SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Senate passed a resolution Monday to create a task force to study creating a 24-hour nurse hotline, to give sick Illinoisans a second option to consider instead of immediately heading to the doctor.

The resolution was sponsored by State Senator Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford) and passed unopposed with a vote of 51-0.

Stadelman was inspired to sponsor the legislation by the state of New Mexico, which created a 24-hour nurse hotline in 2006. As of 2015, nearly 1.5 million residents, or nearly 75 percent of state residents that are of legal age have called the hotline with health questions. Before the hotline was implemented, many of these callers were forced to go to the emergency room for minor medical treatment.

The nearly 15,000 calls the hotline receives every month takes a tremendous toll off of emergency rooms, and saves the state of New Mexico about $41 per call. Over time, these savings have added up – to the tune of about $68 million.

“Creating a 24-hour nurse hotline could be an innovative solution to keeping patients out of emergency rooms and cutting down the state’s medical costs,” Stadelman said. “In this difficult budgetary environment, we need to look at all of the options available to save taxpayers’ money.”

Stadelman’s resolution, Senate Joint Resolution 44, will now head to the Illinois House.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford) joined with other Illinois senators from outside the Chicago region today to support Senate Bill 231. The proposal will change the education funding formula to allocate more funding to school districts without access to vast local resources.

Under the legislation, Rockford Public Schools would receive an additional $10.2 million.

Earlier this month, Governor Rauner called on the General Assembly to fully fund the current education formula. Despite the increase in funding, under the curent formula, Rockford Public Schools would only see an increase of about $4.8 million, or less than half of what they will receive under Senate Bill 231.

“Rockford schools are a textbook example of the inherent fairness of the current funding system,” Stadelman said. “Communities with large numbers of low-income students need to invest in education the most, but they are the least equipped to do so.”

UPDATE: Stadelman is a co-sponsor of the legislation. It passed the Illinois Senate with a bipartisan vote of 31-21 following the press conference.

SPRINGFIELD – A proposal backed by State Senator Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford) that allocates $90 million to Illinois community colleges, including Rock Valley College, passed the Illinois Senate today with a bipartisan vote of 55-2.

The proposal is Senate Bill 2048. This funding is in addition to the funds appropriated in Senate Bill 2059, which was signed into law by the governor April 25.

“These funds will provide Rock Valley College with additional stability and allow them to prevent further layoffs,” Stadelman said. “These are the types of compromises needed to ensure our state is able to get back on the right track.”

The legislation will now head to the Illinois House.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford) advanced legislation through the Senate last week to require local governments to change the auditors they use to review their finances every five years.

Over the years, government employees in Dixon, Chicago and Winnebago County have been investigated for stealing millions of dollars in taxpayer funds.

“Too often, we have seen auditors fail to identify fraud and abuse within the governmental bodies they are supposed to be auditing,” Stadelman said. “This legislation will help prevent a cozy relationship between the auditors and local governments by requiring a new set of eyes look over the books every five years.”

Under Stadelman’s proposal, Senate Bill 2270, counties, municipalities, townships and other bodies of government would have to accept competitive bids on auditing contracts every five years.

If signed into law, Illinois would also join the state of California to require local governments to rotate auditors every five years.

The legislation passed the Senate with a bipartisan vote of 37-15 and will now head to the Illinois House.