federal Reserve Bank credit facility it recently established."

In the emergency session, I carried a bill that was an initiative of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx that sought to create additional options for survivors of sexual assault seeking treatment during the pandemic. Resilience, the largest sexual assault hotline in the state, has reported a 49% decrease in calls to the hotline seeking support for survivors at hospital emergency rooms. In the same period Howard Brown Health Center, a federally qualified health center (FQHC) in the district, reported a 50% increase in patients presenting with sexual assault related injuries. In many cases, patients reported feeling too afraid to go to hospital emergency rooms even if that meant they couldn’t collect evidence to support a potential prosecution. Illinois law contains very specific provisions for the level of care expected for sexual assault survivors in our emergency rooms including the type and amount of training for providers, clarity on evidence collection processes, chain of custody issues and available methods of care. These standards are hard fought and any changes to them can be disconcerting to providers working with survivors. It was very important to all of us that any possible changes be made with the well being of the survivors and the standard of care they require in mind. SB557 reflects the work of the sexual assault service provider community, law enforcement, health care and prosecutors to find a way to give survivors options while maintaining a high standard of care. Once SB557 is signed, survivors will have the option of going to a specially qualified FQHC that meets the standards of training and care to have their exams and receive follow up care if they’re uncomfortable visiting an emergency room for the duration of the emergency and a brief period afterwards as we return to what will pass for normal.

Other bills we passed will provide clarity on workers compensation claims related to COVID_19, address concerns about unemployment insurance costs post COVID, ensure that every registered voter will receive an application for a mail in ballot and provide for secure methods of collecting the ballots, provide a viable tax structure for the Chicago casino, codify much of the emergency orders on telehealth, expand Medicaid coverage to seniors who are undocumented, permit local governments to allow the sale of “cocktails to go,” and create a sweeping package of grants aimed at recovery post pandemic.
Last week Governor Pritzker announced that he will no longer be hosting daily briefings and instead be hosting COVID press briefings as needed. He has also signed a new executive order lifting the stay at home order which also includes the extension of the moratorium on evictions, utility shut offs and the suspension of repossession of vehicles.

As we move into Phase 3 of the Restore Illinois Plan , and I wind down my self isolation period, I hope you are well, staying safe, and finding ways to safely enjoy the arrival of summer weather. We are going to continue to work remotely for the time being, but are making plans for a gradual resumption of our constituent office hours in coordination with the other officials in our shared office space and look forward to seeing you all very soon. Until then, we remain available via phone, email, and videoconferencing and are working hard to ensure that the level of service you have come to expect doesn’t falter under these new conditions.


COVID-19 Count as of today:


If you have questions related to COVID-19 you can contact the Illinois Department of Public Health :
Hotline : 800-889-3931
Email : dph.sick@illinois.gov

City of Chicago's Department of Public Health :
Hotline : 312-746-4835
Email : coronavirus@chicago.gov
After School Matters: Summer Application Open
Calling all teens! After School Matters is offering summer programs for you to learn skills, make friends, and earn money. Choose from programs like cooking, coding, dance, and more. Online programs start the week of July 6. Apply here .
Brave Space Alliance Supply Drive
Sincerely,

Kelly Cassidy
State Representative, 14th District

Office of State Representative Kelly Cassidy

5533 N Broadway

Chicago IL 60640
773-784-2002(phone)
773-784-2060(fax)