Illinois State House District 44 issued the following announcement on June 1.
State Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, worked to provide much-needed stability and tax relief to middle-class families and seniors, and championed reforms to improve school safety, crack down on workplace harassment and ensure equal pay for equal work during the spring legislative session.
“In order to build a stronger Illinois, we must hold the line on middle class taxes and make it easier for families and seniors to receive much-needed tax relief,” Crespo said. “This session I worked to provide much-needed stability and relief to seniors by making it easier for them to receive their property tax exemptions. I also supported the Fair Tax to provide middle-class families with our district with relief and balance future budgets.”
Crespo worked tirelessly to provide tax relief to local seniors and middle-class families. He worked with Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi to make it easier for qualifying seniors to receive the Senior Citizen Homestead Exemption by allowing them to continue receiving much-needed relief without having to annually reapply for it. Crespo also held the line on middle class taxes and rejected a tax retirement income by supporting the Far Tax Amendment, a first step toward a fairer tax system that provides modest tax relief to 99.1% of local residents in his community.
Additionally, Crespo passed a balanced budget that controls spending and pays down old bills while investing in health care, services for seniors, and career training to prepare people for high-wage jobs. The budget keep Crespo’s commitment to education by providing $375 in new funding for local schools and boosts funding for financial aid to ensure college is accessible to all young people.
“By working together we were able to pass a budget that puts our state in firmer financial footing and provides millions in new funding to our local schools, all while providing modest tax relief to middle-class families and seniors in our communities,” Crespo said.
Crespo also worked to ensure the safety of children in our local schools by allowing school districts to develop threat assessment protocols and teams, as well as ensuring they are able to hire necessary personnel like resource officers and mental health professionals. He also worked with education advocates, schools administrators and teacher unions on Senate Bill 456, which ensures the safety of children by requiring schools to check sex offender and violent offender registries every five years for all personnel and bans schools from knowingly employing people who have been found to abuse or neglect children.
“Keeping schools safe and free of violence is critical to ensuring an open learning environment for our children,” Crespo said. “These initiatives will help keep children safe from senseless violence, and ensure school districts have the tools they need to combat educator misconduct and prevent the hiring of individuals with a criminal record.”
Crespo also worked to crack down on discriminatory practices that lock women into a lifetime of lower pay. He supported House Bill 834, which prohibits employers from requiring prospective employees to submit their salary history. Additionally, Crespo worked to combat workplace harassment by supporting House Bill 905, which creates a task force to work on developing model policies and best practices to keep workplaces safe, such as methods for anonymous reporting and protections from retaliation.
Original source can be found here.
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