ROMEOVILLE— State Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant’s (D-Shorewood) final satellite office hours this summer will take place in Romeoville in September.

The Romeoville satellite office event will be held from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Thursday, September 17, at Romeoville Village Hall (1050 W. Romeo Road, Romeoville, 60446).

“Satellite office hours this summer have been successful, and my staff and I encourage community members to meet us at this event,” Bertino-Tarrant said.

Area residents are welcome to attend satellite office hours to discuss state government and community concerns.

Many services will also be provided. Residents can receive assistance with FOID card applications, food stamp issuance, health care, veteran or disability issues, Medicare paperwork, foreclosure prevention assistance and much more.

Bertino-Tarrant will also be holding satellite office hours this fall. More information can be found on her website.

Romeoville Satellite Office Hours

Date: Thursday, September 17

Time: 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Location: Romeoville Village Hall

1050 W. Romeo Road

Romeoville, 60446

SPRINGFIELD— Help could be on the way for college students under a plan State Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D-Shorewood) is supporting in the Illinois Senate.

Monetary Assistance Program (MAP) grants provide financial aid to qualified college students. However, since the governor vetoed MAP funding from the state’s budget, thousands of students could start the school year without needed aid.

Bertino-Tarrant wants to make sure that eligible students receive their MAP grants.

“Students who are pursuing a college education should not be hurt financially by the state’s budget impasse,” Bertino-Tarrant said.

More than 100,000 students who rely on MAP funding to afford their education will be returning to college campuses across Illinois in coming weeks.

The Senate intends on taking up a student aid budget today that will fund Map grants for the current year. The proposed MAP grant budget is at the same level the governor proposed earlier this year.

The legislation that includes funding for MAP grants is Senate Bill 2043.

SPRINGFIELD— Small businesses often face too much red tape when dealing with the state.

With HB 3887, which was signed into law today, State Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D-Shorewood) hopes to make that process as efficient as possible and help improve the state’s business climate.

“Small businesses are the backbone of our communities,” Bertino-Tarrant said. “This law is an important step in helping our business owners cut through the unnecessary red tape.”

HB 3887, which Bertino-Tarrant sponsored in the Senate, is designed to identify and eliminate state regulations that are unreasonable or overly burdensome to small businesses.

State agencies will now be required to complete an initial review of rules, regulations and processes related to small businesses within one year of the legislation becoming law. Subsequent reviews would take place every five years thereafter.

According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses employ 48 percent of the private-sector labor force in Illinois.

HB 3887 goes into effect on January 1 of next year.

SPRINGFIELD— Last year, in Georgia, an elderly man suffering from Alzheimer’s slipped away from his home in the middle of the night and wandered into a nearby neighborhood in the cold only to be shot dead when mistaken for an intruder.

And this year in Texas, an elderly man suffering from Alzheimer’s wandered away from his family’s home in the middle of the night in the midst of freezing temperatures. He was later found dead.

These are the tragic stories state Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D-Shorewood) worked to prevent through legislation she helped pass out of the Illinois Senate this year. Her plan, which was signed into law last Friday, allows law enforcement, Department on Aging and local law enforcement agencies to create a statewide awareness program to help locate individuals with Alzheimer’s and other cognitive diseases who go missing.

“Agencies will now have the best tools possible to locate individuals with Alzheimer’s,” said Bertino-Tarrant. “We have an obligation to get our family members back home safely.”

The Illinois Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association estimates more than 200,000 Illinois residents have Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias. Nearly one-third of those will likely wander off and the state currently doesn’t have an adequate system to alert the public.

Senate Bill 1846 goes into effect January 1 of next year.