General Updates from Senator Mike Simmons

Dear Neighbor,

I hope you had a safe and relatively quiet holiday season. The 2023 year is off to a very busy start. I am personally proud of the historic, nine-day Lame Duck Legislative Session we wrapped up last week that included passage of major legislation including one of the strongest assault weapons bans in the country, sweeping protections for reproductive rights and gender-affirming care, paid leave for workers, name change and birth certificate legislation, and new year-over-year funding for affordable housing.

Caption: Being inaugurated holding a photo of my mom and me together at my college graduation! Even though she could not physically be here, her memory and legacy shape who I am, how I show up, and my deep dedication to our diverse communities of the 7th District.

I also took the oath of office and was sworn in to a second term representing our diverse communities in the Illinois Senate! I was inaugurated holding a photo of my mother Ramona, who until her untimely passing in 2020, was a longtime salon owner in Rogers Park running Salon Pastiche on Loyola Avenue for 25 years. Our first day of the Lame Duck Session was Jan. 4, which is her death anniversary, and I intentionally decided to recommit to fighting for a world she’d want to raise her children in and didn’t live long enough to see. I’ll be fighting for our district this term and doing so in her memory. Read on for specific legislative and community updates, and for a photo recap from my swearing-in!

Sincerely,

Mike Simmons

State Senator | 7th District

General Updates from Senator Mike Simmons

Dear Neighbor,

Greetings 7th District residents! I wanted to provide you with a recap of key updates from the last couple weeks.

Last week I had the incredible opportunity to sit on a panel with our nation’s top doctor, US Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Dr. Vivek Murthy to discuss efforts to protect youth mental health. Also participating were Dr. Allison Arwady, Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, and Dr. Colleen Cicchetti, Executive Director of the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie’s Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Dr. Murthy and I discussed my efforts to elevate youth voices in policy discussions about mental health. Specifically, he asked about my People’s Legislative Council initiative that has given youth from our district a space to shape legislation I’ve authored and passed. The legislation ensures all Illinois schools provide instruction on how and where to access mental health resources and creates a Student Mental Health Council which includes queer youth voices, voices of youth of color, and diverse mental health professionals. It was truly a joy to welcome Dr. Murthy to Chicago, and I am happy we had a chance to talk about a top legislative and personal priority of mine which is protecting and dramatically increasing access to mental health and health care more broadly for our communities. The two are inextricably bound and I will continue to fight for more access for our neighbors.

Image: Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Senator Mike Simmons, Dr. Allison Arwady and Dr. Colleen Cicchetti gathered before presenting their panel on Youth Mental Health at the City Club of Chicago.

Image: Senator Mike Simmons discusses his People’s Legislative Council initiative focused on youth mental health with Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Dr. Allison Arwady and Dr. Colleen Cicchetti.

General Updates from Senator Mike Simmons

Greetings 7th District residents! I wanted to touch base with you to provide a recap of the last couple weeks or so. First, I’d like to cover a couple new initiatives we’ve rolled out or resumed that should be good for our district. On Saturday, Nov. 12th my team and I rolled out our new constituent services program where we will go out into the district and doorknock to introduce ourselves to constituents, educate them on what our office can do for them, and find ways to help constituents with state resources.

So many people don’t have a clear sense of what the state legislature can do, or need help and have no idea where to start, so I am happy we are proactively taking state government to the people. Our inaugural doorknock was done in the Budlong Woods section of our district, which is located in Lincoln Square near where I grew up.

We also continued the 7th District people’s legislative council initiative, a participatory space where we organically convene constituents across the district who reflect particular lived experiences that are amplified and shape legislation I introduce. The child tax credit legislation I introduced last year came out of the legislative councils with single mothers, and on Wednesday, November 9th we convened residents of our district who are survivors of gun violence. We had participants from Uptown, Ravenswood, Roger Park, and Edgewater in the room.

I am so thankful for each participant for sharing their experiences with gun violence, and working with me to help advocate for legislation such as a statewide ban on assault weapons, and other sensible gun laws. We will resume with future legislative councils for people living with disabilities in early 2023. If you’d like to participate, please call my office at 773-769-1717.

The veto session is upon us, and we are expecting to take up a handful of trailer bills to existing legislation. See below under legislative updates for some highlights from the first week of the veto session.

Lastly, we will be holding a Virtual Town Hall on Tuesday, December 6th at 6:30 p.m. I thoroughly enjoy opening up government and policymaking to our constituents, and invite you to join us as I provide general legislative and community updates, and take questions from residents.

As always, my office is available at 773-769-1717 if we can be of assistance. Read on for legislative updates, community recaps, and for a list of helpful resources.

 

Sincerely,

Mike Simmons

State Senator | 7th District

Dear Neighbor,

Greetings 7th District residents! I wanted to give you some quick updates. The last couple weeks have been a busy mix of community and legislative meetings.

First, I’m happy that my youth mental health bill Senate Bill 4028, which was signed into law, is well on the road to implementation. I met with staff from the State Board of Education and the Student Mental Health Partnership housed at Lurie’s Children’s Hospital to ensure the goals around the new advisory council mandated by my legislation are being met. The student mental health council will be made up of youth from across Illinois who have direct lived experiences with mental health. The council will include queer youth, youth of color, and leaders from diverse backgrounds working in mental health. As a recap, this bill idea came directly from young high-school aged people in our district who are participating in my people’s legislative councils, where constituents help shape public policy and legislation that I introduce and pass. I am so proud of the progress we are making together.

I also met with staff from the Illinois Department of Transportation to push for safety improvements to roadways within our district that are under state jurisdiction, including Peterson Avenue. I am pushing the department to review crash and traffic fatality data along these roads with the goal of focusing on the most dangerous points and intersections that the department then can improve for cyclists, pedestrians, and those who are disabled. We will be meeting again before the end of the month to review IDOT’s findings. I also requested and set up a meeting with Active Transportation Alliance, an advocacy coalition working to make biking, walking, and public transit safer and more equitable. We brainstormed potential ideas for the upcoming legislative session, and will meet again before we reconvene the spring session to discuss potential bill ideas to make our state much safer and accessible for those on bike, foot, and public transit.

I also participated in a panel with other state legislators where we discussed how grassroots ideas become policy ideas that become bills that pass the legislature. I enjoyed sharing concrete examples where grassroots organizations have coalesced around ideas in the areas of health care and housing insecurity to get laws passed. The panel was organized by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus Foundation.

My staff and I also went over to Swedish Covenant Hospital to visit the Welcoming Center, which is run by Lutheran Social Services of Illinois and seeks to increase access to mental health and substance abuse treatment for community members, which is a major need for the region and a high priority for me. The Welcoming Center staff walked us through some of the challenges of running their programs ranging from funding issues to the need for modernized data and record keeping. I will be proactively reaching out to many of our mental health providers and staff in our district in the months ahead so that I can effectively fight for resources and legislation to bring better mental health services and substance abuse treatment to our constituents who need it and their families.

On another topic, I have met with a handful of constituents advocating for the human rights of those who are incarcerated and their families. I met with Restore Justice staff including several returning citizens who are on staff and actively advocating for smart legislation. I also met with advocates from Chicago Votes, and separately with Rev. Jason Lydon, who serves at Second Unitarian Church. In these meetings we talked about the need for medical care for those who are incarcerated; we also discussed SB828, legislation I have sponsored that would restore the right to vote to roughly 30,000 people currently incarcerated in Illinois; and we discussed a bill I passed, HB5525, that recommends the state make a number of systemic improvements to policy and programs serving incarcerated parents. This is a priority area and I will continue to focus on building support for legislation that respects the human rights of those who are incarcerated.

Lastly, I joined the Not That Late Show at Newport Theater to discuss my first 18 months in office. I always enjoy supporting the arts, theater, music, and comedy and was honored to bring updates from my office to a community that is well-represented across our district. And finally I appeared in a documentary that debuted this month that chronicles the lives, activism, and relationship of two LGBTQ+ community leaders and husbands, Art Johnston and Pepe Pena, owners of Sidetrack Video Bar in Lakeview and longtime organizers with Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community. I was honored to be featured in the documentary where I talked about the long history of queer activism in Chicago, and what I see as my role in that history as Illinois first openly gay state Senator. It’s always a joy to step back and reflect, and I was honored and humbled to participate in this terrific documentary that debuted last month in the Chicago International Film Festival.

As always, my office is available at 773-769-1717 if we can be of any assistance.

Sincerely,

Mike Simmons

State Senator | 7th District