Release Date 05-28-2010

BROADVIEW, IL – As the Illinois General Assembly adjourned on Thursday, state Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood) reflected on a legislative session that required tough budgetary choices but also yielded important reforms and protections for the people of Illinois.

“Our state budget came down to a simple, yet sobering lesson in math,” Yarbrough said.  “We no longer have the money to pay for the services on which so many have come to rely. That left us with some very tough choices, but that’s why the people sent us here.  We were able to do all we could short of a tax increase, and I am hopeful that the job-creating measures we took this year will help to play a role in turning the economy around.”

Despite the state’s fiscal constraints, Yarbrough was able to pass meaningful legislation aimed at jumpstarting Illinois’ economy, protecting vulnerable residents, and helping address local issues. To help the residents of Forest Park move forward with redeveloping the vacant Roos cedar chest factory, she passed into law Senate Bill 3696.  This new law allows the Forest Park Park District to adopt a supplemental budget that reflects the voters’ approval of an increase in the property tax levy at the February 2 election.

Yarbrough also passed legislation to ensure schools and daycares across the state can be notified of important details about registered sex offenders, including where they work and their internet habits.  House Bill 5791 allows the Illinois Attorney General to create a special notification system that builds upon the existing crime victim and witness notification system to disseminate important details about sex offenders to schools and daycares.  These details would include name, address, date of birth, employment information, and all known internet usernames, web sites and blogs maintained by the offender.

“Even though we have limited resources in this tough time, that doesn’t mean that we can’t act in creative ways to make people safer and healthier,” Yarbrough said.  “Illinoisans deserve to know of all possible threats to their well-being, and we made great progress towards disseminating information about where dangerous offenders are living and working.”

Though Yarbrough is a strong supporter of programs and services that keep older adults independent and living in their own homes, sometimes that is no longer possible and a loved one needs the round-the-clock care that only a nursing facility can provide.  To make sure that people in nursing homes are safe, she worked to pass Senate Bill 326, which requires nursing homes to increase staffing levels, meet higher standards before admitting patients with serious mental illness and segregate the most dangerous residents in secure units where they would receive more intensive monitoring and treatment.  The measure will also help move thousands of people who suffer from mental illness or disability out of homes and into less expensive, more effective community treatment programs.

To rein in past abuses and excesses and bring the state’s pension systems more in line with what is available in the private sector, and to improve the system’s long-term viability so that it will remain in a position to meet its obligations to current and future retirees, Yarbrough gave her full backing to a new law, Public Act 96-0889, which makes major reforms to the state employee pension systems and saves Illinois money in the short and long terms.  Among the most significant changes: the retirement age is raised to age 67, bringing Illinois in line with Social Security rules; reduced cost-of-living adjustments; standardized and, in some cases, reduced survivor benefits; a prohibition on an individual receiving one government pension while receiving a salary from a different government entity; and a reduction of the maximum possible pension a retired government worker can receive.

The Yarbrough-backed pension reforms are expected to save the state $300 million in the next year and as much as $100 billion in reduced future costs – which will help to ease budget pressures going forward.

Small businesses are the engines that help to drive the state’s economy.  Rep. Yarbrough helped to pass a new law, Public Act 96-0888, that will help boost Illinois’ economy by creating up to 20,000 jobs over the next year at small businesses across the state. The measure provides a $2,500 credit to businesses with 50 or fewer employees that hire new, full-time Illinois employees beginning July 1, keep them employed for at least a year, and pay at least $25,000 per year. Ninety-five percent of Illinois businesses have fewer than 50 employees.

“We’ve taken some steps to get the state’s economy on the right track, but it’s not something that is going to happen overnight,” Yarbrough said.  “Until every able-bodied Illinoisan who wants a better life for their family has a job, our work is not done.”

For more information, contact Yarbrough’s office at (708) 615-1747.

Summary of Legislation Introduced by Rep. Karen Yarbrough – Spring Session 2010