Bennett Co-sponsors Proposal to Help Schools Prepare for Emergencies
Bipartisan Plan to Help First Responders in Crisis Situations

In emergencies, seconds can mean the difference between life and death, especially when dealing with children. State Senator Tom Bennett (R-Gibson City) is co-sponsoring a bipartisan plan to create detailed maps of schools to help police and first responders during emergencies. The maps could provide critical assistance to law enforcement and paramedics as they work to save lives.

"This will help our schools be better prepared when the unthinkable happens, whether it's a weather emergency or violence against students," said Bennett. "The ability of first responders to move and act quickly can save lives when tragedy strikes. This is a common-sense step we can take to make our schools safer."

Often during an emergency, first responders may be inside the school building for the first time, making accurate maps and data critical to their efforts.

The bipartisan proposal would provide grants to schools to obtain precise crisis response mapping data and provide copies to appropriate law enforcement and first responders to use during emergencies.

On May 18^th, Senator Bennett joined with a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, police, and education officials to hold a Capitol press conference pushing for their plan to receive approval.

The proposal has been filed as Senate Bill 2577, which Bennett is co-sponsoring.

Bennett Passes Teacher Shortage Legislation through General Assembly

Both chambers of the Illinois General have now given their approval to a plan filed by Senator Bennett to reform teacher licensing requirements and provide some relief from the statewide teacher shortage. Bennett's legislation addresses the heavily criticized edTPA requirement.

"We keep hearing from teachers, from superintendents, and from education experts that the edTPA system is broken, it's outdated, and it is stopping good teachers from ever getting to the classroom," said Bennett. "This legislation will waive the requirement while helping us to get to a better, more effective method for evaluating prospective teachers."

College students who are studying to become teachers are required to pass the heavily criticized edTPA standard. The edTPA requirement is routinely cited by those in the education community as a major roadblock for prospective teachers. The requirement is expensive and it takes significant time away from in-classroom training. Worse yet, it is often criticized as being ineffective at actually gauging the potential of prospective teachers, which is the purpose of the standard. edTPA has also been blamed by some for keeping diverse teachers out of classrooms.

Senate Bill 1488, filed by Bennett, waives the edTPA requirement for prospective teachers through August 31, 2025. The legislation also creates the Teacher Performance Assessment Task Force, which will be tasked with studying various teacher evaluation systems and developing a new system to be implemented for Illinois teachers. The task force would be required to present its findings no later than August 1, 2024.

The legislation has now passed both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly and awaits a signature from the Governor to become law.

Bennett Encouraged by Relaunch of Blue Collar Jobs Act

Senator Bennett is applauding the announcement of the reinstatement of the Blue Collar Jobs Act program.

"This is a great program that can quickly encourage the addition of good-paying jobs in our communities. I would encourage businesses interested in taking part in the program to apply as soon as possible," said Bennett. "I'm thankful that the Governor has listened to our requests and restarted this important program."

The Blue Collar Jobs Act was negotiated as part of the budget process in 2019. The program was frozen by the Pritzker administration in 2021. On May 17, 2023, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) announced that applications are now open for eligible companies.

The Blue Collar Jobs Act includes:

1. High Impact Business (HIB) Construction Jobs Credit: Equals 50% of the "incremental income tax" attributable to qualified construction jobs for a designated HIB taxpayer during the construction period with an investment of at least $12 million.
2. Enterprise Zone (EZ) Construction Jobs Credit: Equals 50% of the incremental income tax attributable to qualified construction jobs for approved capital investments of at least $10 million located in an EZ during the construction period.
3. River Edge (RE) Construction Jobs Credit: Equals 50% of the incremental income tax attributable to qualified construction jobs for approved rehabilitation plan of at least $ 1 million located in a RE during the construction period (applicable for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2021).
4. New Construction Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) Credit: Discretionary credit for up to 50% of the incremental income tax attributable to qualified construction jobs during the construction period for approved capital investment projects over $10 million.

Interested businesses can apply here. Additionally, DCEO is offering a webinar to share details regarding the program application process on Monday, June 26, 2023, from 1 p.m. - 2 p.m. Click here to register.

How much do we owe?

As of the time of this writing, the State of Illinois owes $1,096,054,173 to state vendors, including 14,509 pending vouchers. This figure represents the amount of bills submitted to the office of the Comptroller and still awaiting payment. It does not include debts that can only be estimated, such as our unfunded pension liability which is subject to a wide range of factors and has been estimated to be more than $139 billion. At the same time last year, the state's accounts payable stood at a little more than $2 billion.

Did You Know?

To most people, the thought of doing a backflip in your vehicle is the stuff of nightmares. But for some, it's just another day on the job. For one particular resident of the 53^rd District, "working" means flipping a 12,000 pound monster truck end over end, driving it on one or two wheels, and even spinning it around on its side.

Hailing from Paxton, Illinois, Tom Meents is one of the biggest and most decorated names in monster trucks. In fact, he has won 14 Monster Jam World Finals. He won his first championship all the way back in 2000 and is still racing today at the age of 55, currently in the top 3 in his series.

Despite his success on the national stage, Meents still calls the town of Paxton his home. You can learn more about Meents here: https://www.monsterjam.com/en-US/drivers/tom-meents