A press release from State Rep. Mike Tryon:
Veterans Initiatives Top Tryon 2016 Legislative Agenda
CRYSTAL LAKE….. State Representative Mike Tryon (R-Crystal Lake) is not sitting idle during his final months in the Illinois General Assembly.
For his final year, Tryon has filed 15 new bills, two House Joint Resolutions, and has signed on as the Chief Co-Sponsor of six other pieces of legislation.
“There are still some important initiatives that I would like to accomplish for the people of the 66th Legislative District before I retire,” said Tryon, who is serving his 12th year in the House of Representatives.
“The bills I filed this year are reflective of the issues and concerns that have been brought to my attention by my constituents, and I am pleased to bring their ideas forward in the form of legislation.”
In response to a returning service member being told he could not enroll as a freshman student at the University of Illinois-Chicago starting in the January term, Representative Tryon filed HB 462, which would require the governing boards of all public universities to establish an admissions process that allows honorably discharged veterans to begin college as a freshman student mid-year.
“These men and women answered a call of duty to serve their country, and I was quite surprised to find out that the University of Illinois in both Champaign-Urbana and in Chicago have policies in place that require freshmen students to start school only in the fall term,” said Tryon.
“I asked both schools to alter their policy, and neither would, so I will fix the problem legislatively.”
In a second initiative aimed at supporting veterans, Tryon will attempt to expand a Veterans and Service Members Treatment Court that has been very successful in some Illinois counties, including Cook.
“In 2010 I successfully passed the nation’s first veterans court that provided Veterans facing non-violent criminal charges while suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and other service-related disabilities with a therapeutic sentence rather than a criminal one,” Tryon said.
“Recent studies indicate that about 40% of combat veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars have been, or will be, diagnosed with a PTSD, traumatic brain injury, clinical depression or other related challenges. In turn, these issues can sometimes lead to criminal activity. Veterans courts enable the criminal justice system to re-connect troubled veterans with a social network of friends and therapists who can help them overcome service-related problems.” HJR 0044 encourages the creation of these Veterans and Service Members Treatment Courts in all Illinois counties.
Another key bill filed by Tryon this year addresses an issue specific to the McHenry County Board’s taxing authority over the county-operated Valley Hi Nursing Home.
Existing tax law prohibited the county board from recently taking the tax rate down to zero for an extended period of time to allow for a reduction in surplus funds for the nursing home.
HB 4958 allows a taxing district to specify a period of time during which it will suspend its extension for nursing home purposes, allowing for better temporary management of tax rates and tax collections.
Other bills included in Tryon’s 2016 agenda focus on consumer, taxpayer and environmental protection. A full list of Tryon’s bills for the 99th General Assembly (2015-2016) can be found here.