SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – State Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, issued this statement following the end of the House’s spring legislative session in Springfield:
“This session yielded lasting progress for our community. Illinois has another new budget that continues to build up our state’s fiscal stability, with payments cutting down on the pension backlog and filling up our rainy-day fund. We substantially increased funding for childcare and early childhood education programs because every child deserves a stable start. We increased K-12 and higher education funding to create a stronger future for Illinois kids and funded jobs training programs for high school graduates.
“Digitally-forged images, which are overwhelmingly sexually-explicit and created without the consent of the women depicted – commonly called ‘deepfakes’ – are increasingly easy and cheap to create. This has facilitated a new form of gender based violence, wherein women are depicted without consent in sexually-explicit situations. I passed legislation creating a path to justice for victims of this vile behavior.
“Gun violence has inflicted countless tragedies on communities across Illinois, including within my own family. Gun manufacturers must be held accountable for the dangerous and irresponsible marketing and advertising that causes real world violence. I sponsored legislation to crack down on gun ads that encourage illegal and dangerous behavior. The gun industry’s graphic portrayals of deadly attacks have to stop.
“Non-biodegradable pollutants like polystyrene damage our natural world and leave a mess that future generations have to clean up. My legislation to ban single-use polystyrene foam is a vital step towards a cleaner, healthier environment for our kids. Eliminating these enduring pollutants paves the way for growth of greener replacements that break down naturally.
“Finally, I did not waver in my commitment to ensure reproductive rights for women in Illinois. I supported legislation to crack down on anti-choice groups’ deceptive ‘crisis pregnancy centers’, cut costs on reproductive health medications and shore up access to emergency contraception.”