Rob's Record
- In 2021, Rob passed Chicago’s first elected school board bill, which will allow Chicagoans to decide how their public schools are run for the first time in the city’s history.
- Rob worked to secure students 5 mental health days, destigmatizing taking time off for mental health and allowing children to take a break during stressful periods. This bill went into effect on January 1st, 2022.
- He also led robust data protection legislation that lets parents access information about what data is being collected from their children through the use of technology in schools. It ensures that parents are notified if that data is breached, and provides a mechanism for parents to review, correct, and delete their child’s data.
- Rob has worked to relieve the Chicago Public Schools’ devastating teacher shortage. He sponsored and led the passage of a bill to give CPS the option to hire retired teachers without impacting their retirement annuity.
- Rob was an early champion of legalizing gay marriage and recreational marijuana in Illinois.
- He has a 100% pro-environment voting record with the Sierra Club, and as a co-sponsor of the Clean Energy Jobs Act, is helping to shut down coal plants and bringing equitable, clean jobs to Illinois.
- Rob was a cosponsor of the act that ensures that access to reproductive health care is a fundamental right in Illinois, regardless of any action taken by the federal government.
- He voted to protect Medicaid and healthcare access for postpartum care, addressing racial disparities in the outcomes of new mothers. He has a 100% pro-choice voting record with Planned Parenthood.
- In 2022, Rob joined his colleagues in combatting crime by banning ghost guns, cracking down on carjackings, and allocating technology and resources to help police across the state.
- Rob led bills this session to protect the needs of first responders. He increased pensions for widows of first responders, allocated $2 million to designated mental health centers for Chicago police and firefighters, and required Chicago to pay full medical costs when first responders contract COVID-19 on the job.
- Rob understands that Illinois cannot succeed without a robust economy and fair labor practices. As chair of the Senate Pension Committee, he has introduced legislation designed to completely reform and overhaul Illinois’ broken system of taxation and spending.
- He worked with Treasurer Mike Frerichs to combat the insurance lobby require that insurance lobbies contact the family members of those with unclaimed life insurance. Through the ICASH program, this law has distributed millions of dollars back to Illinoisans. Rob has also championed automatic enrollment in retirement savings for large business owners, setting millions up for secure futures. This program has been so successful that it has expanded to small businesses and public sector workers.
- Rob has worked with his colleagues and Governor Pritzker to pass four balanced budgets in a row, securing six credit upgrades for the state in the past year.
- While fighting for fiscal responsibility, he has also provided financial relief by increasing homeowner’s exemption, senior exemption, and eligibility for the Senior Freeze for struggling families and senior property owners across Cook County.
