GRAFTON – State Senator Rachelle Crowe (D-Glen Carbon) toured cities along the Mississippi River that have been affected by the rising water over the last few weeks.

“It was motivating to see each community come together to manage the rising flood waters,” Crowe said. “I wanted to commend the first responders and volunteers that are working tirelessly to protect their homes, businesses and citizens. IEMA has also done a tremendous job organizing their efforts with the National Guard to keep state resources available for those who are struggling.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, Illinois’ Emergency Management Agency has provided more than three million sandbags, more than 2,700 rolls of plastic, 27 pumps and five dozen IDOC offenders to assist local communities as they fight rising floodwaters and protect our state’s critical infrastructure.

“The State of Illinois will use every resource at its disposal to protect our residents and our communities from devastating floods,” said Gov. JB Pritzker.  “As we continue to strengthen our levees in west-central Illinois, we must also plan and prepare for this force of nature to move downstream to our southern Illinois communities.”

For more information, visit www.ready.illinois.gov.

SPRINGFIELD – Employees who experience sexual harassment or discrimination in their workplace have new rights under legislation cosponsored by State Senator Rachelle Crowe (D-Glen Carbon) that passed out of the Illinois Senate.

“Men and women have the right to speak out against inappropriate behaviors at work without fear of consequences or losing their job,” Crowe said. “These acts cannot and will not be tolerated.”

The initiative creates the Work Place Transparency Act to protect an employee’s rights if they experience sexual harassment, discrimination, harassment or retaliation in the workplace.

The measure also includes major reforms to the state’s ethics investigation process, including making the process more transparent and giving additional rights to victims of harassment and discrimination who file ethics complaints.

Senate Bill 75 also:

• Limits the use of contract provisions intended to prevent an employee from reporting sexual harassment, such as non-disclosure agreements, arbitration clauses and non-disparagement clauses for cases involving harassment, discrimination and retaliation
• Makes harassment against contract employees illegal (currently, these employees do not have legal protection against sexual harassment)
• Clarifies that it is illegal to discriminate against an employee if they are perceived to be part of a protected class (i.e. gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity), even if they are not
• Allows victims of gender-related violence to take unpaid leave from work to seek medical help, legal assistance, counseling, safety planning and other assistance
• Prevents a union representative from representing both a victim of sexual harassment and the alleged harasser in a disciplinary proceeding
• Requires hotels and casinos to provide employees who work in isolated spaces with panic buttons for use if they are sexually harassed or assaulted

Senate Bill 75 has passed the House and Senate and now awaits the governor’s signature.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Rachelle Crowe (D-Glen Carbon) issued the following statement reacting to Illinois’ budget passing both chambers:

“The budget focuses on supporting our students and bringing stability back into our state,” Crowe said. “I commend this General Assembly and the governor for sharing my passion for education and their pledge to invest more in both K-12 and higher education institutions.”

Under the budget beginning July 1, 2019, school districts across the state will get $25 million more than required by the new, evidence-based school funding formula – an increase to $375 million from $350 million. A portion of that money, $50 million, is geared towards relieving home owners of some of their property tax burden.

Higher education will also see a $50 million increase for college grants under the Monetary Award Program (MAP), totaling $451 million.

Counties across the state will receive some much-needed funding to cover the cost of probation services and can also find alternate courts when applicable.

“As a former prosecutor, I know the effect of the costs of probation. It’s critical to relieve some of the burden from communities that have been harmed by the effects of incarceration.”

Numerous vital community programs will also see more funding from the state to expand services and increase wages for workers. Specifically, the Project for Autism will get a $500,000 increase to support individuals with autism.

“Illinois has fulfilled its commitment to middle-class families with this budget, by making more investments into education and social services,” Crowe said. “This is a balanced budget, that is being fiscally responsible to taxpayers, and I am proud to support it.”

SPRINGFIELD – To address Illinois’ teacher shortage, State Senator Rachelle Crowe (D-Glen Carbon) moved to increase the minimum salary for teachers in legislation that passed the Illinois Senate.

“By raising the mandated salary and expressing its commitment to education, the state is attracting more students to start teaching in Illinois,” Crowe said.

The bill would gradually increase the minimum full-time teacher salary to $40,000 over a period of four years beginning with the 2020-2021 school year. The rates would be:

• •$32,076 for the 2020-2021 school year;
• •$34,576 for the 2021-2022 school year;
• •$37,076 for the 2022-2023 school year; and
• •$40,000 for the 2023-2024 school year.

The initiative is similar to legislation introduced last year that was vetoed by former Gov. Bruce Rauner.

House Bill 2078 passed the Senate and will return to the House for a vote of concurrence.