This week we had a full schedule again for committees. There are three bills that I am co-sponsoring that have made it out of committee and placed on the calendar for a full House debate and vote:
- House Bill 1226 is a bi-partisan bill I am co-sponsoring – the Road Safety & Fairness Act that would raise the age for mandatory road tests to 87 for senior drivers who are renewing a driver’s license. No other state in the United States requires age-based road exams. This bill gives some respect back to seniors. The state should not be making assumptions about their driving abilities solely based on their age. If signed into law, this bill would go into effect on July 1, 2026.
- House Bill 1270 – Volunteer License…Amends the Department of Professional Regulation Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. It will allow those of us in the medical profession who want to volunteer for no pay when we retire, to do so without having to pay for the cost of a license. This idea came from the IL State Medical Society and is supported by the Illinois Chiropractic Society (Chiropractors), Illinois Health and Hospital Association (IHA), Illinois Pharmacists Association (IPhA), Illinois Policy Institute (IPI), American Nurses Association – Illinois Chapter (ANA-IL) and Illinois Society for Advanced Practice Nursing (ISAPN).
- House Resolution 39 – I am a co-sponsor of this legislation to Declare April 2025 as the first Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month in the State of Illinois. Our goal is to help increase public awareness of the need to support individuals with autism and the family members, medical professionals, and human services professionals who help care for individuals with autism.
Fighting for Homeschooler Families in Illinois!
The hearing on the legislation to regulate home schoolers (HB 2827) was postponed from this week until next Wednesday, March 19. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to sign my petition and to file a witness slip in opposition to this bad legislation! Nearly 30,000 of you have filed Witness Slips. If you would still like to have your opinion registered, click here and complete the form.
Tri-State Tornado Hit Southern Illinois 100 Years Ago
Southern Illinois will soon observe the 100th anniversary of one of the worst disasters in Illinois history. The Tri-State Tornado, which hit Missouri, Illinois and Indiana on March 18, 1925, was the deadliest twister in U.S. history. As the storm tore along its devastating path, 695 residents of the three states lost their lives. The destruction peaked in Murphysboro, Illinois, where 234 local residents were killed. To this day, March – the month of this killer storm – is the national Severe Weather Preparedness Month throughout the U.S.
Weather predictions were in their infancy in the 1920s. Most Illinoisans, including those who listened to their primitive radio sets or who read daily newspapers, had not been aware of the massive storm headed for them on that day. Even if they had been warned, though, nothing could have prepared Southern Illinois for a tornado track that remained on the ground for an incredible 219 miles. The twister tore a path of destruction through five Illinois counties – Jackson County, Williamson County, Franklin County, Hamilton County, and White County – before crossing the Wabash River to continue its trail of horror in Indiana.
The blast zone created by the tornado’s destructive vortex was measured at ¾ of a mile in width, a significant width for this type of storm. While there are no precise measurements for how powerful the winds blew inside this zone, the levels of destruction imposed upon trees, buildings, and the other works of human beings within this zone indicate that the tornado’s winds could have blown as hard as 300 miles per hour. The tornado remained on the ground for almost three and a half hours, having touched down in southeast Missouri at 1:01 p.m. to begin its path of devastation. Mercifully, the tornado finally disintegrated at 4:30 p.m. in southwestern Indiana, leaving behind 15,000 destroyed homes, 2,027 injured Americans, and hundreds of dead.
Irish American History Month & Next Week is St. Patrick’s Day
This week we highlighted the contributions of Irish Immigrants who have made tremendous contributions to our state and nation. I am proud to claim a wee bit O’Irish heritage myself.
Many people may not know that Irish political leaders helped draft the state’s first constitution. Over a million people in Illinois claim Irish ancestry with Cook County the largest ‘Irish county’ in the United States. Irish immigration started in the 1830s and surged after the Great Famine in the 1840s, with Irish immigrants making up about one-fifth of Chicago’s population by 1850.
Irish immigrants played a crucial role in the construction of the Illinois Central Railroad (founded 1851) and the Illinois-and-Michigan Canal. The Illinois Central Railroad, sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was acquired by Canadian National Railway in 1998 and runs right through my district in southern Illinois to New Orleans and the Gulf of America. Abe Lincoln was a lawyer for the railroad.
If you’d like to learn more about the Irish & Illinois history, I suggest a book published by our very own Southern Illinois University Press titled “The Irish in Illinois” by Mathieu W. Billings and Sean Farrell to get you started. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all!
Illinois’ unemployment rate was 4.9% in January.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced Wednesday that nonfarm payrolls were almost unchanged, down -1,100 (0.0%), while the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 percent in January, based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and released by IDES. The December monthly change in payrolls was revised from the preliminary report, from +8,800 to +12,200 while the revised unemployment rate was 4.9 percent, -0.3 percent lower than the preliminary December unemployment rate of 5.2 percent.
Illinois’ 4.9% January 2025 unemployment rate continued to be significantly higher than the nationwide jobless rate, which was 4.0% for the same month. This continued to signal that Illinois’ economy is underperforming the outlook of the 50 states. In addition, the January 2025 figures showed that Illinois continues to lose jobs in key economic sectors. During 2024, Illinois lost significant numbers of jobs within the following three sectors:
- Professional and Business Services 17,800 jobs lost in calendar year 2024
- Manufacturing 5,900 jobs lost
- Construction 3,400 jobs lost
Gains in private education, health services, and government created small numbers of net new jobs in Illinois during calendar year 2024, but this trend indicated continued movement in Illinois away from the actual handling and manufacturing of material goods and a continued turn within Illinois towards public-sector and health services.
If you have any questions or concerns or need help with a state program or department, please contact my office at 618-559-7018 or online at RepPaulJacobs.com.