State Sen. Julie Morrison, who has been actively working to reform Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services since 2013, welcomed Gov. Bruce Rauner’s decision to bring in the Annie E. Casey Foundation to perform a top-to-bottom audit of the troubled agency.

“Over the past year, it’s become apparent that the problems at DCFS are so deep-seated that we’re going to have to rebuild the agency from the ground up to ensure the safety of abused and neglected children,” said Morrison, who chairs a legislative committee tasked with investigating the agency. “I support the governor’s decision to bring in an outside agency to help us take stock of the situation and start turning things around.”

State Senator Julie Morrison believes that Illinois law has a loophole that needs to be fixed: it's illegal to provide minors with e-cigarettes and other tobacco-free nicotine products, but it's not illegal for children to have them.

"Two years ago we made it illegal to sell e-cigarettes to anyone under the age of 18," Morrison said. "It's common sense that if it's illegal to sell these products to kids, it should be illegal for kids to have them."

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield) will serve as vice-chair of the Illinois Senate’s Human Services committee for the next two years, a position she intends to use to help get the troubled Department of Children and Family Services back on track.

“It seems like we hear new horror stories about DCFS every year,” Morrison said. “I’m committed to turning this important agency around, and I intend to use my new position on the Human Services Committee to help push forward an aggressive reform agenda.”

Morrison is planning to introduce measures to help protect abused and neglected children in the care of DCFS, partially in response to damning media reports that found hundreds of allegations that children in residential treatment centers are raped and assaulted by their peers while authorities fail to act.

SPRINGFIELD – Using drones to get an advantage when hunting and fishing wouldn’t just be unfair, it would also be illegal under a new law proposed by state Senator Julie Morrison.

“Let’s keep the man – or woman – in outdoorsman,” the Deerfield Democrat said. “Using drones to hunt makes the process too easy. That’s not fair for hunters and fishers who are seriously into the sport, and it’s not fair for the animals that deserve a chance to escape.”

While small animals that fear birds of prey run when they see unmanned aerial vehicles, big game animals like deer are unfazed by the small aircraft, making them easy pickings for high-tech hunters.