CHICAGO — State Rep. Michael J. Kelly, D-Chicago, is holding a ‘Toys for Tots’ drive, in conjunction with Alderman Samantha Nugent, now through December 15. Donations can be dropped off at Kelly and Nugent’s shared office, 4200 W. Lawrence Ave. in Chicago. Drop-off hours are Mondays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesdays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“As the holiday season gets underway, let’s keep in mind the kids in our community whose loved ones may not be able to afford the type of toys that other families often take for granted,” Kelly said. “Please join Alderman Nugent and I in helping more families make their kids’ holiday season special.” 

Acceptable donations consist of new, unopened and unwrapped toys—meaning still in manufacturer or store packaging but without wrapping paper.

CHICAGO – State Rep. Michael J. Kelly, D-Chicago, is holding a Flu Shot Clinic in partnership with Alderman Samantha Nugent, and the Salvation Army at Mayfair Community Church, 5020 N. Pulaski Rd. in Chicago. The event will be held between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 19. 

“Getting up-to-date flu shots each year is the best way to protect yourself and your family—children and older adults in particular—against a potentially serious illness,” Kelly said. “Even if the flu doesn’t make someone dangerously ill, it can put them out of work or school and make them unable to help around the home.”

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), flu, also known as influenza, is a viral infection that, while some of its symptoms resemble those of a common cold, is distinguished by:

• Characteristic high fevers of up to 103 degrees Fahrenheit that last up to 4 days, 
• Unusual weakness or fatigue that can last up to three weeks,
• Headaches and body aches which are often severe, and
• Complications such as bronchitis or pneumonia, which can become severe or even life-threatening.

Flu cannot be cured or prevented from spreading with antibiotics, because it is a viral illness. Handwashing helps to slow or prevent the spread of flu, but a yearly vaccination is the best way to lower your chances of contracting the flu. IDPH recommends annual flu vaccines for everyone aged six months and older. More information about flu vaccines is available from the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Participants are asked to register in advance at this link.

“Too many people don’t get their flu vaccine because they don’t understand the benefits or because they’ve heard misinformation about vaccines,” Kelly said. “The flu shot is proven to work and helps protect families during flu season. I hope to see you and your family at this event.”

NILES, Ill. – State Rep. Mike Kelly, D-Chicago, is inviting members of the community to a Mobile DMV event being facilitated by the office of Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. The event will be held Monday, Oct. 16 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Maine-Niles Library, 6960 W. Oakton Ave. in Niles. 

Appointments are required. Those interested can register online at https://bit.ly/3tdKaJA, by phone at 847-663-6606, or in person at the Niles-Maine Library – but must do so by Oct. 15.

“Illinois is moving forward, and a big part of that is the current effort to modernize and streamline the way our DMV services are offered,” Kelly said. “Events like this help bring the services people need to where they are, and I’m hoping to see a big turnout.”

Services provided at the event will include driver’s licenses, state identification cards, registration stickers, voter registration, organ and tissue donor elections and REAL ID. A full list of services, acceptable forms of payment and required documents and forms of identification are available at ILSOS.gov.

CHICAGO – Drivers in Illinois will be prohibited from using videoconferencing or video chat applications such as Zoom or Google Meet while operating a vehicle under a new law passed by state Rep. Michael J. Kelly, D-Chicago.  

“As new technologies emerge, lawmakers need to be vigilant to ensure that the laws are updated to take them into account,” Kelly said. “That’s why, when I learned that existing laws around distracted driving didn’t explicitly cover videoconferencing, I knew it was important to close this hazardous loophole.” 

Prior to Kelly’s House Bill 2431, drivers were technically permitted to be in a video meeting while at the wheel so long as the device being used was hands-free and the call could be both initiated and terminated using a single button-press. 

Kelly and other advocates were concerned that video calls were inherently more distracting than voice-only calls because drivers would look at the faces on the screen out of habit. The bill does not prohibit hands-free voice-only phone calls which were permissible under pre-existing law.

The bill was passed unanimously by both the House and the Senate and has been signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. It goes into effect Jan. 1, 2024.

“You might think that something like this would be obvious, but making assumptions is where gaps in policy come from,” Kelly said. “Promoting public safety requires vigilance alongside very intentional action. You can’t just leave it up to ‘common sense’.”

CHICAGO – State Rep. Michael J. Kelly, D-Chicago, is helping residents to protect their identities by shredding unneeded documents containing sensitive information at a community shred event to be held Saturday, June 17 from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. at St. Edward Church, 4350 W. Sunnyside in Chicago.   

“Everyone should practice good information security, and that means not keeping documents with personally-identifiable information when not necessary,” Kelly said. “That’s why I’m partnering with community organizations to offer this free service to the community. Come out and help push back against identity theft.”

The event has a limit of two boxes of papers per household, and is limited to residential papers only—no business documents will be accepted. All staples and paperclips must be removed from the paper, and participants are reminded that no boxes or other materials beyond the shredded documents can be left at the event site.

The event will also offer free disposal of unneeded prescription drugs—though no needles will be accepted—and free electronics recycling while space remains available on the recycling truck. In addition, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) will provide free milkweed and tree saplings, as well as raffling off a rain barrel.

Kelly is hosting the event in partnership with Alderperson Samantha Nugent, the St. Ed’s Green Team, Sheriff Tom Dart and MWRD Commissioner Mariyana Spyropoulos.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Language inserted into an omnibus bill passed on Thursday by state Rep. Michael J. Kelly, D-Chicago, means property tax relief is on the way for surviving spouses of police officers and rescue workers killed in the line of duty. 

“Families of fallen first responders have given society enough,” Kelly said. “We can’t give these families their loved ones back, but what we can do is ease the financial burden with regard to taxes and being able to stay in their homes.” 

Kelly introduced House Bill 2950 to provide a 50% reduction in property taxes to the surviving spouses of fallen first responders, as long as they remained in the same home and did not remarry. That bill did not advance out of committee before the deadline. 

But Kelly, a Chicago firefighter who joined the General Assembly in 2021, kept fighting and was able to insert key language from the bill into Article 10 of House Bill 2507, the Property Tax Omnibus bill, which passed unopposed through both the House and Senate this month. 

The bill cleared the General Assembly on Thursday and now moves to the governor’s desk for final approval. When it becomes law, it will take effect in 2024.

“First responders who put their lives on the line do so while trusting that, should the worst happen, the rest of us will step up and ensure their loved ones will be taken care of,” Kelly said. “That’s why this measure is so important. We’re helping take care of the families whose fallen heroes can no longer take care of them themselves.” 

Kelly’s office is reachable at 773-736-0218 or district@repkelly.com.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – State Rep. Michael J. Kelly, D-Chicago, is hailing the recent passage of a bill that promises to overhaul the outdated and sluggish promotion system long in place within the Chicago Fire Department.

“This bill is a win for Chicago’s brave first responders because it fixes, at long last, a system which has been broken for decades,” Kelly said. “For far too long, Chicago firefighters have asked for solutions and have instead been given excuses, rationalizations and spin. A broken system of promotions is a broken system of incentive and reward, and leads to low morale, skill and brain drain as well as losses of efficiency and effectiveness when the best people languish in roles for which they are overqualified, rather than advancing into positions from which they can lead.”

Kelly supported Senate Bill 1707, which removes exemptions which prevented the Chicago Fire Department (CFD) from being subject to the same mandated promotion processes as fire departments throughout the rest of the state. It now goes to the Governor’s desk for signature.

The CFD will now join all other Illinois fire departments in being required to create promotion lists based on transparent metrics like test scores, seniority and professional examinations. Advocates, including Kelly, say this will help solve long standing problems that have led to firefighters seeing their promotions unduly delayed due to bureaucratic inertia and meddling.

“We owe it to the firefighters who keep our families safe every single day to tell city bureaucrats and lobbyists ‘Enough Is Enough,’” Kelly said. “It’s one thing if a problem takes time to solve, or a goal takes time to implement, but the City and the Fire Department have been playing the same broken record for a generation, and nothing has changed. They’ve failed to fix it themselves, so we are taking over and we are fixing it. First responders deserve a functioning advancement system, which is why today’s action is long overdue.”

Kelly’s office is reachable at 773-736-0218 or district@repkelly.com.