Civic Federation 2022 Legislative Priorities

Click here to view the Civic Federation's 2022 Legislative Priorities Document.

OVERVIEW

A large part of this mission is to effect positive policy changes by working with public officials. To that end, the Federation will actively support legislation to advance the highlighted priorities below and the other important financial reforms outlined in this document.

Due to a number of factors, the Civic Federation began reorganizing its Legislative Priorities document in 2021 relative to previous years, a format which continues for 2022. Rather than grouping initiatives strictly by topic, high-priority items are listed first (through page nine), followed by those less pressing in the context of the constraints on the second year of the 102nd General Assembly. While all items included in this document remain priorities, the Federation recognizes and is sensitive to the General Assembly’s realistic capacity in 2022 given current political and economic realities.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its financial repercussions for economic recovery are again likely to leave limited bandwidth for members of the Illinois General Assembly to address many issues beyond the health, safety and wellbeing of Illinoisans, along with the many lingering fiscal challenges still facing the State. While the State of Illinois received many billions of dollars from the federal government—an initiative strongly supported by the Civic Federation—this money only provides some breathing room. The State should therefore seize this opportunity to set future administrations and General Assemblies on a path toward sustainability, including developing a comprehensive, long-term financial plan.

The General Assembly’s first priority should be to fully authorize remote legislating so that members may carry on the work of representing their constituents uninterrupted and be able to undertake necessary efforts to address the coronavirus pandemic and the State’s fiscal challenges. Following that, the Civic Federation will work with public officials to advance a number of longtime and emerging Federation priorities aimed at stabilizing the State of Illinois into the future.