CHICAGO— America has the highest rate of gun violence of any developed nation and State Senator Terry Link (D-Vernon Hills) is working to make Illinois a leader in changing that statistic.

Link championed a measure that will empower families and law enforcement to take steps to protect their loved ones and the general public. The bipartisan measure, House Bill 2354, was signed into law on Monday and will take effect on Jan. 1, 2019.

“We need to put a stop to gun violence in our nation,” Link said. “This new law will empower families and law enforcement to prevent senseless tragedies.”

The Lethal Violence Order of Protection Act will allow a family member or a law enforcement officer to alert the courts that an individual with access to a firearm poses a significant danger of personal injury to themselves or others.

If the court finds evidence to show the individual is indeed dangerous, a judge can require that person to temporarily turn over any firearms in their possession.

“Instituting commonsense gun laws will help save lives,” Link said. “Illinois citizens will now have  a fair and responsible method to take action if they see alarming behavior.”

Illinois’ law is modeled after a similar law in California that allows a court to intervene if it is found likely that a person may, in the near future, cause personal injury by owning a firearm.

House Bill 2354 passed the Senate and House with overwhelming bipartisan support.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Terry Link (D-Vernon Hills) released the following response to the Senate’s passage of a balanced budget:

“Tonight, the Senate passed a bipartisan balanced budget that protects funding for critical human services like after-school and youth employment programs, invests an additional $400 million into Illinois K-12 schools and early childhood education and increases funding for higher education by 2 percent.

“We were able to do this without enacting Gov. Rauner’s destructive proposals to shift costs to local governments, gut support services for those in need and take away health care for retirees.

“Instead of balancing the budget on the backs of our state’s most vulnerable residents, this budget was balanced responsibly through $600 million in cuts to state administrative costs and reasonable savings to the state pension systems.”

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SPRINGFIELD – A measure from Senator Terry Link (D-Vernon Hills) that would allow school districts to use recruiting firms to help find substitute teachers advanced out of the Senate and is headed to the governor’s desk.

Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 is one of many districts that has struggled to find substitute teachers.

“Schools across the state, and right here in Waukegan, are struggling to find enough substitute teachers,” Link said. “By giving school districts the ability to contract with a recruiting firm to help find substitute teachers, we will ease the burden on administrators and give schools one more option to address the shortage.”

House Bill 4742 passed both chambers with strong bipartisan support and now goes to the governor’s desk for approval.

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Last week, Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt (pictured below), Coach Porter Moser, and members of Loyola's men's basketball team were honored at the Capitol for their great March Madness run.