On June 1, 2021, I spoke with Andrea Darlas of the Santita Jackson Show to discuss my legislative work in the 2021 General Assembly Spring session. Highlights from our interview centered on continued negotiations for a comprehensive clean energy package, the Protecting Household Privacy Act and the Marriage Certificate Modernization Act.
We discussed that despite a clean energy bill not moving across the finish line during the Spring session, we plan to return to Springfield soon for a special session. As Chief House Sponsor of the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA), I’ve worked with advocates and community leaders over years, not just months, to build consensus and craft a bill that puts community, climate and consumers first – not big public utility company profits.
Despite unprecedented challenges, we also talked about several successes in Springfield, including a strong budget and ethics reform. We also broke down some of my priority legislation.
The Protecting Household Privacy Act has passed both houses and is headed to the Governor’s desk. As Chief House Sponsor, I worked with ACLU Illinois on this data privacy initiative. Under this Act, law enforcement cannot access the data on your household devices (such as Alexas and Ring Doorbells) without your consent or a warrant. To put it succinctly: “As technology changes and evolves, we’re just ensuring that the law keeps up.”
We also talked about another one of my bills, the Marriage Certificate Modernization Act. This bill ensures that married individuals can obtain updated marriage certificates from the Clerk’s Office free of gendered language if they choose. While any married couple can choose this for a number of reasons, it is especially significant to members of the LGBTQ+ community. Andrea and I broke down how this common sense codification ensures accurate reflections of identity on our most critical and personal documents.
At the end of our interview, Andrea and I briefly discussed the General Assembly’s plan to return to Springfield soon for a special session. There we will continue negotiations and debates on clean energy and other priority legislation.
Thank you to Andrea Darlas and the Santita Jackson Show for hosting me as their guest. You can listen to my full interview by clicking the link below. Our conversation begins fifty four minutes in to the hour and a half program.
https://soundcloud.com/wcpt820/the-santita-jackson-show-ft-andrea-darlas-060121