DES PLAINES – A bill sponsored by State Senator Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) that would make partisan appointments to the Task Force on Human Services Contracting equal was signed into law earlier this month.

House Bill 2487 requires appointments to the task force to have the same number of Democrats and Republicans. Previously, the majority party was allowed to appoint one more member than the minority party.

“Human services should not be a partisan issue,” said Murphy. “We need to bring all sides together to ensure that the challenges faced by human service agencies are adequately addressed.”

The task force was implemented to study State contracting with private, nonprofit human service providers and the challenges they face. The new law extends the task force’s study by one year, and at that time the task force will make recommendations to the General Assembly on how to improve contracting relationships so that human services needs are addressed efficiently.

“In order to understand the issues that these vital service providers are facing, the task force should be given more time to study the full range of challenges,” said Murphy. “I am confident that when the task force makes their recommendations from the balanced, bipartisan study group that we will begin to see positive changes to the way we contract with human service providers.”

House Bill 2487 is effective immediately.

CHICAGO – A bill sponsored by State Senator Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) that creates a database of mental health resources for students was signed into law earlier this month.

House Bill 907 directs the Illinois Department of Human Services to create and maintain a database on their website with mental health resources. The resources will be geared toward addressing bullying and school shootings, and will be available for students, school staff and parents. All web traffic on the database will remain anonymous and will not be tracked.

“Students face a variety of challenges that can create mental health crises,” said Murphy. “I want to make sure that teachers, parents and the students themselves have access to information that can help them navigate those challenges.”

The new law is effective immediately and the Department of Human Services is already developing the database.

Join me on Tuesday, July 16, 2019 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Des Plaines Public Library for my Silver Beat Seminar. The event is free to seniors and the Attorney General's Office will be there to answer any questions regardinfinancial exploitation and to help you learn about the Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP)Project and health care fraud.

DES PLAINES – State Senator Laura Murphy’s measure to fight human trafficking in Illinois by requiring more training on the issue as well as creating stronger penalties was signed into law Thursday. 

Senate Bill 1890 creates the Lodging Establishment Human Trafficking Recognition Training Act, which will require hotels and motels to train their employees on how to recognize human trafficking and how to alert authorities.

“Hotels and motels have been shown to be popular locations for human trafficking,” said Murphy (D-Des Plaines). “I knew if we wanted to combat this issue head on, we had to ensure that hospitality staff were educated, aware and putting forth a conscious effort to save victims and catch traffickers.”

Murphy’s new law will also require the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board to provide training for police officers to detect human trafficking. It also will extend the statute of limitations for all offenses related to human trafficking to 25 years.

“I am happy to see my bill signed into law, but I don’t think we should stop here,” Murphy said. “Human trafficking is unlike any other crime; it involves the selling of humans. Everyone needs to be educated on this growing epidemic because it doesn’t just happen behind closed doors – it can be anywhere.”

Senate Bill 1890 goes into effect immediately.