On Tuesday, Frerichs announced lower fees, updated investment options and a new mobile app for Able UP accounts, formerly known as Illinois ABLE. The program is not limited to Illinois residents, but Illinois taxpayers who contribute to an Able UP account may qualify for a state income tax deduction.

Frerichs said, before the ABLE program, people receiving Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid and other benefits based on income and savings often could not build meaningful savings without risking the loss of assistance.

Federal law expanded ABLE account eligibility on January 1, 2026. Previously, a person’s disability or qualifying medical condition had to begin before age 26. Now, eligible people whose disability or qualifying medical condition began before age 46 can open an ABLE account.

Small biz uncertainty index drops, optimism ticks down

The NFIB Uncertainty Index dropped six points to 84 last month, its lowest level since December 2025, while the NFIB Small Business Optimism ticked down 0.1 point in October to 97.8.

Although optimism held steady and uncertainty eased, NFIB Illinois State Director Noah Finley said Illinois employers continue to face high taxes, rising health insurance costs and workforce challenges.

Illinois tax preparer sentenced for COVID-19 fraud scheme

An Orland Park woman has been sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay more than $11 million in restitution plus a forfeiture judgment of nearly $2 million for running a pandemic assistance and unemployment benefits scheme.

Prosecutors said Hiam Hmaidan, 54, abused her position as a tax preparer and, along with co-conspirators, submitted nearly 700 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims from May 2020 through December 2022.

State Rep. Travis Weaver, R-Edwards, is seeking a constitutional amendment that would establish new rules for redistricting, arguing the current maps leave some voters underrepresented.

The proposal comes after Democrats expanded their supermajorities in both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly in the Nov. 3 election.

Before the Nov. 3 election, Democrats held a 78-40 majority in the Illinois House and a 40-19 majority in the Senate. Preliminary results following the election show Democrats expanding those advantages to 82-32 in the House and 45-13 in the Senate, with several races still unresolved. Weaver explained the results leave Republicans with even less representation in the General Assembly and raise questions about whether the Democratic supermajorities would support changes that could limit their party’s influence over the redistricting process.

“In a typical election, Illinois is a 45 to 55 Democrat state,” Weaver told The Center Square. “So it just highlights that voters and constituents in the state of Illinois are extremely disenfranchised.”

Weaver criticized the shape of Illinois' legislative districts, saying boundaries often divide neighborhoods and counties.

“They jig and they jag and they run and they don't keep neighborhoods together. They don't keep counties together,” Weaver said.

In April, House Democrats advanced a separate constitutional amendment, HJRCA 28, that would prioritize racial representation requirements when drawing legislative districts.

House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, defended the proposal by pointing to concerns that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling could weaken protections for minority voters under the federal Voting Rights Act, according to news reports.

Republicans challenged that argument. Republican lawmakers opposing HJRCA 28 argued that its provisions could give Democrats additional flexibility when drawing district boundaries rather than address partisan gerrymandering.

Weaver referenced a lawsuit Republicans brought challenging Democratic-drawn legislative maps. Weaver said Republicans used data to argue that voters were moved out of competitive districts and concentrated into districts that were already heavily Republican or Democratic.

Weaver said the current political makeup of the General Assembly can affect how individual lawmakers approach legislation. He pointed to moderate Democrats who might want to oppose certain tax increases but could feel their votes would not change the outcome because their party has enough votes to pass legislation without them.

“The more that we can narrow that gap, the more that we're going to reflect the makeup of the people of Illinois,” Weaver said.

But changing the process would require support from lawmakers in the party that currently holds the majority.

Asked why Democrats would voluntarily give up control over redistricting, Weaver said some members of the party have also expressed frustration with their own district boundaries.

He described a recent conversation with a Democratic member of Congress who complained that her district was not compact and extended into multiple neighborhoods.

“I think it's definitely an instance where we would need to see people put what is right ahead of what is expedient,” Weaver said. “I know it's a lot to ask in politics, but that's the ask that I have on the table.”

Weaver said he has legislation filed that would put a constitutional amendment before voters. He argues the rules should be placed in the state constitution so future lawmakers cannot easily change them.

“Once you get a constitutional amendment, it's locked in,” Weaver said.

Illinois public policy and government reform advocate Brian Costin says reforming the state’s redistricting process will require more than appeals to fairness, arguing lawmakers must face enough public pressure to voluntarily surrender their mapmaking authority.

Costin says Republicans should build unified support for reviving HJRCA 41, secure public pledges from candidates to support independent maps regardless of which party benefits, and publish model legislative maps for voters to compare.

He argues a constitutional amendment would provide lasting protections but says separating state legislative redistricting reform from the national battle over congressional maps could create an opportunity for bipartisan support.

Costin says both parties should be held accountable by committing to the same redistricting rules before either has the power to draw district boundaries.

Under Article XIV of the Illinois Constitution, a proposed amendment must receive approval from three-fifths of the members elected to both the House and Senate before going to voters. Voters must then approve it by either three-fifths of those voting on the question or a majority of all ballots cast in the election.

Weaver said his proposal would emphasize transparency, including allowing the public to see the software used to draw maps and the instructions guiding that software.

Critics of independent redistricting commissions argue that transferring mapmaking authority does not necessarily eliminate political influence and could create accountability concerns.

For voters who believe their legislative districts are predetermined and their votes have little impact, Weaver said their concerns are justified.

“I'd say they're spot on,” Weaver said. “That's what we're working to change.”

DATA CENTER REGULATIONS

A top priority for lawmakers in both chambers and from both parties is passing some form of legislation that would regulate data centers – particularly ones known as “hyperscale” data centers, which are often used by AI companies and are significantly more strenuous on things like public utilities and water.

Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, explained that she and her colleagues want a bill that addresses the polarizing projects that addresses a number of issues, and that ties local property tax relief directly to new projects.

“We agree there needs to be a regulatory framework in place looking at water – regulating how much water is used, how it's used, transparency, ethics, all of those things. And then also, most importantly is the power that goes along with it,” Rezin said.

As for the Democratic side, Rep. Edgar González Jr., D-Chicago, said he thinks the previously considered POWER Act just has parts that “need to be tinkered out,” and he really hopes to see the proposed legislation pass before the end of session.

Another House Democrat leader recently told The Center Square regulations could be better addressed in January.

HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

A legislative package – the Building Up Illinois Developments, or BUILD plan – seeks to make housing more affordable statewide.

While partly passed in the fall, specifically increased funding for existing financial assistance programs, the package’s proposed “red tape cutting” in new housing construction hasn’t passed.

Pritzker said in recent weeks that BUILD could be delayed to the next term to leave more time for negotiations and to put more work into the specifics of the bill.

Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, said while he has disagreements with the legislation put forward by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, there are some ways the legislature can cut the price of new homes further.

“I have to applaud the governor for bringing this forward, saying that we need more housing, not just affordable housing, but we call it middle income housing,” Spain said. “Some of the governor's solutions, I think missed the mark a little bit, you know, aiming on how to take away certain elements of local control that may not be the best solution, but there's a lot of things.”

EDUCATION FUNDING

The $9.96 billion Chicago Public Schools budget this year relies on $150 million in state taxpayer funds that were promised after the state budget passed by outgoing Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch to address the district’s deficit.

Retiring Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, said appropriations legislation historically isn’t brought up until a new legislative session, and it would be unlikely to pass without offering additional funds statewide.

“We should find a way to afford it, but it has to go through the EBF funding formula. For the city of Chicago to get $150 million from that formula, about $500 or $600 million have to be poured through the top of the funnel,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham said it’d be unlikely they could find enough funds before the next session, meaning CPS might have to make cuts to personnel and in other parts of its budget this year.

SMALLER PRIORITIES

Among other priorities, González said House Democrat leaders are also prioritizing some sort of government or legislature-specific ethics reforms during the veto session, though he said specifics are unclear.

Cunningham said he’d be more than happy to take up any ethics reform bills from the House.

The lawmakers also discussed potentially still passing a bill pertaining to major economic projects and state subsidies for them, which was initially part of a package meant to address a new Chicago Bears stadium – another key issue expected to come up next week.

Rezin also said she wants I-80 named after Pope Leo, the first American Pope who hails from Chicago.

Lawmakers return to Springfield Tuesday for their first week of their veto session.

The money was collected through the event’s Fund-A-Need initiative and will provide tuition assistance to students and families, helping make a Catholic education more accessible.

Central Catholic provided nearly $900,000 in tuition assistance during the 2025-2026 school year.

School President Sean Foster said the amount of scholarship assistance available has doubled over the past five years, opening the door for more students to attend.

Foster said some families who want a faith-based education don’t apply because they believe financial barriers make it unattainable.

The fundraising effort comes as the school continues to grow. Central Catholic welcomed 118 freshmen and 127 new students this fall, its largest freshman class in more than 15 years. Overall enrollment has increased by more than 115 students over the past four years.

Saints Alive brings together alumni, parents and supporters to raise funds and support the school’s mission.

Central Catholic, founded in 1884, provides an education focused on faith, academic excellence, character development and service.

A group of 28 aldermen wrote a letter to the mayor on Tuesday and said his spending plan ignores the road map they sent him in September.

Last month, the mayor introduced the budget that includes a monthly tax of $25 per worker on businesses with 125 or more employees.

The plan raises the Personal Property Lease Transaction Tax from 15% to 20% and the sports betting tax from 10.25% to 20%.

It also includes a 15-cent tax on non-medical and non-food containers and packages.

The letter from the city council’s Budget Accountability Coalition reminded Johnson they would not vote for a tax on jobs, the increase in the PPLT tax or new spending.

The $17.6 billion proposal is up from the current $16.7 billion city budget.

“This version of your budget is a non-starter,” the letter said.

The mayor responded by saying he would not balance the budget off the backs of working people.

“No one has come up with a viable solution other than saying what they do not want, and so people have to come to the table saying what they do want,” Johnson said on Tuesday.

A reporter asked the mayor how he would approach the situation.

“I’m going to approach it the way I approach every circumstance and matter in this city, collaboratively,” Johnson said.

Alderman Gilbert Villegas said the mayor’s proposal looks at revenue instead of efficiencies or right-sizing government.

“There's been a lot of pushback from the council because there hasn't been a lot of collaboration, despite the fact that the mayor said he's the collaborator-in-chief,” Villegas told The Center Square.

Johnson said 97% or 98% of the budget he proposed last year was implemented.

The mayor did not sign or veto the budget passed by aldermen after they rejected his 2025 proposal, which also included a corporate head tax.

More than 70 fires have been started over the last three years at the center – a low-population facility IDOC describes as a prison for “convicted adult male felons with severe mental illness.”

Among the fires were eight cases of prisoners intentionally setting themselves on fire, leading to the death of two inmates according to state records.

The Joliet facility costs taxpayers at least $336,699 per inmate each year, according to the state’s 2025 budget, and lawmakers questioned how the department could improve operations.

IDOC Acting Director Latoya Hughes and other top IDOC officials faced a joint committee. She said the department is working to improve conditions in Joliet by hiring a new employee for fire safety and a new chief of mental health.

“Correctional facilities were never designed to serve as long-term behavioral health centers. Even with dedicated staff and resources,” Hughes said. ”The safety and well-being of those in our care as well as our staff and visitors remains our top priority and we take these concerns very seriously.”

Sheena McClain, a Joliet Treatment Center officer and AFSCME local president, told lawmakers IDOC’s efforts haven’t been enough, and employees and inmates are still left in unsafe conditions.

“Compounding the problems, the department frequently gives only surface level treatment to long-standing operational problems,” McClain said.

Rep. Gregg Johnson, D-East Moline, is a former IDOC employee and said his engagement as a lawmaker have resulted in him receiving incorrect or non-answers to his questions, such as the denial and later confirmation of the sexual assault of an employee.

“It's a culture of dishonesty that I have seen for decades now. But I want to know what we can do to fix this because when legislators call and they want to know what's going on with the facilities, I think they absolutely are entitled to an honest straight answer,” Johnson said.

Other lawmakers, such as Rep. Kelly Cassidy, the Democrat chair of the Restorative Justice and Public Safety Committee, were critical of the department’s operations and answers.

“I asked you [Hughes] to make it make sense. You did not. We have a state of the art facility that is half empty and we have people all over the state who are harming themselves for lack of access to care. So, I appreciate all of those words, but it doesn't make sense to me,” Cassidy said.

While IDOC officials said they have robust staffing, McClain said staffing hasn’t been adequate since before the start of the decade.

McClain said some of the solutions to improve safety could include the installation of sprinklers at the site – which was built without them in 2017 – and increasing the employment of mental health-specific staff.

Lawmakers sought another solution after the hearing, a bipartisan bill to create a new independent ombudsman for the department.

The new role would investigate complaints about facility operations, conditions and inmate treatment, while also conducting regular facility visits to detail conditions, which would be released in public reports.

Rep. Kevin Olickal, D-Chicago, said the bill he is sponsoring with another Democrat and a Republican representative is clearly needed.

“These conditions put both incarcerated individuals and correctional staff at risk. And yet under our current system, we are relying on IDOC to investigate complaints about IDOC. We are asking the department to hold itself accountable,” Olickal said.

The ombudsman would be required to have not served within IDOC or the Department of Juvenile Justice or have contracted for the agencies to ensure independence.

Canty said in her announcement she hopes there will be an "open, robust process" to determine who will be the next speaker. She further said she wants the next speaker to be engaged with lawmakers and their staff, and to strengthen the Democratic caucus both in the lawmaking process and politically.

Sean Reed contributed to this story

St. Louis man pleads guilty to transporting minor across state line for sex

A St. Louis man has admitted transporting a minor from Illinois to Missouri multiple times to engage in illegal sex acts.

Curion Turner, 28, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on Tuesday. Prosecutors said Turner met the victim on social media in 2023, when she was 15 years old and he was 25 but claimed to be 17.

Turner admitted that he brought the victim from Illinois to a hotel in the St. Louis area about seven times.

Turner is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 11.

Quincy veterans home to hold job fair

Three state agencies are co-hosting a job fair at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy on Thursday. A

ccording to the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, the Illinois Department of Central Management Services and the Illinois Department of Employment Security, vacancies include registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, veterans nursing assistants, dietary support service workers and maintenance equipment operators.

The fair is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday in the home’s new Long-Term Care Building.

State Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, asked that Home for Good legislation be considered during fall veto session.

“Home for Good is smart, sensible policy that also happens to be the right thing to do,” Johnson told The Center Square.

House Bill 624 would take an initial amount up to $35 million from the state budget for reentry services, civil legal aid and economic development.

Citing data from the Illinois Sentencing Policy Council, Johnson said each event of recidivism costs taxpayers nearly $200,000 when adjusted for inflation.

“Annually, that adds up to roughly $1.1 billion. That’s in addition to the more than $2 billion the state spends each year to fund the Illinois Department of Corrections, and so Home for Good will help reduce those costs over time,” Johnson said.

Last spring, opponents expressed concern about spending taxpayer dollars on people with criminal histories.

The Illinois Department of Human Services and the Illinois Housing Development Authority filed witness slips in opposition to the bill, but Johnson said it’s her understanding that the agencies no longer have the same concerns about budget constraints they had last spring.

A coalition of groups supporting the legislation said 15,000 people exit Illinois prisons each year, with the vast majority unable to find stable housing.

“Secure housing empowers people to work and earn wages and so growing the state sales tax base without raising taxes,” Johnson said.

The Buffalo Grove Democrat said the bill would create the Home for Good Institute to train and assist community-based organizations interested in developing and operating reentry housing.

“This legislation endeavors to develop more re-entry housing units, which is going to expand economic development opportunities for developers and communities most impacted by high incarceration,” Johnson said.

Fall veto session is scheduled from Nov. 17-19 and Dec. 1-3.

Committee hearings and floor debate can be seen via Blue Room Stream.

Sean Reed contributed to this story

The state’s call follows the U.S. EPA announcing the availability of $180 million, including up to $12 million for individual awards, under the 2026 Diesel Emissions Reduction Act.

State gaming board urges consumers to avoid illegal sites

The Illinois Gaming Board has joined the International Association of Gaming Regulators in unveiling an awareness campaign and website tool to help consumers identify and avoid illegal and unregulated online gambling sites.

Through www.checkbeforeyouplay.org, consumers can verify whether an online gambling site is licensed in their jurisdiction before placing a wager, helping them avoid unregulated and illegal operators.

Endeavor nurses file for union election

Nurses at four Endeavor Health hospitals have filed for an election to join the Teamsters.

Union officials said about 2,500 nurses from Evanston Hospital, Glenbrook Hospital in Glenview, Highland Park Hospital and Skokie Hospital signed cards saying they want to be represented by Teamsters Local 743.

Del Mar said Monday that the party cannot wait until a convention would be regularly scheduled in 2028.

“We need to be talking about the issues that matter to Illinois voters. We’ve gotten so far outside of what we are against and what we’re not for. We need to re-explain to people and tell them, ‘This is what the Illinois Republican Party is for,” Del Mar told The Center Square.

Del Mar called for a convention to be held next March, saying the party needs a new platform and bylaws.

“And how do we elect our Republican leadership in Illinois and the dysfunction that’s there,” Del Mar said.

The Illinois Republican Party did not immediately respond to The Center Square’s request for comment.

The former Cook County Republican chair said the party must rebuild.

“We are rubble,” Del Mar said.

Ted Dabrowski ran against Del Mar’s running mate, Darren Bailey, in the gubernatorial primary.

Dabrowski noted Republicans got beat by 61 points in Cook County.

“When I went to vote the other day, I couldn't find any Republican candidates on the ballot. So that's another thing, is that we have to improve what we do in Cook County to get people running,” Dabrowski told The Center Square.

Dabrowski said sales tax referendums failed across the state, including in Lake County, which Gov. J.B. Pritzker won by 36 points.

“It's our policy, lower taxes. It's their failed policy, the higher taxes, and yet they still won, so there's an opportunity for us to really hammer that difference,” Dabrowski said.

Dabrowski agreed with Del Mar that Republicans need to fight for what they are for and not just what they are against.

“We've got to be persuasive with the centrists, with the independents, and find our way into getting people to understand and connect the dots between the failed policies of those in charge versus the reforms we need,” Dabrowski said about his newest effort, Fight for Illinois.