TINLEY PARK – Legislation proposed by State Senator Michael Hastings (D-Tinley Park) to extend the statute of limitations for crimes committed in the course of committing a sexual offense passed the Illinois Senate with unanimous support on Thursday."This bill is a step in the right direction to ensure that those who commit sexual offenses are punished for all of their associated crimes," Hastings said. "With the bill having passed with unanimous bi-partisan support in the Senate, I am very confident it will draw similar support in the House."

Hastings' proposal gives prosecutors more time to charge an individual for committing armed robbery, home invasion, kidnapping or aggravated kidnapping in the course of committing a sexual offense.

Under current law, an offender can only be prosecuted for one of those crimes within 3 years of the offense. Senator Hastings' bill increases the time period for prosecuting those crimes to 10 years.

Moreover, it provides that if the victim of the sexual offense is under 18 at the time of the offense the offender may be prosecuted at any time for additional crimes committed during the act.

The bill passed the Senate by a 51-0 vote and now goes to the House for consideration.

TINLEY PARK – State Senator Michael Hastings (D-Tinley Park) is sponsoring legislation that focuses the attention on youth suicide awareness and prevention. The measure would require the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to develop a model suicide awareness and prevention policy, which would then be adopted by all the school districts in the state.

The measure is intended to raise universal awareness for youth suicide and to prevent these unfortunate events from happening again. Hastings brought this legislation as a result of a local event.

"Ann Marie Blaha was a shining light in our community. She was a nice, 11 year old girl with a great family involved in our community," Hastings said. "Unfortunately she committed suicide and as a result her great parents have made it their mission to prevent other parents from having to go through this."

TINLEY PARK – State Senator Michael Hastings (D-Tinley Park) proposed legislation which would extend the statute of limitations for crimes committed in the course of committing a sexual offense.

"It is imperative to make sure that those who commit sexual offenses are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for all of the crimes involved with the offense," Hastings said. "Home invasions, burglaries and kidnappings are all very serious crimes. Letting someone off the hook because a given amount of time has gone by demeans the effectiveness of our judicial system."

Hastings' proposal would give prosecutors more time to charge an individual for committing armed robbery, home invasion, kidnapping or aggravated kidnapping in the course of committing a sexual offense.

On April 2, State Senator Michael Hastings (D–Tinley Park) met with other members of the Illinois Discharged Servicemember Task Force and representatives from the Department of Veterans Affairs for a roundtable discussion focused on challenges faced by the veteran community.

The purpose of the discussion was to develop guidelines for legislation that will lead to increased opportunities for veterans relating to employment, education and entrepreneurship. The group focused on ways to expand college training programs, tax incentives and government contracts for veteran-owned businesses as well as updating state licensing requirements for veterans utilizing military experience.

“As the Federal Government continues to scale back the number of troops overseas, we are starting to see a greater number of post 9/11 veterans transition back to civilian life,” Hastings said. “This task force was created to focus state and private resources in assisting with that transition.”

Created in 2011, the Returning Veterans Task Force consists of members from specified veterans' organizations tasked with developing policy guidelines as well as coordinating efforts to open doors for returning veterans who have sacrificed for our nation.