Chicago Tribune - June 7, 2018

By Gary Marx, David Jackson, Juan Perez Jr. and Jennifer Smith Richards | Original story

Illinois lawmakers this week introduced a set of legislative proposals and began planning hearings in response to the Chicago Public Schools sexual abuse scandal.

A bill proposal filed Tuesday listed child protection shortfalls highlighted in a Tribune investigative series and outlined more than a dozen changes to state law. Those measures would swiftly revoke the licenses of educators found by districts to have sexually abused children and would make such disciplinary action more transparent to the public.

The proposed legislation also would make it a crime for school employees to have sexual contact with a student regardless of the student’s age. Under current law, sex with a student is legal if he or she is older than 17 and no force is involved.

Separately, state legislators called for a joint Senate and House hearing within the next two weeks.

“We should seize this moment and stop deferring justice. To fail to do so is to fail in our duty to protect and educate our children,” Sen. Jacqueline Collins, D-Chicago, said Wednesday.

Read more: In The News: CPS sex abuse findings result in proposals to change Illinois law

State Senator Jacqueline Collins issued the following statement today as the Illinois Senate passed a bipartisan budget compromise which included funding for numerous social services and after school programs originally cut in the governor’s budget proposal earlier this year:

“Today’s agreement came out of a shared spirit of compromise and good will which our state has sorely missed,” Collins said. “This budget is balanced and makes its reductions and increases in a responsible manner that seeks to do right by the most vulnerable. I urge my colleagues in the House to approve it and the governor to sign it.”

Following a regulatory compromise that set new rates on check cashing services, including lowering the rate on government assistance checks, legislation passed the General Assembly without opposition this month requiring industry regulators to consider the impact on consumers and minority communities in future rate changes.  

State Senator Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago) worked alongside consumer advocates to reach the regulatory compromise in the wake of a proposal from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) which would have raised rates on check cashing services like those at a Currency Exchange. The measure now awaiting the governor’s signature would define a number of socioeconomic factors that regulators must consider in the event they set new rates going forward.

“I’m pleased to see this compromise meet with success in the General Assembly without opposition,” Collins said. “This is a service used almost exclusively by the unbanked – those who don’t have access to a bank account for a variety of reasons, and whose income has been virtually stagnant since the recession. We must ensure that this process – which determines what rate to charge the people who can least afford such services offered to bank accountholders for free – is closely regulated and its import carefully considered.”

For people living paycheck to paycheck, an initial deposit for a bank account might not be possible, or even physically reaching a banking institution might not be plausible. For them, the only option is often a check cashing service, which draws a fee.

Senate Bill 2433 calls for IDFPR to consider the impact on consumers and whether an increase in the rate schedule will disproportionately impact anyone on the basis of any protected categories defined in the Illinois Human Rights Act.

Senator Jacqueline Collins delivered a prayer at this year’s Illinois Prayer Breakfast today at the Michael J. Howlett Building in Springfield. Her prayer is below.

Father God, we thank you for this day that you have made.  A day we have never experienced before and a day we will never encounter again.  So, Father, on this special and sacred day, we thank you for the opportunity to gather together as a family of faith, a faith rooted in your love, your mercy and your grace.

Like Moses, we join with our beloved brothers and sisters today, to part the destructive waters of denominationalism and division, and cross over to the promised land of spiritual prosperity and perfect peace.

For the God of endurance and encouragement has called us to live in harmony, for we are one in the Spirit, and have come together like Esther for such a time as this, to rebuild the wall of mutual respect like Nehemiah, to restore the hope of mankind like Jeremiah, and revive the dry bones in the valley of the least, last and lost like the Prophet Eziekiel.

We pray that the Spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of power and might, the spirit of knowledge and oneness shall rest upon us and anoint us to preach the good news to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, restore sight to the blind and set the captives free. 

For we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, ordained by Him to declare the praises and virtues of Him who has called us out of the darkness of doubt into His marvelous light.

We pray that God continues to bless us with the faith of Abraham, the power of Elijah and the courage and conviction of Isaiah as we seek to be obedient and hear the voice and call of Yahweh to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly before our God.

As we depart this place today, may we let our light so shine that people may see our good works and give glory to God, our Father in heaven.  And I pray that the life of Jesus the Christ be our example, the love of Christ our strength and inspiration, and the glory of Christ our ministry and mission.

Amen.