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Pretrial Fairness Act passes, ending money bond in Illinois
In 2021, after eight years of work by organizers, legal experts, people who have been personally impacted by our racist criminal legal system, and many more, the Illinois Legislature passed the Pretrial Fairness Act. This legislation made Illinois the first state to abolish the practice of keeping people who have been accused of a crime…
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Illinois continues to close corporate tax loopholes
Illinois’ 2024 budget includes hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate tax loophole closures, including the retailer’s sales tax discount. Our work over the course of many years laid the groundwork for this win, and our allies in the Fund Our Futures coalition pushed it over the finish line in 2024. This will lead to hundreds of millions of dollars…
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Environmental Justice Town Halls
Our Environmental Justice team has launched a series of town halls with members and elected officials across Chicago and the suburbs in order to not just get our public transportation back to the where it was before Covid caused cuts and disruptions, but to win the progressive funding our state needs to build the world-class public transportation we deserve. The…
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TPL helps pass the Healthcare Protection Act
With significant work from TPL as part of the Protect Our Care coalition, Illinois passed the Healthcare Protection Act! This win is an important step toward regulating health insurance corporations: it prevents them from requiring prior authorizations in an important set of mental health crises, it ends the use of “ghost networks” where insurers claim to have a long list…
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Pretrial Success Act passes in Illinois
The 2024 Illinois state budget includes the Pretrial Success Act, which will dramatically increase access to health and human services for people awaiting trial. Our coalition pushed hard to pass this, and it would never have succeeded if we hadn’t won our eight-year fight to pass the Pretrial Fairness Act in 2020.
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Pretrial Fairness Act passes, ending money bond in Illinois
In 2021, after eight years of work by organizers, legal experts, people who have been personally impacted by our racist criminal legal system, and many more, the Illinois Legislature passed the Pretrial Fairness Act. This legislation made Illinois the first state to abolish the practice of keeping people who have been accused of a crime in jail as they await…
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Climate & Equitable Jobs Act
In 2021, our years of organizing in partnership with the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition paid off when we finally passed the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). This historic climate and energy legislation centers communities most impacted by the climate crisis and makes Illinois a national leader on climate action. CEJA will put Illinois on a path to 100% renewable…
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Winning for workers in Cook County
In 2016, after a 3-year campaign, The People’s Lobby moved the Cook County Board to pass an increase in the minimum wage in suburban Cook County that raised pay for tens of thousands of low-wage workers from $8.25 up to $13 per hour.
Our Initiatives
We choose our fights by determining which issues matter most to our members and conducting strategic analyses to determine the power we need to build to win on those issues.
UPDATES
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Press Release
Chicago rideshare drivers win $250k outreach fund in 2025 city budget
For Immediate Release December 17, 2024 Contacts: Lori Simmons, 217-721-7527 or lori@thepeopleslobbyusa.org Deana Rutherford, (872) 395-8167 or deana@thepeopleslobbyusa.org Chicago rideshare drivers win $250k outreach fund in 2025 city budget New program will provide resources for training and know your rights workshops in multiple languages and empower workers to take action to resolve violations When the…
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The People’s Lobby
Raising our voices in Springfield: Lobby Day report back
We took 38 of our members to Springfield and met with 19 state legislators in a single day about The People’s Lobby’s legislative agenda.
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Reader
The CTA’s missing riders
After a steep drop in ridership, passengers are slowly returning to the CTA. But some Chicagoans have put down their Ventra cards for new ways to travel the city.