SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Toi Hutchinson (D – Chicago Heights) released the following statement this afternoon after attending the governor’s budget address in Springfield:

“Today’s budget address acknowledges the devastating impact of the past three years of chaos in Illinois. Fewer working families are taking advantage of child care assistance to work or further their education. Fewer individuals suffering with mental illness are receiving care. And fewer Illinoisans struggling with the pains of addiction are receiving life-saving treatment.

“The governor failed today to convey the seriousness of the issues facing Illinois and the tragic effects the budget impasse is continuing to have in our communities. We must continue our bipartisan progress made over the last several months to bring increased stability and certainty to the many residents who today do not have faith that their government is working for them.”

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Toi Hutchinson (D – Chicago Heights) released the following statement this afternoon after attending the governor’s State of the State address in Springfield:

“The governor once again did not come up short on laying out numerous policy positions he would like to see enacted into law. However, the problem has always been the distance between those positions and reality as well as the inability to stop campaigning long enough to govern.

“Every problem Illinois had was made worse over the historic budget impasse.

“I am hopeful this year will be different, because the governor cannot continue to operate the way he has for the last three years and expect a different result. The governor has a chance to lay out specifics during his budget address. I look forward to those details. I’m here and ready to work.”

SPRINGFIELD – Fifteen school districts in the 40th Senate District have been awarded library grants from the Illinois Secretary of State’s School District Library Grant Program. The program is designed to help provide more library books and materials for public school students in Illinois.

More than $24,200 will be awarded to the fifteen school districts.

“Having access to resources that broaden horizons and improve reading skills is paramount to future success as a student and as an adult in the workplace,” said State Senator Toi Hutchinson (D – Chicago Heights).

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SPRINGFIELD – Illinois will become the first state in the nation acknowledging the correlation between postpartum depression and psychosis and certain crimes committed by women, after a new law was signed this week by the governor.

House Bill 1764, sponsored by State Senator Toi Hutchinson (D – Chicago Heights), allows women charged with certain felonies to challenge court sentences of crimes committed as a direct result of suffering from postpartum depression or postpartum psychosis. The new law also allows a court to consider a defendant’s postpartum depression or psychosis as a mitigating factor during sentencing.

“For too many women who have recently given birth and are suffering from postpartum depression or psychosis, issues of guilt are common,” Hutchinson said. “While not every woman who feels down after giving birth suffers from postpartum depression or psychosis, it is important that we recognize this is a real health issue that can have potentially tragic consequences if left untreated.”

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