2024 IL Legislative Scorecard
The following scorecard lists several key votes in the Illinois General Assembly in 2024 and ranks state representatives and senators based on their fidelity to (U.S.) constitutional and limited-government principles.
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SB3592 mandates that a “local news organization” shall not be sold without giving 120 days written notice to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, its county government, and “any in-State nonprofit organization in the business of buying local news organizations.”
The Senate passed SB3592 on May 24, 2024, by a vote of 43 to 16. We have assigned pluses to the nays because this bill, which purportedly “helps combat misinformation,” is an egregious violation of freedom of speech and the press, as well as freedom of association and contract. The people are the only censors of their government, and a government that seeks to prevent freedom of speech and the press—by controlling the buying and selling of every “local news organization”—suppresses the only safeguard of the people’s liberty. The American Founders, notably Thomas Jefferson, acknowledged that “God Almighty hath created the mind free” and that “the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions.” The U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment were written to protect the “unalienable” right to speak and publish freely, notwithstanding they also reserve to the States the power to prohibit acts that are injurious to others or otherwise incompatible with the happiness and safety of their citizens. Illinois’ blanket law here does not meet the standard.
HB5142 requires health plans not to impose any deductible, coinsurance, waiting period, or other cost-sharing limitation for abortion services, with certain exceptions.
The Senate passed HB5142 on May 23, 2024, by a vote of 40 to 19. We have assigned pluses to the nays because the care of human life—not its destruction—is the greatest responsibility of government. No person has the right to kill a preborn child using the pretext of “health care,” or force someone else to pay for it. Illinois ought to forbid abortion and other grotesque methods of population control entirely, upholding the sanctity of life for every person. The right to life is the most fundamental, God-given, and “unalienable” right asserted in the Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by the Fifth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
HB4895 directs every public school to provide instruction on “climate change,” beginning with the 2026-27 school year.
The Senate passed HB4895 on May 23, 2024, by a vote of 36 to 16. We have assigned pluses to the nays because education, let alone efforts to indoctrinate children with the hoax of “climate change,” is not the role of government. Education is the responsibility of a child’s parents or family, and this bill is nothing but a United Nations’ Agenda 2030-inspired effort, sponsored by neo-Marxist globalist elites, to alter or destroy the American way of life though a “long march through the institutions.” The best “school choice,” by far, is for parents to choose not to place their child’s education in the hands of the state. Educational and economic freedom cannot be achieved by forcing other citizens to furnish their hard-earned tax dollars to fund all that now entails a compulsory, failing, and government-run K-12 school system.
SB1 creates the Department of Early Childhood, “centralizing” all early childhood education, care programs, and services “into a single State agency.”
The Senate passed SB1 on April 12, 2024, by a vote of 56 to 0. We have assigned minuses to the yeas because “social welfare” is not the purpose of government. The care, control, and upbringing of children belongs to parents and the family, not the state. This bill not only reinforces the state’s monopoly over preK-12 education, but consolidates it with so-called “entitlement programs,” such as Medicaid, which is unauthorized under Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution. It relies on immoral and anti-constitutional forms of taxation (e.g., property and income taxes) that discriminatorily provide benefits to “eligible” low-income persons, who have little or no tax liability, at the expense of other hard-working citizens. The reality is that “cradle-to-grave” or “nanny-state” policies only result in more debt, dependency, and poverty. Taxation is the name of big-government “handouts” is neither just nor charitable.
SB3219 authorizes the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to provide grants for “equipment upgrades” for “farmer-owned grocery stores or markets.”
The Senate passed SB3219 on April 12, 2024, by a vote of 59 to 0. We have assigned minuses to the yeas because this bill allows the government to provide “financial assistance” to farmers’ markets. Taxpayer funds should not be used to subsidize grocery stores or any other business. It involves the government picking “winners” and “losers,” violating the principles of free-market enterprise. “Economic opportunity” is too often simply a cliché or code word used to finance various types of crony, corporate-sponsored “pork-barrel” projects that exist entirely outside the limited purpose and scope of government. The State of Illinois should reject such reckless spending of taxpayer money.
SB3762 removes “language as a barrier for persons who have limited English proficiency” by adopting a “language equity and access policy” that ensures “multilingual signage,” “multilingual websites,” and “staffing of bilingual employees at State agencies.”
The Senate passed SB3762 on April 12, 2024, by a vote of 45 to 8. We have assigned pluses to the nays because this bill signifies an existential threat to America’s heritage and unity as “one Nation.” Executive Order 14224, issued by President Donald Trump on March 1, 2025, rightly declares that “From the founding of our Republic, English has been used as our national language. Our Nation’s historic governing documents, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, have all been written in English.” Yet, rather than honor the traditional life and character of the civil institutions of both the State of Illinois and the United States, legislators in Springfield have decided to subvert American culture with multilingualism. Therefore, it is vital that each of the several States, as well as the federal government, designate English as the one and only official language. If “We the People of the United States” are to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,” we must protect core American interests and values.
