It has been very busy at the state Capitol since my last update. Deadlines for legislation to be heard in committees, many visitors to Springfield, and some intense debates on the House Floor.
I passed House Bill1341 out of the House to create a task force to study the practical, efficient, and beneficial repurposing of the Tamms Prison and its property for the benefit of the public. It now is on the schedule to be considered in the Senate.
When we don’t utilize the assets and resources we have right under our feet, the cost to the community and taxpayers, and the lost opportunities are great. Some of the possibilities include providing mental health services, health services, public safety, law enforcement training purposes, fire services, medical training and any other options for repurposing. I can’t wait to see all the options that the Task Force recommends.
The State of Illinois bought the land for the prison from soybean farmers. Much of the money used to fund the purchase of the prison land, reportedly over $225,000, came from donations made by area residents hoping to have a prison built, so the area’s economic fortunes could improve.
Giant City Park Lodge & Stables
I am proud to sponsor SB 1339 to name the visitor center located in Giant City State Park as the Bob Kristoff Visitor Center. Robert Lee Kristoff was a 1956 graduate of Carbondale Community High School and proudly served in the U.S. Army from 1962 – 1963. Bob retired in 2000 from the State of Illinois as Site Superintendent of Giant City State Park.
The Chief Sponsor of SB 1339 in the Senate is Sen. Dale Fowler and the legislation also names the arena located at Giant City Stables as the Richard A. Kelley Arena. Richard Kelley, a Carbondale native, applied to operate Giant City Lodge in 1980. He and his son opened it up March 1, 1981.
These designations are an appropriate way to honor two men who have impacted our local community with a wonderful location for families and visitors to southern Illinois to enjoy the natural beauty, horseback riding, hiking, camping, and fishing.
The legislation is awaiting a vote in the House.
As a member of the Appropriations – Higher Education Committee, I meet with many educators and leaders to learn about their programs and needs. This week I was visited by a delegation from Chicago State University. Chicago State University includes an honors program for undergraduates and offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the arts and sciences. CSU was founded in 1867 as the Cook County Normal School, an innovative teacher’s college.
It was good to meet and visit with the delegation from the Electric Co-Op on their Lobby Day. Here we are outside the House Chambers with State Rep. David Friess (115th District).
I’d like to remind everyone about the draining of Little Grassy Lake and the opportunity to catch as many fish as you can before April 1, 2026.
Unemployment rate unchanged at 4.8%
The unemployment rate in Illinois stood at 4.8% in March, unchanged from the revised February unemployment rate. That is according to information released by the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
Once again, Illinois’ unemployment rate was higher than the national rate, which stands at 4.2%. This most recent monthly report for Illinois showed substantial job losses in manufacturing (down by 5500 jobs since this same time last year), and professional and business services (a loss of 12,900 jobs over 12 months). There was growth in the sectors of government and health care.
Overall, there are 321,500 unemployed Illinoisans according to the report, a slight increase of 0.1% from the month before.
Illinois House Republicans Slam $6 Billion in Proposed Tax Hikes: Legislators Condemn Pritzker’s Dangerous Political Rhetoric on the National Stage
Illinois House Republicans slammed proposals from progressive interest groups that would raise taxes by $6 billion on Illinois working families and businesses.
At a Capitol news conference Thursday, Deputy Republican Leader Norine Hammond and Assistant Republican Leaders C.D. Davidsmeyer and Amy Elik called the $6 billion in proposed tax hikes “outrageous and unacceptable.”
This week, progressive Democrats ramped up their campaign for a graduated income tax hike, despite Illinois voters soundly rejecting a constitutional amendment for a progressive income tax in 2020. And the Illinois Revenue Alliance presented a list of tax hikes that would raise taxes by $6 billion. Read more here (https://www.thecaucusblog.com/2025/05/week-in-review-budget-watch-ethics.html).
Remembering and Honoring Fallen Peace Officers 2025
This week I helped to honor the officers who have died over the past year in Illinois. The annual ceremony was moved indoors to the State Library across from the Capitol. More information and photos are on my webpage here. (https://reppauljacobs.com/2025/05/03/rep-jacobs-honors-fallen-peace-officers-at-capitol-memorial-ceremony/)
Electric bills set to soar again this summer
Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), the interstate grid operator that posts prices for peak-load electrical supplies bought by utilities and end-users throughout central and southern Illinois, has reported a massive increase in summer capacity prices.
These are the price levels charged by peak-load electrical generation suppliers that operate and supply electricity online during times of peak summer demand. In some cases, these peak-load electrical supply prices, which electric utilities are legally empowered to pass on to their customers, are 22 times higher than last summer’s prices. These price levels reflect the continued withdrawal of coal-fired and other carbon-based electric generation from the supply picture of the central U.S. states, coupled with improved use of mathematical algorithms by the remaining suppliers to maximize their prices and profits.
The largest utility serving central and southern Illinois, Ameren, warned customers this week that the utility expects to pay approximately 50% more this summer for the electricity it purchases. Ameren expects the overall prices will increase from 8 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) last summer to 12 cents/kWh this summer. After these supply prices are passed on to customers as allowed by law, the average summer 2025 consumer electric bill will be 18% to 22% higher in summer 2025 than during the comparable months of 2024. This price increase will apply to the four-month period beginning June 1, 2025, and ending on September 30, 2025.
Starting on October 1, 2025, and in line with expected end of summer temperatures and air-conditioning-related peak demand loads, the summer 2025 capacity price structure posted by MISO will expire, and the billing surcharges to be charged by Ameren and other Downstate Illinois electrical utility suppliers may be partly reduced. The Downstate Illinois summer 2025 electrical pricing picture was described to members of the General Assembly on Wednesday, April 30.
Gov. JB Pritzker, lawmakers moving sluggishly on Illinois ethics law reforms despite uptick in convictions
In the six years since Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker took office, members of the Illinois General Assembly have run afoul of the law at a staggering pace, even for a body with a history of greed and graft stretching back more than a century.
During Pritzker’s reign in Springfield, 11 now-former lawmakers have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial of crimes, a stain on the Illinois government he heads even though the governor himself has not been accused of any wrongdoing. That total avoided becoming an even dozen when a mistrial was declared last week in the federal court case alleging Democratic state Sen. Emil Jones III of Chicago sought a bribe and a job for an intern from a rogue red-light camera company executive working as a government mole.
The rapid rate of such convictions, at least in the short term, surpasses even the notorious Chicago City Council, which has seen nearly 40 members imprisoned in the last half century. And no conviction in recent memory was bigger than the epic February takedown of Chicago Democratic powerhouse and former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, the longest-serving speaker in American history.
The blemishes on state government come as the Tribune in 2024 published its series “Culture of Corruption,” which outlined how state laws are riddled with loopholes and plagued by weak oversight, issues underscored earlier this month when the Tribune revealed Illinois election officials said Senate President Don Harmon collected millions of dollars more in campaign donations than he was allowed to under a law Harmon sponsored. Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat, is appealing the decision.
Despite all of that, as the legislature enters the final weeks of its spring session, strengthening the state’s ethical safeguards doesn’t appear to be anywhere near the top of the agenda in Springfield. Pritzker, Harmon and their fellow Democratic leader, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch of Hillside, have done little this year to press for higher standards, and numerous proposals — from Democrats and Republicans alike — to address lobbying, conflicts of interest and other ethics-related issues have languished.
Without offering specifics, Harmon and other key Democrats have suggested an overarching ethics package could emerge in the final weeks before the legislature’s May 31 adjournment deadline. But that worries reform advocates who fear an eleventh-hour proposal will pop up as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition loaded with more loopholes.
Particularly puzzling is Pritzker’s lack of public enthusiasm for pending good-government proposals or a high-profile reform agenda given his national political ambitions and public challenges to Republican President Donald Trump. Though Pritzker has signed into law smaller ethical upgrades, most recently a ban on campaign contributions from red-light camera companies following scandals involving state and local officials, the governor may be squandering an opportunity to portray himself as someone willing to try to disinfect the political culture of a state often synonymous with public corruption.
Soon after Madigan’s conviction, Pritzker said the verdict represented a “vital reminder that we must maintain our vigilance in cleaning up government.” Yet in his State of the State address a week later, Pritzker mentioned Madigan only in passing and laid out no plan for strengthening government ethics laws. Read more on this story from the Chicago Tribune.
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