Inside:
- Legislation to help with National Guard recruiting passes
- Epilepsy education bill passes House
- Speaking up for the Second Amendment
- Illinois tops country in combined state, local tax rate
Legislation to help with National Guard recruiting passes
A bill I am sponsoring which would help the Illinois National Guard with recruiting has passed the House and is on its way to the Governor.
Senate Bill 3818 establishes the Joint Enlistment Enhancement Program (JEEP) and authorizes the Department of Military Affairs to make grants for the purpose of incentivizing recruitment into the Illinois National Guard.
JEEP would increase recruitment through peer-to-peer referrals. The grants would go to current members of the Guard who are not assigned as recruiters who serve as JEEP lead generators by supporting or facilitating the enlistment or accession of soldiers or airmen into the Guard. The Department would establish eligibility criteria, grant conditions and administrative requirements.
The bill previously passed the Senate by a vote of 46-0, and this week it cleared the House 100-0.
Epilepsy education bill passes House
The House has passed legislation I sponsored to better educate Illinoisans who might be at risk of sudden unexpected death from epilepsy (SUDEP).
In recent years there have been several incidents of Illinoisans suffering severe epileptic seizures which resulted in death. This legislation, Senate Bill 2782, would require many health care providers who are treating a patient diagnosed with epilepsy and who is at elevated risk for sudden unexpected death in epilepsy to provide that patient with certain written information regarding sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. The legislation would apply to health care professionals who have primary responsibility for the patient’s treatment and care – it would not apply to those treating a patient in an emergency situation.
The Department of Public Health would be required to make this information available to providers and also to post it on the Department’s website. Local or national organizations which provide education or services related to epilepsy conditions could request the Department include on its website the organization’s informational material and contact information.
This bill passed the Senate 57-0 and cleared the House 100-0. It now goes to the Governor.
Speaking up for the Second Amendment
This week I joined in a Capitol press conference to speak up for the Second Amendment and to oppose the Democrats’ anti-gun agenda.
Specifically, I spoke about House Bill 4414, a bill which is also known as the “ammo tax” because it would make handgun ammunition prohibitively expensive in Illinois. The legislation would require every single round of handgun ammunition in Illinois to be stamped with a serial number. Any person possessing handgun ammunition which did not have a serial number would be subject to prosecution. It is just another attempt to make it too expensive for Illinoisans to exercise their Constitutionally protected rights.
If people are serious about going after gun crime, they should first stop prosecutors from dropping gun charges against criminals. And they should go after individuals who are selling illegal guns. This bill does neither. It will not make Illinois any safer, it will just cause more problems for gun owners who do not commit crimes and who seek to comply with the law.
Illinois tops the country in combined state, local tax rate
A survey by the consumer service website WalletHub found that Illinoisans are paying the highest combined state and local tax rate in the country. Governor Pritzker has called for another $728 million in tax increases in this year’s budget proposal.
The median Illinois household faced an effective state and local tax rate of almost 17% last year. The national average is 11%. The second highest state is New York, at 14.95%.
Illinoisans paid $12,538 last year for a median household, which is the fourth-highest in the country. That compares to a national median of $8949. It is well known that Illinois has the highest property taxes in the country, and the effective rate for an Illinois property owner is 1.92% of the value of a home. That is twice the national median rate of 0.89%. When state and local sales taxes are totaled up, Illinoisans pay just under 9% in sales taxes.
Honoring our Fallen for Memorial Day
Over the weekend, the Oxford American Legion Post 1197 put flags on graves to honor our veterans in recognition of Memorial Day.
We placed flags at Oxford, Alpha and Summit Level between Woodhull and Alpha. At Summit Level, four of the five flags placed were honoring Civil War heroes and one was a Great War (WWI) hero. Private First Class Rutledge served in the 123rd Field Artillery Regiment, 33rd Division. The 123rd Field Artillery Regiment (part of the 33rd Division’s 58th Field Artillery Brigade) was an Illinois National Guard unit that fought on the Western Front in World War I, participating in major campaigns including the Meuse-Argonne, Somme, and Saint-Mihiel offensives.
I was honored to command the 2nd Battalion 123rd Field Artillery Regiment, August 1999 – January 2001.
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