Bicameral Group of Legislators Call for Ethics Reform:
Lobbying Reform, Legislative Reform and Leadership Reform
Last week, I joined with 15 other members of the House and Senate to call for ethics reform measures in light of the numerous ongoing federal investigations impacting state government officials and lobbyists.
 
To address these ongoing issues, we announced nine specific ethics reform measures that could receive bipartisan support in the upcoming veto session and asked that the Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform include the measures in their work. These proposals would dramatically increase transparency and take meaningful strides toward restoring public trust in state government at a time when government action has never been more crucial to overcome the hardships at hand. These nine measures seek to address three broad areas: lobbying reform, legislative reform, and leadership reform.

  • Prohibit legislator-lobbyists
  • Stop the legislator-lobbyist revolving door
  • Better define who is a lobbyist and eliminate loopholes
  • Fuller disclosure of outside income
  • Establish an official censure process
  • Measures to strengthen the office of Legislative Inspector General
  • End the exemption for General Assembly employees from the Human Rights Act
  • Establish term-limits for Legislative leaders
  • Establish a process for removal of leaders and committee chairs while under investigation or facing criminal charges

The full statement and list of signers can be viewed here.
COVID-19 Count as of Sunday, August 23:


If you have questions related to COVID-19 you can contact the Illinois Department of Public Health:
Hotline: 800-889-3931
Email: dph.sick@illinois.gov

City of Chicago's Department of Public Health:
Hotline: 312-746-4835
Email: coronavirus@chicago.gov
IDES Partnership with IDFPR to Combat Unemployment Fraud:
Executive Order 51
IDES has partnered with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) – Division of Banking and Division of Financial Institutions to work with financial
institutions in detecting and combating unemployment fraud. The discovery of unemployment fraud can often be identified early on at the financial institutional level. Coordinating and engaging financial institutions as a resource has been a proven and successful approach in identifying fraudulent actors and
detecting and recovering improper payments. Click here for more information regarding the Executive Order.

Financial institutions should be on the lookout for the following suspicious activities to assist IDES in combating unemployment fraud:

  • New account with sudden multiple deposit transactions from state unemployment insurance programs
  • Name and/or data on the account does not match the name and/or data with ACH transaction(s)
  • Account holder is receiving unemployment insurance transactions from a state(s) in which they do not reside
  • Account holder is receiving multiple unemployment insurance transactions from multiple states
  • Same device is accessing multiple accounts
  • Point of sale transactions are inconsistent with the address on the account
For SNAP Recipients:
Food Destroyed During a Disaster or Power Outage
For individuals who were without power after the tornado and receive SNAP benefits, you may be eligible to have those food items replaced at no cost to you. Visit the DHS website here and contact their hotline at 800-843-6154. As always if you need assistance getting through to DHS please contact our office.
With the switch to remote online learning this school year is looking very different for many kids across Chicago. To keep some normalcy and get kids prepared to head back to class we are hosting a school supply drive in partnership Alderwoman Maria Hadden and Senator Heather Steans' offices. Thank you to those that contributed to our school supply drive in partnership with the 48th ward. Below is a list of day and time options to drop off your contributions directly at the schools and there are links to wish lists. Feel free to use any online vendor of your choosing and mail the items directly to the school of your choosing.
Emergency Rental Assistance/ Emergency Mortgage Assistance:
Deadline Extended to August 28, New Applications for EMA Open Today August 24
The Pritkzer Administration has extended the deadline for Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) to August 28, 2020. The ERA Program provides $5,000 to eligible tenants who have seen their household income decline as a result of COVID-19. Apply at era.ihda.org.

The Emergency Mortgage Assistance (EMA) program opens Monday, August 24 and is set to close September 4. For a list of community partner organizations that can help apply for both ERA or EMA view this document. Once applications open for EMA those can be found here.
After School Matters Program:
Fall Application Open
The fall application is now open online. You can access the application here. Teens can apply to a wide variety of programs including culinary arts, fashion design, drawing, dance, or coding. Young people will have the opportunity to collaborate and create with other teens and professional instructors and earn a stipend at the same time. The program will run from October 5 to December 18.
P-EBT for School Aged Children:
Nutrition Program Extended
Illinois families with school-aged children eligible for free or reduced price meals at schools have until Aug. 31 to apply for nutrition benefits. On Aug. 12, Governor J. B. Pritzker announced that the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) was extending the deadline until the end of the month.

Eligible Illinois residents can receive food benefits totaling $342 per child through the state's Illinois Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program. The department said that approximately 390,000 eligible students across the state have not yet applied for benefits for the 2020-21 school year.

Households already receiving SNAP benefits do not need to apply; the P-EBT food benefits will automatically be loaded into recipients' Illinois LINK EBT account along with regular SNAP benefits. The only eligibility factor is that your child(ren) attend a school that participates in the National School Lunch Program and are eligible to receive free or reduced-priced meals when they are in school.

See full release here.
Create an account and apply here.
Sincerely,

Kelly Cassidy
State Representative, 14th District

Office of State Representative Kelly Cassidy

5533 N Broadway

Chicago IL 60640
773-784-2002(phone)
773-784-2060(fax)