State Representative Dan Swanson voted YES on House Bill 4290 on May 24 to release $63 million in back pay to state employees for money they earned under the contract negotiated with previous Governor Pat Quinn.

“Both as a matter of fundamental fairness and fiscal sanity, it is way past time we pay the State’s oldest unpaid bill,” commented Rep. Swanson following the vote. “It’s unfortunate that Illinois continues to pay for the indebted dishonest dealings of its previous Governors.”

In January 2011, then Governor Quinn and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) struck a deal in which union state employees would give up half the value of their contractually mandated pay raises in exchange for a promise that Quinn would not lay off 2,600 workers or close any state facilities until July 2011. AFSCME also accepted furlough days and other concessions to save the state about $50 million.

However, in July 2011, Governor Quinn reneged on scheduled pay raises, and state workers have never received the money they earned. The passing of HB 4290 finally ensures state workers will be paid. HB 4290 will now move to the Senate for approval.

State Representative Dan Swanson announced the official launch of his Second Annual Summer Reading Club Program for 1^st-5^th grade students who live within the 74^th Legislative District.  With the Illinois Bicentennial Celebration occurring throughout the year, Rep. Swanson’s theme this year for the program is “Celebrate 200 years of Reading in Illinois”.  The program is offered to encourage students to read over the summer and promote the lifelong benefits of literacy.

“This is a great way to encourage young people in our region to read over their summer breaks from school.  Students who do not read over the summer are much further behind, academically, than their classmates who continue reading during summer break,” said Swanson.

Brochures are available below or by calling Rep. Swanson's Woodhull District Office.  Participation in this program can overlap with any other summer reading program offered through area libraries.  Participating students have until August 1^st to read their eight books and will be invited to a special party upon completion of the program.  Attendees of the party will also be given an opportunity to receive information on State and local programs.

Completed Forms may be submitted online here.

State Representative Dan Swanson hosted Geneseo High School student Grace Verbeck as an Honorary Page in the Illinois House on Tuesday, May 22^nd.

Grace is a Senior at Geneseo High School where she is active on the Tennis team, Link Crew (helping freshman orientation), Foreign Language Club, Student Library Advisory Panel (SLAP), Crochet Club, and National Honors Society.  Grace will attend the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the Fall and plans to major in Molecular and Cellular Biology.  Her parents are Dennis Verbeck, a farmer and President of the Henry County Farm Bureau, and Jodi Verbeck, a teacher at Colona Elementary School.

“Grace is an exceptional young woman who I am honored to host as an Honorary Page in the Illinois House,” said Rep. Swanson.  “My colleagues were impressed that Grace would represent her community so well on the week of her High School Graduation. Grace shows exceptional promise in her studies and as a future community leader.”

State Representative Dan Swanson joined Governor Bruce Rauner in welcoming the announcement today that 25 Illinois elementary and middle schools have been awarded a three-year Bicentennial STEM Fusion Program, the Illinois Math and Science Academy’s (IMSA) renowned teacher development training initiative for math and science including Galva Junior/ Senior High School in the 74^th District

“For Galva Junior/ Senior High School to be honored with this curriculum in recognition of the work they are doing is fantastic,” said Rep. Swanson.  “We need to prepare our students to compete on a global scale and this can only help them with best practice curriculum to achieve those goals.”

More than 100 schools applied for the 25 Fusion programs made available through the Bicentennial. The 25 schools selected serve predominately underserved populations who demonstrated a commitment to embedding IMSA Fusion into their curriculum and presented a sustainability plan to carry the program forward after the three-year award period expires. STEM training is considered critical to work in the future.  Seventy other qualifying schools will receive a one-year curriculum.

 “IMSA is pleased to be leading the charge to continually innovate K-12 STEM education, creating a strong and diverse talent base through turnkey STEM curricula and student enrichment through our flagship Fusion program,” commented Illinois Math and Science President Dr. Jose Torres.

The entire program was privately funded. Abbott and Wintrust Bank are the co-presenting sponsors.  Additional funding for this campaign was provided by Boeing, Ingredion, Motorola Solutions, Nicor Gas and Takeda.

State Representative Dan Swanson heralded the creation of new “Opportunity Zones” in Illinois, with a zone created overlapping portions of the 74^th District and the neighboring 73^rd District in Northwest Bureau County, including communities of Sheffield, Mineral and part of Kewanee represented by Rep. Swanson.  An “Opportunity Zone” was also created in Southeast Galesburg in the neighboring 93^rd District.

“These zones create an opportunity for private, tax-free investment in low-income areas with economic need.  This innovative program attempts to benefit residents in the zones as well as spurring private development and job creation,” said Rep. Swanson.

Governor Bruce Rauner announced 327 census tracts were submitted by the State of Illinois to the U.S. Treasury Department for consideration as Opportunity Zones.  The U.S. Treasury Department approved the recommendations, as permitted by the Federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.  1,305 qualifying low-income census tracts were available for selection, of which only 25% could be nominated by the Governor for inclusion in the program.  The zones cover more than 85 counties throughout the state and aim to support the future of Illinois through economic growth and investment.

“This is a really exciting opportunity for communities throughout Illinois,” said Governor Bruce Rauner.  “These zones include some of the most underserved areas of the state that have the greatest potential for improvement.  They represent a broad cross-section of Illinois that includes rural, urban, and suburban in-need communities that are ripe for investment and job creation.”

For more information on Opportunity Zones, please visit the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s (DCEO) website https://www.illinois.gov/dceo/Pages/OppZn.aspx.

from WGIL Radio, May 18, 2018

State Rep. Dan Swanson is pleased three bills he recently authored or co-sponsored have been approved almost unanimously by the Illinois Legislature, and now head to the Governor’s desk. We talked about that with Swanson, and about some other legislative issues, on Galesburg’s Evening News with Will Stevenson.

Listen to Audio here.