VILLA PARK – On Sept. 7, 2017, Equifax announced that a security breach compromised the personal information of 143 million U.S. residents, including more than 5.4 million Illinois residents.

In response, a measure passed by State Senator Tom Cullerton (D-Villa Park) to allow consumers to protect themselves in a cost-effective and timely manner is heading to the governor’s desk.

“People should not be penalized for making sound financial decisions,” Cullerton said. “It’s our duty to provide Illinois residents with robust methods to ensure credit protection and identity theft prevention measures.”

Cullerton’s House Bill 4095 will no longer allow consumer reporting agencies to impose a charge on a consumer for placing a freeze, removing a freeze, or temporarily lifting a freeze on their credit reports. Under current law, consumer reporting agencies are allowed to charge up to $10 each time a consumer wishes to take these proactive actions.

House Bill 4095 would not only eliminate fees but would also allow Illinois residents to initiate or remove a freeze by telephone and through electronic methods.

The Equifax security breach compromised information such as names, social security numbers, birth dates, addresses and driver's license numbers. This breach is very concerning as such sensitive information can be used for identity theft.

“Every day we utilize online services that require us to share personal information. This makes all of us susceptible to security breaches similar to the 2017 Equifax breach,” Cullerton said. “When misfortune strikes it’s vital that the State of Illinois ensure DuPage County residents have the tools available to protect themselves.”

House Bill 4095 passed the Senate and House without any opposition.

For those that are already victims of identity theft or those who believe their personal or financial information has been compromised, Cullerton suggests calling the Illinois Attorney General’s toll-free Identity Theft Hotline at 1-866-999-5630 or 1-877-844-5461 (TTY).

VILLA PARK – State Senator Tom Cullerton (D-Villa Park) is working to reinforce the state’s commitment to protecting American jobs.

That effort is evident in Cullerton’s Senate Bill 2613, which would require all vehicles purchased or leased by the State of Illinois to be manufactured in the United States.

“State taxpayer dollars should be used to buy vehicles and products made by hardworking men and women who live right here in the United States,” Cullerton said. “This commonsense measure will stress the importance of investing in U.S. businesses to create more jobs and strengthen our economy.”

Cullerton said buying American-made vehicles creates jobs, stresses to automobile manufacturers the importance of keeping production facilities in the United States and helps reduce national and state budget deficits.  American factories also guarantee safe and fair working conditions while assuring fair wages are paid.

“Buying American-made cars is an investment in our nation’s competitiveness,” Cullerton said. “It’s our duty to support businesses that provide good-paying jobs to communities across our nation.”

Senate Bill 2613 is on track to be heard in the Senate’s transportation committee this legislative session.

VILLA PARK- Recent payroll shows only 44 of the Gov. Bruce Rauner’s staff are actually paid from the governor’s budget while 58 people are hidden in other agency payrolls.

To promote transparent and open government, State Senator Tom Cullerton (D-Villa Park) is advancing legislation to prevent shady payroll practices in the governor’s office.

“Once again, Gov. Rauner is hiding the truth from the people of Illinois,” Cullerton said. “It is absolutely outrageous that the governor of Illinois is utilizing irresponsible and inaccurate accounting practices to abuse the trust of DuPage County taxpayers.”

Senate Bill 3233 would prohibit the Governor's office from using other agency appropriations to pay for Governor's office employees. This new measure passed the Senate’s Committee on State Government with bipartisan support.

Right now on paper the governor’s office’s budget is $4.9 million however, if the governor would be honest and report all the employees working in his office his budget would be more than $10 million.

Cullerton states once again the governor is clearly lying to the people of Illinois by hiding the number of employees working in his office as well as their salaries.

“Off-shoring employees’ salaries onto the budgets of vital state agencies that take care of our children, seniors and veterans is a blatant misuse of power,” Cullerton said. “My hope is this legislation will promote an open and honest system where the hard earned tax dollars of DuPage County families are spent wisely and responsibly.”

Senate Bill 3233 will close a loop hole practice that is done through an inter-agency agreement that uses an exempting that the agency whose appropriation is being used from having to certify that the individual has performed work for that agency.

“The people of Illinois deserve to know how their valuable tax dollars are being spent,” Cullerton said.

SPRINGFIELD – Three years after the initial outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease at the Illinois Veterans Home at Quincy, residents of that facility and others like it are still waiting for Gov. Bruce Rauner to be proactive in detecting and removing Legionella bacteria from state-run facilities.

State Senator Tom Cullerton (D-Villa Park) has taken charge in the governor’s absence, advancing bipartisan legislative measures this week to improve water management and notification requirements at state facilities.

“If the governor’s administration refuses to take charge to make our state-run facilities Legionella free, the legislature will continue to aggressively work toward a meaningful solution,” Cullerton said.

Cullerton pointed out that Illinois Department of Public Health Director Nirav Shah said cases of Legionnaires’ disease continue to grow in Illinois, yet the legislature, not Shah, is working to combat the spread of the bacteria.

With support of State Senator Sam McCann (R-Plainview), Cullerton advanced Senate Bill 272, which creates the State Facility Public Health Water Management Plan Act. The act will require every state-operated residence facility to create plans for water management and Legionella culture sampling.

Cullerton also advanced Senate Bill 3301, which requires an Illinois veterans home to notify facility residents and their emergency contacts within 24 hours if two or more residents in the home are diagnosed with an infectious disease within a one-month period.

“These are commonsense bills that I believe can and will save lives,” McCann said. “We owe it to our veterans, our hard-working employees, and all those in the care of the state of Illinois to do everything in our power to ensure their safety.”

Gov. Bruce Rauner has played politics and created powerless taskforces to study possible solutions to the spread of bacteria, but even some of the task force members believe they fall short. Included on one such task force is State Senator Bill Haine (D-Alton), who is not pleased with the progress being made.

“The governor’s handling of the Quincy veterans home has become a political treadmill – there has been a lot of movement, but no forward progress,” Haine said. “It’s past time for the governor to introduce a concrete plan to protect our veterans instead of announcing another media tour or task force. These heroes’ lives are at stake.”

Despite Cullerton’s efforts, this morning he received news of opposition to the proactive legislation from the governor’s agencies – more than a month after the legislation was filed.

Cullerton said he will continue to work in a bipartisan manner – with or without help from the governor’s office – to protect the United States veterans who have sacrificed so much to protect Illinoisans.

“The governor’s administration needs to learn to be proactive,” Cullerton said. “Coming in at the 11th hour to voice opposition to these bipartisan measures is counterproductive and creates road blocks in our quest to provide our veterans with the best possible care.”

To State Senator Michael E. Hastings (D-Tinley Park), the problems at the Quincy veterans home rest on the lack of leadership from Gov. Rauner.

“We are looking for leadership and consistency from Gov. Rauner. Three years later we have yet to see either,” Hastings said. “Our nation’s heroes have lived in the veterans home three years without a solution or any semblance of a strategy. When can we expect a real plan?”