Politics

In Illinois politics, remapping keeps the powerful in power

Published

2 years ago

February 5, 2024

[ad_1]

In private mapmaking sessions, Illinois’ all-powerful Democratic majority in 2021 used the state’s population loss to swell Democratic districts — adding one Hispanic-majority blue seat in Congress and forcing two Republicans out of their districts.Among those who either opted out of their congressional districts — or lost — because of those behind-the-scenes decisions: Marie Newman, a freshman Democrat, and downstate Republican Rodney Davis.Federal law gives each state’s legislature initial congressional redistricting powers. And the Illinois Constitution requires that state lawmakers redistrict every 10 years — the year after a U.S. Census is taken.The goal is to ensure all Illinois residents are afforded equal representation in the state General Assembly and in Congress. But the maps Democrats approved in 2021 also sealed in their political power for a decade.They also marked the first redistricting cycle since the 2019 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gerrymandering for party advantage could not be challenged in federal court.Each district must be “compact, contiguous and substantially equal in population,” the Illinois Constitution states. They must also follow the federal Voting Rights Act, which protects minority representation, and the Illinois Voting Rights Act, which works to ensure minorities are given the opportunity to participate in the electoral process. Both the Illinois Senate and House must approve a plan, which then goes to the governor for approval.But since 1970, when the Illinois Constitution was ratified, the power of redistricting was left to commissions when lawmakers couldn’t agree on a plan.In three out of the four times the state has used a commission to iron out maps, commissioners had to resort to tie-breakers.What followed was a less quaint version of a Harry Potter sorting hat.When the commission couldn’t agree on a new map, the state’s Supreme Court designated someone from the state’s Republican Party and another person from the Democratic Party to appear before the Illinois Secretary of State, who would then randomly choose one of those people to serve as the tie-breaking member on the commission.The name of the tiebreaking commissioner was selected by pulling a name from a replica of Abraham Lincoln’s stovepipe hat. The complex process was enacted to encourage parties to compromise on the remap.It’s no wonder voters feel out of the loop about the state’s redistricting process — which has led to the entrenchment of incumbents and in some cases, low voter turnout.The Chicago Sun-Times, WBEZ and the University of Chicago are examining the challenges to American democracy as part of the Democracy Solutions Project. The state’s redistricting ritual — largely carried out behind closed doors — most recently led two downstate districts to elect more extreme candidates while protecting and enhancing Democratic powers in other areas of the state.And while the dust settles on the last remap, there are already advocates plotting the 2030 map and pushing for reform.

Brian Munoz

St. Louis Public RadioIllinois U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-Oakland) speaks next to former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Miller for Illinois’ 15th Congressional District in June 2022 during a “Save America!” Rally at the Adams County Fairgrounds in Mendon, Ill. Miller, a staunch Trump loyalist, saw her district split in two and opted to run against U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis over U.S. Rep. Mike Bost.

‘Purposefully a mystery’Marie Newman was championed by progressive Democrats for beating one of the last congressional Democrats to oppose abortion rights: U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski. But two years later, Democrats paved a very difficult path for her to win reelection.An early map pitted Newman against U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, but the final version protected Casten by putting him in his own safe district — after political allies came to his rescue.Ultimately, the map shifted Newman into the same district as fellow Democrat Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a decision she immediately lambasted. Just hours after the maps were released, Newman announced she would instead be running in the new 6th District against Casten.Casten, who said he “never wanted to see friends run against friends” ultimately defeated Newman 67.7% to 29.2%.The map approved by Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly, and signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, prioritized creating a second Latino-majority district in Illinois over pitting two Democratic incumbents — Newman and Casten — against each other. It also created a deep blue seat by connecting parts of two southern Illinois districts.U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, also a staunch Trump loyalist, saw her district split in two, and opted to run against U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis over U.S. Rep. Mike Bost. Miller defeated Davis 57.4% to 42.6% — leaving the southern Illinois district with a member of the right-wing Freedom Caucus.Newman, now CEO of Little City, a nonprofit serving children and adults with disabilities, still has plenty of questions about what happened in the remap.“It purposefully is a mystery,” Newman told the Sun-Times. “There’s just no clarity on the process. And I think that should be something that is very regulated.”Newman said she decided to run for the 6th District because she felt she was still “highly aligned” with the district. And she called the “shining star” of the redistricting process the creation of the 3rd Congressional District, the state’s second Latino majority district, which ultimately elected Rep. Delia Ramirez, a fellow progressive.But Newman is still miffed about the process — and never received any answers from lawmakers about why they came to their conclusions. She doesn’t see a great solution in other states that have turned to the creation of independent commissions as a remedy.“In the spirit of democracy, I wish that it was a fully transparent process, with very specific steps written down, agreed upon by the state legislature and then executed by a body, whether it is an independent commission or a commission made up of all parties and all representation and then have geographic representation across the state,” Newman said.“…I can’t go back in history and say, ‘Oh gosh, something was unfair.’ Because there’s nothing documented, right? So I can’t even assess if it was fair or unfair,” Newman continued. “But moving forwards, my hope is that we have a much fairer process so that it’s fair to voters and to the candidates.”Hispanic and Asian population riseThe redistricting process starts with staffers who meet with lawmakers, some of whom make specific requests like having a family member’s school included in their district — or wanting to have their childhood Little League field or church in their district. They don’t always get their way.Illinois Senate and House members then meet to hash out their desired lines.Though remap decisions are made by lawmakers, there is a public hearing process. In 2021, the Illinois House held 30 virtual and in-person public meetings across the state, even though state law requires just four. In contrast, the House Redistricting Committee in 2011 held 17 hearings. The Senate also conducted public hearings.While the state’s population dropped — leading to the loss of one congressional seat — there were population increases in Kendall, Monroe, Champaign and Kane counties, according to census estimates that were used to create the initial maps. The state’s white population also declined, while the African-American population saw a smaller decline. The Hispanic and Asian population across Illinois grew, according to census figures.The June 4 maps were seen as a placeholder — and lawmakers approved revised state legislative maps in a special session in September 2021.Pritzker signed into law the new state legislative maps in September 2021, and the new congressional maps in November 2021.

Democrat-crafted maps in 2021 protected U.S. Rep. Sean Casten’s congressional district — while forcing U.S. Rep. Marie Newman into a district with U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia. Newman ultimately opted to run against Casten and lost.

Finding a path for reformRepublicans currently have a greater redistricting advantage in the country, with the GOP drawing maps in 22 states and Democrats drawing maps in nine states.But states like Arizona, California and Iowa give redistricting powers to independent commissions, taking the powers out of the hands of elected officials in an effort to create more fair maps.Voters in Colorado, Michigan, Missouri and Utah also approved measures creating independent redistricting commissions. And Ohio passed a bipartisan redistricting reform measure.The independent commissions have plenty of support. A 2017 bipartisan poll commissioned by the Campaign Legal Center found an overwhelming majority of Americans — 71% — want the Supreme Court to place limits on lawmakers’ ability to create, and manipulate, voting maps. That included 80% of Democrats, 68% of independents and 65% of Republicans.Some see a federal law, or a Supreme Court decision as a way to level the playing field.“I think the right solution, the best solution, is a federal solution. It’s a lot more uniform. It ensures that every state avoids all of the harm of gerrymandering, instead of trying to tackle this state by state,” said Nicholas Stephanopoulos, a professor at Harvard Law School.“Especially at the congressional level, there’s some concern that if, for example, blue states like Illinois reform, (and) the red states like Texas and Georgia and Florida don’t, you could actually have a situation where reform is counterproductive,” Stephanopoulos continued, “because then you unilaterally disarmed the blue states, while the red states continue to gerrymander their district maps.”The varying ways states create maps is creating a “patchwork and hodgepodge approach,” according to a consultant who was involved in Illinois’ 2021 redistricting process.“I think they’d prefer that [uniformity] rather than this sort of hodgepodge thing where we have no consistency state to state,” said the consultant, who spoke on the condition of not being named.GOP with slight redistricting advantageA Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) research article in 2023 found that while partisan gerrymandering was widespread in the 2020 redistricting cycle, most of the electoral bias it created canceled out at the national level. It also found that redistricting rules and geography contributed a moderate pro-Republican bias.“There’s certainly some partisan gerrymandering, but it’s kind of not huge and that kind of cancels out across states,” said Anthony Fowler, a professor in the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. “So Texas and Florida have Republican gerrymanders and Illinois has a Democratic gerrymander, but if you kind of look on average, most states, it’s not terrible and it kind of washes out nationally.”The study found that across all states, partisan redistricting contributes to 8.6 Republican seats and 6.2 Democratic seats — compared to a nonpartisan baseline. That comes out to a Republican advantage of around 2.3 congressional seats.

Anthony Vazquez

Chicago Sun-TimesChaundra Van Dyk, Chicago Project Manager for CHANGE Illinois, speaks about the redrawing of wards in November 2021 during the announcement of a new Chicago ward map.

Chicago’s redistricting: ‘Disenfranchising people’Chicago has its own redistricting process, and the city’s ward maps were finalized in 2022 with the creation of 16 majority Black wards, 14 majority-Latino wards and one majority-Asian American ward. Another ward, the 27th, was considered a “Black influence ward.”Ward boundaries are required to be redrawn every 10 years, and must be approved by Dec. 1 the year after the census. Wards must be “compact, contiguous, and of substantially equal population with an acceptable deviation to respect established communities of interest,” according to the city.That process was also conducted behind-the-scenes, despite calls from groups like CHANGE Illinois, who created a commission that ultimately held 41 public hearings to gauge community needs. The public input was put online for members of the City Council to see.Despite that effort, City Council members created a “pool noodle” 37th ward — boundaries that spanned seven miles connecting Grand Avenue to from Damen Avenue to Oak Park Avenue. Social media users also dubbed it a “Q-tip” and a “water slide.”The City Council also approved splitting Englewood into five wards — down from the six wards it received under a previous map. But for South Side neighborhood residents who say they have too many alderpeople, that change didn’t go far enough.The remap stoked anger among some alderpeople, including Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), who in May 2022 ripped into the process and accused mapmakers of “disenfranchising” Chicagoans.“Look what you’ve done. Englewood still has six aldermen. … It’s gonna take an hour and a half for Altgeld Gardens residents who were taken out of my ward and put in the 10th Ward to get to their alderman,” Beale said. “Three buses and an L to get to their representation. That’s disenfranchising people. Look at what they’ve done to the 36th Ward. It’s a string across six wards. How is that community going to be represented?”Ryan Tolley, a policy expert and newly appointed executive director of CHANGE Illinois, called the city’s latest remap the most blatant example of putting political power over the needs of communities.“The challenge that voters are facing then to go out and be able to elect folks that really represent the needs of their communities has also become that much tougher,” Tolley said. “It’s unfortunate that we see everywhere with redistricting that political advantage is the overriding force that happens in redistricting and everything else is secondary or a non-existent consideration in it.”Along with that political power comes the ability to protect incumbents, as the city and state have seen politicians carve out their positions for decades.“It makes it hard for anyone to mount a sizable challenge and have a shot at winning,” Tolley said, “because folks are hand-selecting their voters and they know which areas, especially with the advancement of technology, it’s really easy to figure out where most of your votes are coming from and where they’re not.”This story is part of the The Democracy Solutions Project , a partnership among WBEZ, the Chicago Sun-Times and the University of Chicago’s Center for Effective Government. Together, we’re examining critical issues facing our democracy in the run-up to the 2024 elections.

[ad_2]

Source link

Politics

Poll: Support for Missouri abortion rights amendment growing

Published

1 year ago

August 29, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

A proposed constitutional amendment legalizing abortion in Missouri received support from more than half of respondents in a new poll from St. Louis University and YouGov.That’s a boost from a poll earlier this year, which could mean what’s known as Amendment 3 is in a solid position to pass in November.SLU/YouGov’s poll of 900 likely Missouri voters from Aug. 8-16 found that 52% of respondents would vote for Amendment 3, which would place constitutional protections for abortion up to fetal viability. Thirty-four percent would vote against the measure, while 14% aren’t sure.By comparison, the SLU/YouGov poll from February found that 44% of voters would back the abortion legalization amendment.St. Louis University political science professor Steven Rogers said 32% of Republicans and 53% of independents would vote for the amendment. That’s in addition to nearly 80% of Democratic respondents who would approve the measure. In the previous poll, 24% of Republicans supported the amendment.Rogers noted that neither Amendment 3 nor a separate ballot item raising the state’s minimum wage is helping Democratic candidates. GOP contenders for U.S. Senate, governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer and secretary of state all hold comfortable leads.“We are seeing this kind of crossover voting, a little bit, where there are voters who are basically saying, ‘I am going to the polls and I’m going to support a Republican candidate, but I’m also going to go to the polls and then I’m also going to try to expand abortion access and then raise the minimum wage,’” Rogers said.Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Kehoe has a 51%-41% lead over Democrat Crystal Quade. And U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley is leading Democrat Lucas Kunce by 53% to 42%. Some GOP candidates for attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer have even larger leads over their Democratic rivals.

Brian Munoz

St. Louis Public RadioHundreds of demonstrators pack into a parking lot at Planned Parenthood of St. Louis and Southwest Missouri on June 24, 2022, during a demonstration following the Supreme Court’s reversal of a case that guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion.

One of the biggest challenges for foes of Amendment 3 could be financial.Typically, Missouri ballot initiatives with well-funded and well-organized campaigns have a better chance of passing — especially if the opposition is underfunded and disorganized. Since the end of July, the campaign committee formed to pass Amendment 3 received more than $3 million in donations of $5,000 or more.That money could be used for television advertisements to improve the proposal’s standing further, Rogers said, as well as point out that Missouri’s current abortion ban doesn’t allow the procedure in the case of rape or incest.“Meanwhile, the anti side won’t have those resources to kind of try to make that counter argument as strongly, and they don’t have public opinion as strongly on their side,” Rogers said.There is precedent of a well-funded initiative almost failing due to opposition from socially conservative voters.In 2006, a measure providing constitutional protections for embryonic stem cell research nearly failed — even though a campaign committee aimed at passing it had a commanding financial advantage.Former state Sen. Bob Onder was part of the opposition campaign to that measure. He said earlier this month it is possible to create a similar dynamic in 2024 against Amendment 3, if social conservatives who oppose abortion rights can band together.“This is not about reproductive rights or care for miscarriages or IVF or anything else,” said Onder, the GOP nominee for Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District seat. “Missourians will learn that out-of-state special interests and dark money from out of state is lying to them and they will reject this amendment.”Quade said earlier this month that Missourians of all political ideologies are ready to roll back the state’s abortion ban.“Regardless of political party, we hear from folks who are tired of politicians being in their doctor’s offices,” Quade said. “They want politicians to mind their own business. So this is going to excite folks all across the political spectrum.”

[ad_2]

Source link

Politics

Democrat Mark Osmack makes his case for Missouri treasurer

Published

1 year ago

August 29, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

Mark Osmack has been out of the electoral fray for awhile, but he never completely abandoned his passion for Missouri politics.Osmack, a Valley Park native and U.S. Army veteran, previously ran for Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District seat and for state Senate. Now he’s the Democratic nominee for state treasurer after receiving a phone call from Missouri Democratic Party Chairman Russ Carnahan asking him to run.“There’s a lot of decision making and processing and evaluation that goes into it, which is something I am very passionate and interested in,” Osmack said this week on an episode of Politically Speaking.Osmack is squaring off against state Treasurer Vivek Malek, who was able to easily win a crowded GOP primary against several veteran lawmakers including House Budget Chairman Cody Smith and state Sen. Andrew Koenig.While Malek was able to attract big donations to his political action committee and pour his own money into the campaign, Osmack isn’t worried that he won’t be able to compete in November. Since Malek was appointed to his post, Osmack contends he hasn’t proven that he’s a formidable opponent in a general election.“His actions and his decision making so far in his roughly two year tenure in that office have been questionable,” Osmack said.Among other things, Osmack was critical of Malek for placing unclaimed property notices on video gaming machines which are usually found in gas stations or convenience stores. The legality of the machines has been questioned for some time.As Malek explained on his own episode of Politically Speaking, he wanted to make sure the unclaimed property program was as widely advertised as possible. But he acknowledged it was a mistake to put the decals close to the machines and ultimately decided to remove them.Osmack said: “This doesn’t even pass the common sense sniff test of, ‘Hey, should I put state stickers claiming you might have a billion dollars on a gambling machine that is not registered with the state of Missouri?’ If we’re gonna give kudos for him acknowledging the wrong thing, it never should have been done in the first place.”Osmack’s platform includes supporting programs providing school meals using Missouri agriculture products and making child care more accessible for the working class.He said the fact that Missouri has such a large surplus shows that it’s possible to create programs to make child care within reach for parents.“It is quite audacious for [Republicans] to brag about $8 billion, with a B, dollars in state surplus, while we offer next to no social services to include pre-K, daycare, or child care,” Osmack said.Here’s are some other topics Osmack discussed on the show:How he would handle managing the state’s pension systems and approving low-income housing tax credits. The state treasurer’s office is on boards overseeing both of those programs.Malek’s decision to cut off investments from Chinese companies. Osmack said that Missouri needs to be cautious about abandoning China as a business partner, especially since they’re a major consumer of the state’s agriculture products. “There’s a way to make this work where we are not supporting communist nations to the detriment of the United States or our allies, while also maintaining strong economic ties that benefit Missouri farmers,” he said.What it was like to witness the skirmish at the Missouri State Fair between U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce.Whether Kunce can get the support of influential groups like the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which often channels money and staff to states with competitive Senate elections.

[ad_2]

Source link

Politics

As Illinois receives praise for its cannabis equity efforts, stakeholders work on system’s flaws

Published

1 year ago

August 29, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

Medical marijuana patients can now purchase cannabis grown by small businesses as part of their allotment, Illinois’ top cannabis regulator said, but smaller, newly licensed cannabis growers are still seeking greater access to the state’s medical marijuana customers.Illinois legalized medicinal marijuana beginning in 2014, then legalized it for recreational use in 2020. While the 2020 law legalized cannabis use for any adult age 21 or older, it did not expand licensing for medical dispensaries.Patients can purchase marijuana as part of the medical cannabis program at dual-purpose dispensaries, which are licensed to serve both medical and recreational customers. But dual-purpose dispensaries are greatly outnumbered by dispensaries only licensed to sell recreationally, and there are no medical-only dispensaries in the state.As another part of the adult-use legalization law, lawmakers created a “craft grow” license category that was designed to give more opportunities to Illinoisans hoping to legally grow and sell marijuana. The smaller-scale grow operations were part of the 2020 law’s efforts to diversify the cannabis industry in Illinois.Prior to that, all cultivation centers in Illinois were large-scale operations dominated by large multi-state operators. The existing cultivators, mostly in operation since 2014, were allowed to grow recreational cannabis beginning in 2019.Until recently, dual-purpose dispensaries have been unsure as to whether craft-grown products, made by social equity licensees — those who have lived in a disproportionately impacted area or have been historically impacted by the war on drugs — can be sold medicinally as part of a patient’s medical allotment.Erin Johnson, the state’s cannabis regulation oversight officer, told Capitol News Illinois last month that her office has “been telling dispensaries, as they have been asking us” they can now sell craft-grown products to medical patients.“There was just a track and trace issue on our end, but never anything statutorily,” she said.

Dilpreet Raju

Capitol News IllinoisThe graphic shows how cannabis grown in Illinois gets from cultivation centers to customers.

No notice has been posted, but Johnson’s verbal guidance comes almost two years after the first craft grow business went online in Illinois.It allows roughly 150,000 medical patients, who dispensary owners say are the most consistent purchasers of marijuana, to buy products made by social equity businesses without paying recreational taxes. However — even as more dispensaries open — the number available to medical patients has not increased since 2018, something the Cannabis Regulation Oversight Office “desperately” wants to see changed. Johnson said Illinois is a limited license state, meaning “there are caps on everything” to help control the relatively new market.Berwyn Thompkins, who operates two cannabis businesses, said the rules limited options for patients and small businesses.“It’s about access,” Thompkins said. “Why wouldn’t we want all the patients — which the (adult-use) program was initially built around — why wouldn’t we want them to have access? They should have access to any dispensary.”Customers with a medical marijuana card pay a 1% tax on all marijuana products, whereas recreational customers pay retail taxes between roughly 20 and 40% on a given cannabis product, when accounting for local taxes.While Illinois has received praise for its equity-focused cannabis law, including through an independent study that showed more people of color own cannabis licenses than in any other state, some industry operators say they’ve experienced many unnecessary hurdles getting their businesses up and running.The state, in fact, announced last month that it had opened its 100th social equity dispensary.But Steve Olson, purchasing manager at a pair of dispensaries (including one dual-purpose dispensary) near Rockford, said small specialty license holders have been left in the lurch since the first craft grower opened in October 2022.“You would think that this would be something they’re (the government) trying to help out these social equity companies with, but they’re putting handcuffs on them in so many different spots,” he said. “One of them being this medical thing.”Olson said he contacted state agencies, including the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, months ago about whether craft products can be sold to medical patients at their retail tax rate, but only heard one response: “They all say it was an oversight.”This potentially hurt social equity companies because they sell wholesale to dispensaries and may have been missing out on a consistent customer base through those medical dispensaries.Olson said the state’s attempts to provide licensees with a path to a successful business over the years, such as with corrective lotteries that granted more social equity licenses, have come up short.“It’s like they almost set up the social equity thing to fail so the big guys could come in and swoop up all these licenses,” Olson said. “I hate to feel like that but, if you look at it, it’s pretty black and white.”Olson said craft companies benefit from any type of retail sale.“If we sell it to medical patients or not, it’s a matter of, ‘Are we collecting the proper taxes?’ That’s all it is,” he said.State revenue from cannabis taxes, licensing costs and other fees goes into the Cannabis Regulation Fund, which is used to fund a host of programs, including cannabis offense expungement, the general revenue fund, and the R3 campaign aiming to uplift disinvested communities.For fiscal year 2024, nearly $256 million was paid out from Cannabis Regulation Fund for related initiatives, which includes almost $89 million transferred to the state’s general revenue fund and more than $20 million distributed to local governments, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue.Medical access still limitedThe state’s 55 medical dispensaries that predate the 2020 legalization law, mostly owned by publicly traded multistate operators that had been operating in Illinois since 2014 under the state’s medical marijuana program, were automatically granted a right to licenses to sell recreationally in January 2020. That gave them a dual-purpose license that no new entrants into the market can receive under current law.Since expanding their clientele in 2020, Illinois dispensaries have sold more than $6 billion worth of cannabis products through recreational transactions alone.Nearly two-thirds of dispensaries licensed to sell to medical patients are in the northeast counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will. Dual-purpose dispensaries only represent about 20 percent of the state’s dispensaries.While the state began offering recreational dispensary licenses since the adult-use legalization law passed, it has not granted a new medical dispensary license since 2018. That has allowed the established players to continue to corner the market on the state’s nearly 150,000 medical marijuana patients.But social equity licensees and advocates say there are more ways to level the playing field, including expanding access to medical sales.Johnson, who became the state’s top cannabis regulator in late 2022, expressed hope for movement during the fall veto session on House Bill 2911, which would expand medical access to all Illinois dispensaries.“We would like every single dispensary in Illinois to be able to serve medical patients,” Johnson said. “It’s something that medical patients have been asking for, for years.”Johnson said the bill would benefit patients and small businesses.“It’s something we desperately want to happen as a state system, because we want to make sure that medical patients are able to easily access what they need,” she said. “We also think it’s good for our social equity dispensaries, as they’re opening, to be able to serve medical patients.”Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, who was the first statewide project coordinator for Illinois’ medical cannabis program prior to joining the legislature, wrote in an email to Capitol News Illinois that the state needs to be doing more for its patients.“Illinois is failing the state’s 150,000 medical cannabis patients with debilitating conditions. Too many are still denied the patient protections they deserve, including access to their medicine,” Morgan wrote, adding he would continue to work with stakeholders on further legislation.Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.

[ad_2]

Source link