Issues

Since taking office she has:

Introduced legislation to make Illinois a more resilient and energy-independent state by expanding access to and production of geothermal energy and hydropower.

Protected our frontline and fenceline communities by blocking the construction of gasification facilities –– notorious for emitting cancer-causing fumes –– and pushing for strengthened remediation of harmful coal and fly ash chemicals.

Worked to expand access to parks, trails, and greenspaces and preserve them for generations to come.

For the past 40 years, the rich have gotten richer, while the workers who keep Illinois running have fallen further and further behind. Senator Ventura understands the middle class squeeze because she grew up in a working class family and watched her mom juggle having to pay for student loans and putting herself through graduate school, all while raising a family.

Senator Ventura believes we need to create an economy that works for all of us, and that starts with leveling the playing field and making sure people’s needs are met, including:

Creating abundant housing options for every income level, where new residents and legacy residents can thrive and have the ability to age in place with dignity

Expanding access to college and dual credit opportunities for students

Closing tax loopholes for the rich and ensuring the wealthiest elites pay their fair share

Raising the minimum wage to an actual livable wage for workers

Senator Ventura has spearheaded an effort to expand access to broadband across the state by requiring the Broadband Advisory Council to conduct a feasibility study to determine best practices for expanding connection to all public schools, public libraries, and state-owned correctional facilities, as well as how to connect to remaining anchor institutions to the Illinois Century Network.

Senator Ventura has introduced legislation to expand protections against unlawful searches, and legislation to prioritize rehabilitation in juvenile detention centers. She has passed a measure that digitizes prison records, modernizing an outdated paper filing system and release process, and increasing efficiency in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

If a person has served their time, Senator Ventura believes they should have access to petition for parole. That is why she has introduced a bill focused on restoring parole in Illinois so that incarcerated persons don’t have to spend any additional time in prisons and taxpayer dollars aren’t being spent unnecessarily.

As a result many residents of this area are fed up with local, regional and state governments allowing this area to be turned into an unsafe and unlivable industrial zone. This proposed development would negatively impact our communities to the point that they would be unrecognizable if NorthPoint were to come through. Learn more about the project.

In response to the proposal for this industrial warehousing project, local residents joined together. The result is an unofficial grassroots effort led by concerned Will County residents who are united by the desire to stop NorthPoint Development’s proposed Compass Business Park.

Read More at and Get Involved! https://www.no2northpoint.com/

I support these Human Rights:

1. We are all free and equal. Freedom of thought and speech.

2. The right to life. We all have the right to life, and to live in freedom and safety.

3. We are all protected by the law. It must treat us all fairly. The right to trial. Fair treatment by fair courts. Innocent until proven guilty. No unfair detainment. Nobody has any right to harm us or to torture us.

4. Marriage and family. Every grown-up has the right to marry and have a family if they want to. A woman must have autonomy over her own body to choose if or when she will have a family.

5. The right to education. We all have the right to affordable housing, medicine, and child care, and enough money to live on. The right to social security.

6. Freedom to move. We all have the right to go where we want in our own country and to travel as we wish. The right to asylum. If we are frightened of being badly treated in our own country, we all have the right to run away to another country to be safe. The right to a nationality. We all have the right to belong to a country.

7. Workers’ rights. Every grown-up has the right to do a job, to a fair wage for their work, to safe working conditions, and to join a trade union.

8. The right to democracy. Every adult should be allowed to choose their own leaders. The right to privacy.

9. We all have the right to a good life. Parents and children, people who are old, unemployed or disabled, and all people have the right to be cared for.

10. Food, Shelter, clean water, fresh air, and healthcare.

It is past time to sign the Equals Rights Amendment and make sure women are paid an equal pay! Furthermore, we need to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act and reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. I will strongly oppose any actions to overturn Roe v. Wade.

To help end the epidemic of school-age suicides especially seen in the gay, lesbian and trans communities, we must provide mental health services via Medicare for All. I also support banning conversion therapy and passing the Equality Act, which would include sexual orientation and gender identity under federal non-discrimination statutes.