State Representative Brian Stewart filed House Bill 4147 to make attacking a DCFS workers in performance of their duties an aggravated battery and a Class 1 felony.

House Bill 4147, filed this week, would make battering a Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) in the performance of his/her official duties or in response to their official duties an aggravated battery and a Class 1 felony. Aggravated battery subject perpetrators to more severe penalties when facing prosecution and sentencing.

“My deepest sympathies and get well-wishes go out to the victim of this horrible attack, her family and everyone in her DCFS family.  Everyday DCFS workers put themselves at risk to protect the most vulnerable children in our communities,” said Rep. Stewart. “This legislation will give DCFS workers the same protections as policemen, firemen, and peace officers who also put themselves in harm’s way.”  Read more.

House Republican Leader Jim Durkin plans to introduce legislation to create a hotline where callers can report sexual harassment.

The toll-free number would be run by the Illinois Department of Human Rights and would help connect people to counseling services and advice on filing complaints with the proper authorities. It will be open to state employees, as well as residents who work in the private sector. Read more.

BUDGET
COGFA releases revenue report for October 2017. The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) has released its monthly revenue report and economic briefing for October 2017. COGFA continues to report that Illinois’ stagnant job picture is having a negative impact on income and sales tax growth. One major source of potential tax revenue growth is increased supplies of money forwarded from employers to Springfield of income taxes withheld from paychecks, and the absence of net new employment growth is limiting revenue increases from this source.

Human trafficking is one of the most under reported crimes, but according to UNICEF U.S.A., it is also the second largest crime industry in the world.

Among the human trafficking cases, according to the Human Trafficking Hotline, the vast majority of those cases are sex trafficking. The hotline also reports there have been 4,460 cases reported in the states for the first half of 2017. Among those cases, 3,698 of those affected were female, 607 were male and 53 were identified as gender minorities.

According to the hotline, Illinois ranks 10th for the number of reported cases in the states for the first half of 2017 with 100 cases, following Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Of the 100 cases, 83 of those affected were female. Read more.

Photo from the Abraham Lincoln Documents Collection, Illinois Digital Archives.
A service of the Illinois State Library and the Office of the Secretary of State

Illinois is not alone in having moved its state capital from one city to another. Exeter, New Hampshire; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Iowa City, Iowa; Benicia, California, and a handful of others have all been (for however brief a time) the capital city of their states. But after state government left their towns, those cities at least got to remain part of the state for which they had once been the seat of government. In Illinois, that was almost not the case for our first capital city of Kaskaskia.

The town of Kaskaskia was founded at the beginning of the 1700s. It was the site which French explorers chose to build the Church of the Immaculate Conception. The town’s strategic location near the confluence of the Kaskaskia and Mississippi Rivers made it a valuable piece of real estate for French and then British colonial authorities who used Kaskaskia as an administrative post for the area over the next century.

The state of Illinois has added more information to its state health insurance marketplace website ahead of the start of open enrollment on Wednesday.

The new information allows consumers to compare health insurance plans for sale both on and off the public Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) exchange. The website, available at getcovered.illinois.gov, previously hasn't included information about all plans or the ability to enroll in them and talk to licensed brokers.

Illinois Department of Insurance Director Jennifer Hammer said the agency used part of a $1 million state appropriation to overhaul the website and its services.

She added the agency is "going to utilize all the tools available" to help consumers choose the best plans and products. Read the story here.

Cook County, Illinois’ soda tax went “pop” after the county’s Board of Commissioners voted to repeal the county’s penny-per-ounce tax on sweetened beverages, but a bill under consideration by the state House of Representatives preventing future soda taxes from being enacted by local governments is picking up steam.

In July, the county government began collecting an additional tax on all sweetened drinks sold to consumers in Cook County—including soda, iced tea, lemonade, and sports drinks—purchased in bottles or cans or from dispensers.

On October 11, the Cook County Board of Commissioners repealed the tax, rolling back their February decision to create the new tax.

Despite the tax’s defeat, a bill prohibiting county governments from enacting new taxes on soda and other sweetened beverages is gaining popularity in the Illinois House of Representatives. Read more.