Page 22 - January 2020 FOP Magazine

A barnburner of a year ahead
You can expect 2020 to be a barnburner of a year. With the March 17 primary elections in the midst of the scheduled spring legislative session, we can ex- pect a good number of political issues to be swirling as well as the public policy discussions that the ses- sion brings. All of this will be happening as we head toward the general election in November and the ongoing federal investigations around City Hall and Springfield.
New laws that go into effect in 2020 include an in- crease in the minimum wage by $1 to $9.25 per hour, new taxes on parking and trade in vehicles among others, elimina- tion of the statute of limitations for major sex crimes, more DCFS reporting and expanded immigrant rights among many others. As I’m sure you also know, recreational marijuana became legal in Il-
linois on Jan. 1.
Regarding police issues, we were able to get passed into law HB
2470, which addresses the appeal issue for duty disability decisions, as well as two bills to help address suicide and other mental health issues in HB 2766 and HB 2767. We are grateful to Representatives Fran Hurley and Kelly Burke and Senators Bill Cunningham and Rob Martwick for their efforts on behalf of Chicago Police Officers.
We continue to see new members of the General Assembly ar- rive. Chicago Democrat Representative Eva Dina Delgado has been appointed to replace arrested former State Representative Luis Ar- royo. Representative Celina Villanueva will most likely be appointed to replace now-former Senator Marty Sandoval, and Representative Sara Feigenholtz will likely replace Senate President John Cullerton, who announced his retirement. The race for the Senate presidency should be decided in mid-January. The current leading contenders are Democratic senators Kimberly Lightford and Don Harmon.
22 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JANUARY 2020
DAVE SULLIVAN
LEGISLATIVE Report