Last month, Community Lawyer Ben Silver led a discussion on civic engagement at the Illinois Capitol Forum on America's Future, an annual event sponsored by Illinois Humanities. The day-long forum invites high school students to discuss important issues from gun violence to nuclear proliferation with guest experts. Students attending Ben's two sessions learned how they could be involved in community decision making as high school students and young adults.

Ben Silver served as a judge in the first ever Project CivicWorks government reform research competition state finals. Teams of up to three high school students proposed institutional reforms, which they presented on science fair-style display boards. The presentations included support for a specific reform, ideas about implementation, possible criticisms and refutations, and a works cited. Ideas presented by students ranged from ranked choice voting to term limits to criminal justice reform. The competition was created by Stevenson High School civics teachers Dan Larsen and Andrew Conneen, and sponsored by Mikva Challenge and the Jack Miller Center.

Two weeks ago, Citizen Advocacy Center joined watchdogs across the state in opposing a surprise bill that would have restricted access to police reports under the Freedom of Information Act. The proposed change was offered as an amendment to a shell bill and would have exempted police reports from FOIA until any criminal prosecution was completed. Following a deluge of witness slips opposing the amendment, the committee failed to call it for a vote.

A redistricting reform referendum will have to wait for the 2020 ballot in Illinois after state lawmakers failed to call the proposed Fair Maps Amendment for a vote despite overwhelming bipartisan support. By the deadline for filing any constitutional referendum - May 6 - the senate resolution included 39 co-sponsors, well over the three-fifths majority required for passage. The house resolution tallied 28 co-sponsors. However, leadership in both houses refused to bring the resolution to the floor for a vote.