Issues
Read below the issues that Linda Holmes has tackled for the community since coming into office.
As a former small business owner, Linda Holmes has fought to create jobs, attract businesses to Illinois, and champion legislation to support small businesses. She sponsored a bill that created the Small Business Jobs Tax Credit, which encourages small businesses to hire new employees. She also cut through government red tape by expanding the state’s EDGE tax credit, encouraging more businesses to stay in Illinois and bring out-of-state companies to our State. She led the multi-year effort to legalize electronic notarization so small business owners have the tools they need to run efficiently.
Linda Holmes knows that we need to get Illinois’ finances in order. She passed legislation that would update the state’s outdated financial reporting systems, which currently jeopardize Illinois’ ability to receive much-needed federal funds and potentially hurt the state’s bond rating.
Linda Holmes knows that encouraging schools to utilize fresh, local produce improves the health of students and creates local economic activity. She sponsored a bill that creates a farm-to-school database to facilitate the purchase of fresh produce and food products of schools and encourages school districts to buy locally-grown products.
Senator Holmes has worked hard to improve education and supported important legislation, like Senate Bill 7, to become a law. This law reforms teacher hiring and tenure practices in order to ensure that good teachers stay in our classrooms and that they are not unfairly fired.
Linda Holmes is working to protect children against the threats of a changing world. She sponsored a law expanding sex offender registration requirements to crack down on predators who use the internet to prey on children and to create a cyber-crimes database to assist the Attorney General’s office in tracking websites used by sex offenders.
As State Senator, Linda sponsored a law to fight underage drinking and driving by taking away the driver’s license of underage drinkers and requiring safety education classes to include information on the consequences of drinking and driving.
Since first being diagnosed with MS, Linda has created a successful career with her own business and her public service. During that time she has also lived without insurance and had to fight for coverage. Linda believes that every person has a right to affordable and accessible health care. In Springfield she has voted to increase funding for prescription drug coverage and to include diseases like Autism and MS.
Linda also worked closely with former minority leader Tom Cross to pass legislation to expand stem cell research at Illinois universities and other research facilities while banning human cloning. The bill promotes cutting edge science through grants and requires the Illinois Department of Public Health to administer those grants.
Linda has worked to ensure our brave service men and women are taken care of when they return from fighting overseas. She cosponsored legislation that gives businesses incentives to hire unemployed veterans to transition them more easily back into civilian life and established Purple Heart Day in Illinois on August 7th of every year to honor and remember veterans who have been wounded or killed in battle.
As gas rates continue to rise, Linda continues to support biofuels that will offer alternatives to drivers, create jobs in Illinois and lower gas prices. A leader on alternative and renewable energy, she voted to require power companies to generate at least ten percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources.