Annual Policy Advocacy Summary - Legal Action Chicago

Below are annual summaries of our policy advocacy work. We work with legislators who create budgets, draft, amend, and repeal laws. We help craft and improve policies that affect people who are living in poverty. We focus most of our policy efforts on working with lawmakers in Chicago, Cook County and Springfield and remain active in Washington, D.C.

We also work to ensure that well-intentioned policies are effectively implemented through regulations and procedures, so that these policies provide real assistance to the intended recipients. Legal Action monitors public comment opportunities on state rulemaking and other state administrative actions, while coordinating our advocacy with community- and policy-oriented partners.

A summary of Legal Action’s activity in the 2022 General Assembly session is available here. In addition:
- Legal Action continued its regulatory advocacy in Illinois and in Washington D.C. In September 2022, with the support of the National Consumer Law Center, Illinois’ Citizens Utility Board, and Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI), Legal Action submitted comments on draft regulations that will exempt low-income utility customers from security deposit requirements and having to pay late fees. You can read Legal Action’s comments here.
- In September 2022, Legal Action also submitted a comment to the Federal Trade Commission about newly-proposed auto lending regulations, advocating for strong federal protections against predatory lenders who use vehicle “kill switch” devices in collections. You can read Legal Action’s submitted comment here.
- An obscure provision in Chicago’s latest city budget has undone a legal catch-22 that unfairly limited access to a city-run program that helped people with their utility bills.
  - The catch-22? Low-income homeowners used to face an impossible contradiction: to record a deed, people were required to pay off their utility bills, but the city program that helped them do just that required a recorded deed as proof of homeownership. This meant individuals who otherwise qualified for city financial support would slip through the cracks and risk losing their home. Now, more Chicagoans will be able to qualify for benefits under the program and officially own their homes.
  - Advocacy by Legal Action Chicago and Alderman Matt Martin resulted in another victory for low-income homeowners. City council passed an ordinance allowing homeowners who obtain their properties through domestic relations court settlements and inheritances to obtain a “full payment certificate”—a document required to enroll in the utility relief program and, incidentally, record a deed.
We began to take positions on and advance legislation in January 2021. A summary of Legal Action’s activity in the 2021 General Assembly session is available here.
- Legal Action coordinated and submitted official comments on federal proposed regulations to stabilize and improve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. This effort is described on our Community Engagement page.
- Legal Action submitted comments addressing the state’s rollout of the Low Income Household Water Assistance Program and—together with the Shriver Center and other partners—the state’s implementation of minimum wage protections for domestic workers.