History of UUANI Initiatives
2023
10 leaders from 6 congregations participated in our GRACE training program.
We launched our Congregational Catalyst program in two congregations, and hired an intern to organize BIPOC UUs in collaboration with DRUUMM.
The 103rd General Assembly of Illinois has closed their spring legislative session and will be on summer hiatus until November’s “Veto Session.” UUANI participated in several initiatives with our partners. SB76 was subsequently vetoed by Governor Pritzker on Aug. 11.
Carceral Justice has been front and center for the past few years, as we allied with UU Prison Ministry of Illinois, Restore Justice Illinois, and Live Free. In the tail end of last year, we won a long battle to abolish the sentence of life without parole for folks under 20 facing prison, passing HB1065. In the current session Restore Justice advocated for SB2073 to make that determination retroactive after a person has served 40 years of their life sentence without parole; that initiative remains stalled in “Rules,” being amended.
We helped Live Free work HB1268, Executor Accountability Act, through the process from witness slips when it was in committee to writing our legislators more than once, and it finally passed in mid-May. HB1268 allows a previously incarcerated person to act as executor if so asked, representing an important step toward restoring citizens’ rights to ex-felons.
A third initiative, Elder Parole (HB2045) is in its third year on the docket. We are getting closer with more legislator support, but not enough votes yet to pass in the House.
Gender Justice figured prominently as UUANI partnered with Equality Illinois to repeal an antiquated prohibition on the books banning same-sex marriage. We submitted witness slips as the bill moved easily out of committee and onto the floor for a successful vote. Similarly, HB1286 lifted a prohibition against gender inclusive restrooms and passed in mid-May.
A bill (HB3326) crafted by Planned Parenthood Illinois protected license-plate data from being disseminated to organizations that might want to identify folks crossing state lines for reproductive healthcare, aka abortions. It passed both houses toward the end of session. The prohibition has repercussions for immigrants, as well.
Immigrant Justice
UUANI joined Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights to successfully pass HB3326, which expands the availability of drivers’ licenses to undocumented would-be drivers.
Climate and Environmental Justice
After passing an omnibus bill late in 2022, the 103rd seemed not to have much energy for new climate initiatives, although many were introduced. UUANI allied with the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition to support the regulation of the transportation and sequestration of CO2 in and across Illinois, HB3119, but the bill is stuck in Rules with amendments. And we took a stand against SB76, which guts a strong rule that new nuclear construction must stipulate how it will dispose of nuclear waste in a sustainable way; we lost that stand and the bill passed both houses.
2022
The Environment
Allied with The Environmental Council of Illinois and the Sierra Club, we successfully fought against efforts to roll back the accomplishments of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act of 2021, while putting in place more definition to clean energy practices recommended in that omnibus Act. Several triumphs further delineated the CEJA Act: SB3866 ensured full funding for the Energy Transition Assistance Fund, HB3125 requires new residential property be equipped with EV charging capacities, SB3613 established a Green Hydrogen Task Force to maximize federal funding for hydrogen hub development, HB4818 PFAS Incineration Ban targeted the incineration of “forever chemicals”, a practice that disproportionately impacts minority communities in Illinois through air pollution.
At the 11th hour of the lame duck session, we passed HB4412 to prevent the outright ban of clean energy projects at the county level in Illinois.
Restorative Justice
Allied with the UU Prison Ministry of Illinois, Restore Justice Illinois, and other partners, we ended the 2022 legislative session successfully opposing myriad attempts to roll back the achievements of the SAFE-T Act, the omnibus carceral justice act of 2021. This bill included the “Pretrial Fairness Act,” which ended cash bail in IL. Bills were introduced asking for enhanced penalties and increased mandatory minimum sentences, lifetime conviction-based employment restriction, penalty enhancement in the name of “Blue Lives Matter,” and more. During Veto Session, two advocacy days in Springfield promoting Pretrial Fairness attracted over 500 participants. In the end, a remarkably enlightened consideration of revamping the Safe-T Act resulted in passing HB1095 which further delineated guidelines for pretrial release BUT ABOLISHED CASH BOND as a requisite for pretrial release.
We won Point of Contact (SB3180) creating oversight of the practices of prisons and jails in communicating with families of incarcerated folks. The legislation creates a point of contact person responsible for relaying family concerns to authorities about the treatment of their loved ones inside. This also provides for informing legislators of unfair prison practices in periodic reports. UUANI submitted witness slips for this bill, flooding the “pro” queue.
HB1064 Abolished juvenile life-sentencing. This provides that an incarcerated person serving a life sentence determined while they were a juvenile is eligible for a parole hearing and possible release after serving 40 years. This bill passed the House and in the last day of the lame duck session, the Senate cast a bi-partisan vote of approval!
Immigrant Rights
We allied with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights to achieve these notable gains:
SB3144 Immigrant Right to Counsel in Immigration Proceedings. This bill will establish a task force to come up with recommendations by January 2023 for providing appropriate legal counsel. This passed both houses and is signed into law.
HB4343 Equity in Medicaid Omnibus. ICIRR succeeded in petitioning an expansion of insured health coverage to include 26,000 more low-income Illinois residents ages 42 and up regardless of citizenship status. This builds on a 2021 win as part of the Healthy Illinois Coalition that expanded insured healthcare coverage to Illinoisans age 55 and up, regardless of documented status (children are already included). This omnibus bill cobbled together from many bills in the last days of the session, passed both houses and was signed into law.
UUANI supported ICIRR as they won a permanent expansion of the earned income credit. Over one million new Illinois residents will be eligible for the credit, which will invest $100 million every year for working people in IL regardless of their citizenship status.
LGBTQAI+
Working with our partner Equality IL we joined an advocacy day in Springfield that resulted in a win for people living with HIV in IL. Senate Bill 3490 will reduce disparities for LGBTQ older adults and older adults living with HIV by creating a commission of diverse people, the Illinois Commission on LGBTQ Aging to investigate, analyze, and study the health, housing, financial, psychosocial, home-and-community-based services, assisted living, and long-term care needs of LGBTQ older adults and their caregivers. Passed both houses in May and was signed into law.
Community Safety
And we campaigned to outlaw assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, which passed both the Senate and the House in a vibrant eleventh-hour deal on the last day of the lame-duck session! Illinois joins, even leads, a small group of states realizing that some people are taking seriously the “assault” part of assault weapons and should be stopped.
VoteLove
Illinois UUs contacted over 70,000 voters as part of our VoteLove initiative.
2021
Over 1600 UUs watched our second online UU Justice Revival.
We launched our Anti-Racism Capacity Building training program, and 14 leaders from 7 congregations participated in the UUA Organizing School.
Our year was bookended by two huge wins:
Allied with Restore Justice Illinois and UU Prison Ministry of Illinois, we supported the Comprehensive Criminal Justice Act (signed in Jan 2021), which won several important reforms of incarceration policy, including the Pretrial Fairness Act which will end cash bond. Defending those reforms is the issue now. We also did strong work for restorative justice and alternatives to incarceration, including restorative justice protection for juveniles, the Community Emergency Services Support Act (which mandates social service support for police calls), and ending racial disparity in the foster care system.
Allied with Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition and the Illinois Climate Table, we won the Comprehensive Climate and Equity Jobs Act (CEJA) in September. For environmental justice, we also won the Lead Pipe Replacement Act.
Working with Community Renewal Society we were able to assist in the passing of a historic ordinance in Chicago on July 21st calling for community centered police accountability increasing public safety. Our hope is to bring this experience and nascent knowledge around the state where these initiatives are on-going.
Further victories include winning the Illinois Way Forward Act, which strengthens the TRUST Act, barring ICE from entering public spaces in immigrant communities, and also ends immigrant detention centers in Illinois by the end of 2022.
2020
2020 was profoundly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Illinois legislature effectively shut down for the spring and opened only partially in the fall, due to restrictions for gathering of people and a state mandate to conduct business in person and not through electronic meetings.
Democracy: UUANI partnered with the UUtheVote campaign of the UUA to get out the vote, registering voters, mailing postcards, text- and phone-banking and more, contacting over 90,000 voters as part of our VoteLove initative. Over 400 UUs from across the state and 16 congregations participated under the leadership of Rev K Mooney, our sabbatical executive director, and with funding from the UU Funding Program. Our online Democracy Revival had over 650 live participants and over 3900 views overall.
Racial justice/restorative justice: We supported an initiative to end money bond in Illinois and several other issues which were rolled into a comprehensive bill to reform the criminal justice system which was supported by the Black Caucus and won ratification by both houses at the eleventh hour, and was signed by the governor.
Economic Justice: Having won the ratification of the Fair Tax referendum for a graduated income tax for Illinois in 2019, we campaigned aggressively to educate the public and rally the votes for passing the referendum in the fall election. However, we lost out to an aggressive last-minute campaign by the wealthier contingent of the state. The issue MAY be raised again, but not without an overhaul of the campaign.
Environmental Justice: The Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) again. the campaign was scuttled by the pandemic, which caused the legislature to essentially shut down for the spring and only partially open in the fall, with priorities for getting financial support to the citizenry until the economy could open again.
Immigrant Justice: Again, with reduced activity in the legislature due to the COVID pandemic, issues in immigrant justice were moved to the back burner, except for advocacy for immigrants and refugees to be included in the several stimulant payments ratified by both the federal and state governments. Some attention to access to healthcare as well.
2019
We launched our Social Justice Leadership Corps (now GRACE) training program with 21 participants from 7 congregations.
Immigrant Justice: We waged a major battle against the inhumane treatment of refugees fleeing into the US from dangerous conditions in their home countries. We won legislation in Illinois banning private detention facilities for immigrants and refugees. We won legislation protecting residents of Illinois from the activities of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) squad.
Racial Justice: We waged battles for prison reform and humane treatment of prisoners. We won legislation mandating the least restrictive detention of parents with young children. We won legislation supporting the restoration of those with criminal records back into their community, supporting them with jobs, job training, and equal access to housing. We worked with the cannabis legalization, mandating the release of prisoners convicted of possession and denying law enforcement the possibility of arresting for the possession of marijuana. We continue to work for eliminating solitary confinement, ending mandatory minimum sentencing and eliminating cash bond.
Economic Justice: We won the Fair Tax initiative to be placed on the ballot in November 2020 for ratification by the citizenry of Illinois. We raised the minimum wage to $15 in Illinois.
Environmental Justice: We continue to work on the Clean Energy Jobs Act and expect it to pass in 2020.
Public Safety: We won the gun dealer licensing act!
2018
We convened over 100 UUs at 3 regional events in Southern, Central and Northern Illinois.
Fair Tax Illinois
The Illinois Fair Tax is a proposed amendment to the Illinois state constitution that would change the state income tax system from a flat tax to a graduated income tax. This campaign began in 2012 -- though defeated each election year, it has gained strength and we believe it will pass this year. We join the Responsible Budget Coalition of Illinois. Rally in Springfield February 14, before Governor Rauner's budget address, then add your energy, voice and witness March 15 to May 10 when legislators will be lining up in support of the working classes of Illinois -- or not.
The Love Resists Campaign of the UUA
The Love Resists campaign gathers the energy of Unitarian Universalists to support the efforts of marginalized people to raise power for equality: Dreamers, people of color caught in the criminal justice web, people facing discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, people facing religious discrimination.
Environmental Justice campaign of the Illinois Climate Table
We join forces with the Illinois Climate Table to monitor the implementation of the Future Energy Jobs Act of Illinois, passed at the end of 2016. We will support legislation designed to enact recommendations of the FEJA.
The Poor People's Campaign
Challenging a cultural dynamic that supports systemic racism, poverty, and environmental injustice, working for better jobs, better homes, better education, a better day for people disenfranchised by our American world of today. PPC has identified these targets for action this spring:
= Voter Suppression, especially as we conduct all-important mid-term elections this year, includes banning requirement of difficult-to-acquire IDs, the disenfranchisement of people with records
= Ecological Destruction, leading to water contamination, toxic neighborhoods near landfill, lead poisoning and asthma in poor communities
= Economic practices that undergird poverty, including poor wages, mass incarceration which disenfranchises a population, and inequality of taxation -- PPC will continue the Fight for 15 Movement for fair wages and the Fair Tax Campaign
= Militarism, especially the militarism of police actions and the proliferation of poorly-regulated gun ownership.
2017
50 leaders from 17 congregations attended our statewide gathering at Hinsdale Unitarian Church with Kathryn McTigue from the UU College of Social Justice presenting on "Speaking Justice in the Language of Our Faith."
The environment: We continue to work with our partners to craft legislation protecting the environment, monitoring the implementation of the Future Energy Jobs Act.
Race relations/prison ministry/ Black Lives Matter movement: This initiative figured hugely in our campaigns this year, as we partnered with Community Renewal Society of greater Chicago to effect change for people of color caught in the prison system. We successfully lobbied for initiatives easing the way for ex-offenders to return productively to society: expanding eligibility for sealing records, sealing records for non-violent youthful offenders, reducing cash bail for non-violent offenses to can-pay status, promoting "ban the box" in several venues controlling access to employment and higher education. We worked with our Chicago partners to design a process for independent oversight of police to prevent racial profiling and violence, a program reflected in state legislation as well.
Economic justice/income equality: We worked year-long with the Illinois Responsible Budget Coalition to urge Springfield to pass a budget, preventing the shut-down of vital services for our most vulnerable citizens. We finally got a budget, although funding for agencies supporting social justice was significantly curtailed. Fight for $15 minimum wage passed both houses, but was vetoed by the governor. We've been working on this since 2015. Work still to be done!
2016
The Environment: We continued to work closely with Clean Jobs Illinois to support the crafting of responsible Clean Power legislation. And at the end of the 99th Assembly, the Future Energy Jobs Act was passed and signed. A BIG WIN for UUANI and Illinois!
Economic justice/income inequality
We are supporting the Fair Tax, which was to be a referendum on the fall ballot calling for an emendation to the state constitution to mandate a graduated income tax. This did not happen, but will be part of the UUANI campaign for 2018, when the fall ballot is open again.
Race relations/prison ministry/Black Lives Matter movement
We supported clear legislation easing race relations involving people caught in the criminal justice system, including police profiling. Other issues concerned the abolition or transformation of the prison system
2015
60 leaders participated in our statewide gathering at DuPage UU Congregation with Jonah Holm.
The minimum wage referendum passed! But the legislature failed to enact it — however, we worked with a more successful campaign in Chicago to raise the minimum wage to $15 and that passed and was implemented. We began work on the third arm of our congregational mandate, to advocate for a cleaner environment and a responsible stewardship of the earth. We joined with Clean Jobs Illinois to support a bill developing the clean energy resources of air, wind, and water, aligned with a mandate to create jobs in the clean power sector and provide training. That bill languishes as the Illinois legislature fought most of the year about how to fund an increasingly deficit budget without raising taxes. We continue supporting a Fair Tax bill, spearheaded by Sen Don Harmon. We have aligned with Community Renewal Society, a faith-based organization working effectively for racial and economic justice by direct legislative advocacy.
2014
22 leaders from 11 congregations attended our first organizing workshop at the UU Church of Bloomington-Normal with Ryan Wallace from Community Renewal Society.
Congregations were canvassed to help UUANI identify issues to focus on, and that of economic injustice was chosen for 2014. We joined forces with Raise Illinois and its affiliates to campaign to raise the minimum wage in Illinois. Talking to legislators through the winter and converging on Springfield in the spring, we won the campaign on May 27 to put a referendum to raise the minimum wage on the Illinois ballot November 4, 2014.
2013
Our first effort was to add our voices to the campaign for marriage equality in Illinois, mobilizing over 300 UUs from 23 congregations for the March on Springfield for marriage Equality in October 2013. Our “Standing on the Side of Love” banners were visible throughout the crowd of thousands. Marriage Equality was won for Illinois on November 5, 2013.