SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Julie Morrison’s (D-Deerfield) legislation to enable county boards to remove appointed officials who violate the public trust passed the Illinois General Assembly last week and now goes to the governor.

“When employees break their companies’ codes of conduct, their bosses can fire them. When elected officials violate the public trust, the people can vote them out or their colleagues can impeach them. Right now, if appointed officials act unethically, county boards can’t do anything but wait for their terms to expire,” Morrison said. “This situation must change.”

Morrison’s legislation, Senate Bill 3552, introduced at the request of Lake County Board, allows the county boards of the collar counties to remove appointed officials by a two-thirds majority vote. To initiate the process, the county board or county executive would have to find that the appointed official violated the county’s code of conduct, and the county board would have to hold a hearing.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Julie Morrison’s (D-Deerfield) plan to improve the transparency, accountability and effectiveness of the Department of Children and Family Services has cleared the Illinois General Assembly. It now goes to the governor for his approval.

“We have to hold DCFS to the highest standards possible,” Morrison said. “Thousands of children are depending on state government to keep them safe.”

Recycling is one of simplest and easiest ways that we can help improve our environment. Currently, Illinois has laws that require us all to recycle electronics. This not only allows for rare metals, such as copper and silver, to be harvested, but it also saves energy. Recycling one million laptops saves the amount of electricity used by more than 3,500 US homes in a year.

State Senator Julie Morrison is currently sponsoring House Bill 4227, which would make it much easier for everyone to recycle computers, cell phones and other electronics. The legislation would require the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to post the mailing addresses of electronics recycling collection sites so that people will be able to conveniently find their nearest recycler.

“I hear from people all the time who want to recycle their old cell phones and laptops, but don’t know where to go,” Morrison said. “Having a handy list of all drop-off locations on the EPA’s website would make electronics recycling much easier.”

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield) and State Representative Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) want to end a disturbing trend: parents turning their children over to the Department of Children and Family Services because it is the only way the kids can get the mental health care they need.

“DCFS exists to help children who are the victims of abuse and neglect. It’s common knowledge that the agency is underfunded and struggles to meet its obligations,” said Morrison, who is working with the agency to try to help improve performance. “The fact that there are parents who are so desperate to get their children mental health services that they will surrender them to DCFS is a real black mark on our state. This situation needs to change.”

Morrison and Feigenholtz are sponsoring a plan that would give exhausted parents the ability to get state assistance without giving up their children to the foster care system.