CHICAGO – To bring working people back into the job market, State Senator Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) is leading an initiative to offer businesses a tax credit to hire employees who lost their job due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Over one and a half million people across Illinois have filed for unemployment since the start of the pandemic,” Villivalam said. “We must do right by working people and our small business community by incentivizing growth during this difficult time.”

CHICAGO – Airline employees may use sick time to care for family members now that legislation sponsored by State Senator Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) was signed into law Friday.

“Access to paid family and medical leave is essential for the future of work,” Villivalam said. “Airline workers shouldn’t have to choose between caring for sick loved ones and keeping food on the table and a roof over their heads.”

House Bill 106 amends the Employee Sick Leave Act by removing a line that exempted airline employees from coverage. This change allows these workers to use already-earned sick time to care for sick family members.

CHICAGO – A recent shakeup of administrative powers at the Illinois Tollway Authority will be the subject of an Illinois Senate Transportation Committee hearing Tuesday.

“With purpose of ensuring the responsible stewardship of tax dollars that are collected and administered at the Illinois Tollway, we are committed to shedding transparency on the organizational changes that were recently made,” said Senator Ram Villivalam, a Chicago Democrat who chairs the committee.

In October, the Tollway board voted to give the board chairman additional, direct oversight of some agency departments that had previously fallen under the tollway’s executive director. Board members have said the move was in the best interest of the Tollway.

The hearing is an opportunity to explore the change in greater detail.

Originally published on Daily Line on Nov. 16, 2021.

As Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot were in Washington D.C. Monday to celebrate the signing of Democrats' long-awaited Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, elected officials from across Illinois were already making plans for the $17 billion that will come to Illinois.