ELGIN – Senator Cristina Castro (D-Elgin) issued the following statement in response to the governor’s press conference at the Illinois Veterans Home at Quincy today:

“What is this guy talking about? Everything he said today was a contradiction of what we were told last week by his administration.”

“Last week we were told the nearby nursing home might not be option for housing veterans because the building is old and might have its own problems. Today we’re told it’s back on the table.

CHICAGO – State Senator Cristina Castro (D-Elgin) is continuing to ask questions and seek answers regarding the Legionnaires’ disease epidemic at the Illinois Veterans Home at Quincy.

The joint House-Senate Veterans Affairs Committee met today in Chicago to question key Rauner officials on their response to the ongoing outbreak.

SPRINGFIELD – Senator Cristina Castro (D-Elgin) is sponsoring Senate Bill 2577 to ensure that out-of-state retailers selling to Illinois residents are held as responsible as in-state businesses.

Senate Bill 2577 would establish guidelines for what constitutes an in-state business in regard to retailers that are not physically located in Illinois, but that sell to Illinois consumers. The measure would only consider outside retailers as maintaining an in-state business if they make more than $150,000 from Illinois consumers or if there are over 200 transactions by purchasers from Illinois.

SPRINGFIELD – Today, Governor Rauner addressed the General Assembly to explain his proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2019. State Senator Cristina Castro (D-Elgin) released the following response:

“The governor isn’t budgeting for results,” said Castro. “What Governor Rauner presents on paper is never the true reality of our situation: that we have over $9 billion in unpaid bills and no real plan for paying it off. He says he wants to roll back taxes, increase education funding and invest in human services, but his budget does the opposite.