Chicago City Wire

A new bill authored by State Rep. Smith in the Illinois House seeks to establish a legislative scholarship task force to oversee scholarship awards for eligible students at public universities in Illinois, according to the Illinois State House.

The bill, introduced as HB4059 on May 20, 2025, during the general assembly session 104, was summarized by the state legislature as follows: "Amends the Higher Education Student Assistance Act. Creates a legislative scholarship task force to receive and consider applications for scholarship assistance. Requires the task force to receive and consider nominations for scholarship assistance, with a total of 8 scholarships per representative district to be awarded each year. Provides that a nominee is eligible for a scholarship if the task force finds that the nominee meets certain qualifications, including that he or she is a resident of the representative district for which a scholarship is to be awarded and that he or she is enrolled or accepted for enrollment at a public university in this State. Provides that legislative scholarships are good for a period of not more than one year while enrolled for residence credit, are applicable toward 2 semesters of enrollment within an academic year, and exempt the holder from the payment of tuition and fees. Sets forth provisions concerning application for a scholarship and renewals."

The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.

In essence, this bill amends the Higher Education Student Assistance Act by establishing a legislative scholarship task force to manage scholarship applications. Starting in the 2026-27 academic year, the task force will award eight scholarships annually per representative district in Illinois. Eligible nominees must be U.S. citizens or eligible noncitizens, residents of their representative district, and enrolled or accepted at a public university in Illinois. Scholarships waive tuition and certain fees for up to one year, covering two semesters, but do not exempt other fees like book rental or union building fees. Renewals are possible for recipients who maintain eligibility and satisfactory academic progress, with a maximum of eight semesters of assistance available.

Smith has proposed another six bills since the beginning of the 104th session.

Bills in Illinois follow a multi-step legislative process, beginning with introduction in either the House or Senate, followed by committee review, floor debates, and votes in both chambers before reaching the governor for approval or veto. The General Assembly operates on a biennial schedule, and while typically thousands of bills are introduced each session, only a fraction successfully pass through the process to become law.

You can read more about bills and other measures here.

Smith graduated from Chicago State University in 2000 with a BS.

Smith, a Democrat, was elected to the Illinois State House in 2018 to represent the state's 34th House District, replacing previous state representative Elgie R. Sims, Jr..

Bill Number	Date Introduced	Short Description
HB4059	05/20/2025	Amends the Higher Education Student Assistance Act. Creates a legislative scholarship task force to receive and consider applications for scholarship assistance. Requires the task force to receive and consider nominations for scholarship assistance, with a total of 8 scholarships per representative district to be awarded each year. Provides that a nominee is eligible for a scholarship if the task force finds that the nominee meets certain qualifications, including that he or she is a resident of the representative district for which a scholarship is to be awarded and that he or she is enrolled or accepted for enrollment at a public university in this State. Provides that legislative scholarships are good for a period of not more than one year while enrolled for residence credit, are applicable toward 2 semesters of enrollment within an academic year, and exempt the holder from the payment of tuition and fees. Sets forth provisions concerning application for a scholarship and renewals.
HB3108	02/06/2025	Amends the Ticket Sale and Resale Act. Provides that a ticket seller or ticket reseller shall display the full price of a ticket, including all assessed fees, to a consumer when the price of a ticket is first shown to the consumer and shall not increase that price during the transaction with the consumer. Provides that a ticket reseller shall not sell or offer to sell a ticket that the ticket reseller does not possess or have a contract to purchase. Provides that a ticket resale marketplace shall not include the name of an artist, team, or ticket issuer in a URL of a website operated by the ticket resale marketplace unless authorized. Provides that a ticket issuer shall deliver a ticket purchased directly from the ticket issuer within 4 days after purchase unless otherwise clearly and conspicuously disclosed at the time of sale. Provides that a ticket issuer shall disclose the number of tickets for an event that are withheld from sale any time it offers tickets for that event for sale. Defines terms. Makes conforming changes.
HB3290	02/06/2025	Amends the Environmental Protection Act. In a provision concerning the conditions for payment from the Underground Storage Tank Fund, provides that, in the case of any approved plan and budget for which payment is being sought, the Environmental Protection Agency shall make a payment determination within 120 days of receipt of both the complete application for payment and the report documenting completion of the activities approved in the plan, whichever is received later (rather than within 120 days after receipt of the application). Provides that, for underground storage tank releases reported before June 8, 2010, an owner or operator may access the Underground Storage Tank Fund for costs that are associated with an Agency-approved plan and that are incurred after the effective date of the amendatory Act after application of a $10,000 deductible (now, other deductibles are owed in some circumstances). Provides that the deductible shall be reduced by any deductible amount applied to costs incurred before the effective date of the amendatory Act.
HB2793	02/05/2025	Amends the School Code. Provides that, on and after September 1, 2026, all teacher evaluation ratings on record as "excellent", "proficient", or "needs improvement" are considered "effective" and all teacher evaluation ratings on record as "unsatisfactory" are considered "ineffective" for the purposes of the Employment of Teachers Article. Makes other changes concerning the waiver or modification of mandates; school report cards; license suspension or revocation; contractual continued service; removal or dismissal of teachers; an optional alternative evaluative dismissal process; the content of evaluation plans; the appointment and promotion of teachers in Chicago; and alternative procedures for teacher evaluation, remediation, and removal in Chicago. Effective immediately.
HB1758	01/24/2025	Amends the State Property Control Act. In a provision concerning submission of an Annual Real Property Utilization Report, changes the due date for the Report from July 31 to August 31 of each year.
HB1371	01/15/2025	Amends the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that, if a Public Act transfers State real property to a municipality for nominal consideration and the Public Act requires the property to be used for "public purposes" without defining that term, "public purposes" means any lawful purposes when used in a Public Act with an effective date prior to, on, or after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Makes conforming changes to a Division heading.
HB1376	01/15/2025	Appropriates $6,000,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Human Services for a grant to the Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago for costs associated with funding equitable mortgage lending, homeownership rehabilitation and development, and homebuyer subsidies and support. Effective July 1, 2025.