Saying the state lacks adequate information about Illinois’ recovering bobcat population, Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) has proposed a prohibition on trapping the animals and selling their pelts.

Senate Bill 2143, which passed out of a Senate committee on Thursday, does not repeal recently enacted state law that allows hunting of bobcats.

“If it was up to me, I would take bobcats off the list of animals that can be hunted in Illinois,” Harmon said. “But under this legislation, folks still can hunt bobcats in an effort to manage the population in a responsible and humane way. They just can’t trap them.”

Currently, bobcat pelts have a market price of about $35 in Illinois. Harmon said he is concerned that Illinois is creating a market for the pelts of an animal that not long ago was a threatened species here.

Gov. Bruce Rauner signed legislation in July 2015 allowing licensed hunters to kill one bobcat per season. The practice had been banned in Illinois for about 40 years because the population had dwindled. Bobcats were removed from the state’s threatened species list in 1999.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources estimates there are 3,000 bobcats in southern Illinois, 2,000 in western Illinois and 1,500 in other parts of the state. More precise figures and other data about the state’s bobcat population are unknown, though. The animals are nocturnal and reclusive.

“We don’t have the numbers, and we don’t have all the facts. Let’s slow down and not create a market for pelts of an animal whose population is still coming back,” Harmon said.

“If we’re going to kill animals, I would like for people to use all of the resources those animals provide. That’s the responsible thing to do. But it troubles me that bobcat hunting rules are rushed and without the benefit of having all the facts.

“Let’s not inadvertently create the incentives to hunt for sport only animals that were recently endangered and may still well be threatened.”

Fewer Illinois schoolchildren would start the school day hungry under legislation sponsored by Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park).

Senate Bill 2393 would require every public elementary, middle and high school with a student low-income rate of at least 70 percent to offer breakfast to students after the instructional day has begun. The legislation had unanimous support in the Senate Education Committee Tuesday and will head to the Senate floor for a vote.

Under the proposal, each school would be able to determine the Breakfast After the Bell model that suits its students, such as breakfast in the classroom, grab and go breakfast and second-chance breakfast. Schools that participate in the program are able to capture federal money to pay for the cost of offering these meals.

“It’s difficult to learn, let alone stay awake or pay attention if your stomach is growling from hunger,” Harmon said. “For many Illinois children, the unfortunate fact is that the best and sometimes the only meals they get each day are served at school.”

Yoga instructors would continue to be free from state government regulation under legislation sponsored by Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park).

Senate Bill 2743 exempts yoga instruction and yoga teacher training from state regulation as a trade, occupation, vocation or profession.

“Over-regulation of yoga training disproportionately would impact small, women-owned businesses and advantage large chain fitness clubs,” Harmon said. “That’s not good for business in Illinois.”

The Illinois Board of Higher Education has discretion in determining what types of programs and courses it considers to be occupational or vocational in nature. For example, IBHE regulates training for nurse aids, dental assistants, accountants and HVAC technicians, all of which clearly are vocations.

However, teaching yoga typically is a personal pursuit, not a profession or a career path, Harmon said, noting that the state does not regulate certain ballet, karate or pilates instruction.

Yet several yoga teacher training schools in Illinois recently were notified by IBHE that they are subject to state regulation for training programs and that they must obtain IBHE approval to operate in the state.

“Yoga has been practiced successfully for thousands of years without government regulation. I see no reason to intrude now,” Harmon said.

SB2743 unanimously passed out of the Senate’s Higher Education Committee and will head to the Senate floor for a full vote.

Illinois must continue to make poison prevention, treatment and education a priority, Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) said today.

Harmon, a longtime champion of the Illinois Poison Center, last week voted for Senate Bill 2059, which would appropriate $2 million for the center. The legislation also would appropriate money for other important public health programs, including AIDS/HIV services, breast and cervical cancer screenings, prostate cancer research, local health protection grants and more.

The poison center is among the 10 percent of state programs and services that are not receiving state funding during the budget stalemate; the other 90 percent of state operations are running on autopilot largely because of court orders, consent decrees and continuing appropriations.

“The Illinois Poison Center helps tens of thousands of residents and health care professionals every year. It is a vital component of the state’s public health network,” Harmon said. “Withholding state funding from it means lives potentially will be put in jeopardy as the state’s budget stalemate drags on.”

Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) joined members of the Illinois Senate Thursday in voting to authorize the governor to put money toward the state’s contractual obligations, higher education and more as the budget stalemate continues.

“Today we took action to fund colleges and human service providers, but also services and programs that matter locally,” Harmon said.

“These are the programs and services that are priorities in my district and in communities throughout Illinois. The governor should keep that in mind as he continues to try to leverage his anti-worker agenda, which is not a priority for most Illinoisans.”

The Senate approved legislation Thursday that authorizes Gov. Bruce Rauner to meet the state’s contractual obligations with human service providers and Amtrak rail service, pay for universities and colleges, and put money toward local libraries, rape crisis centers, autism programs, homelessness, after-school programs, school construction grants, job training, mental health services, medical screenings and research, local tourism and more.

As Gov. Rauner’s impasse with the Legislature over a state budget continues, human service providers statewide are closing their doors because the state has not paid them since July. The same is true for public universities around the state.

The legislation also includes money to support Illinois’ legacy by authorizing state money for the long-standing and nationally respected Papers of Abraham Lincoln historical research project, which was featured in a New York Times article Sunday because it has been ensnared in the governor’s political and ideological standoff with state lawmakers.