AURORA – With support from State Senator Linda Holmes, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity has announced the latest round of Back to Business grants awarded to businesses in the restaurant industry.

“The Back to Business grants have given a meaningful boost to our local restaurants during their post-pandemic recovery,” said Holmes (D-Aurora). “These grants have continued to help restaurants and other businesses rebuild and thrive after tough times during COVID-19.”

Young vloggers gain protections child actors achieved over past 80 years

SPRINGFIELD — Social media content has surged in the past decade, with many posts featuring influencers who promote themselves and commercial products on behalf of advertisers. Although a growing portion of that content features children, there were no laws protecting minors’ rights. Thanks to legislation led by State Senators Linda Holmes and Dave Koehler, Illinois is the first state to protect child influencers’ earnings.

“Our role as legislators is to ensure our labor laws reflect advances in technology and the economy, including the work of children and teens,” said Holmes (D-Aurora). “In this digital age, parents should not profit off their children’s work, as was established for film and television in the years before YouTube or TikTok existed.”

SPRINGFIELD – Growing and raising food for the nation is engrained in Illinois’ character, with a bountiful farming culture throughout the state. However, there are families all over Illinois who live with food insecurity every day. A measure sponsored by State Senator Linda Holmes that establishes a Farm to Food Bank Program to address that gap was signed into law today.

House Bill 2879 will address the food insecurity needs identified by a feasibility study conducted by multiple state agencies. This program will help provide nutritious food to expand the Illinois emergency food system and assist more than a million Illinois citizens.

SPRINGFIELD – Homeowners throughout Illinois have something in their basement or garage that should be discarded, but until now, there hasn’t been a means to get rid of it safely: unused household paint. Legislation sponsored by State Senator Linda Holmes that establishes a program to dispose of household paint was signed into law by the governor Friday.

The Paint Stewardship Act creates a process for consumers to dispose of household paint in Illinois. No state resources are in place today to deal with this waste. Under this law, manufacturers of architectural paint will create and submit a plan to the Illinois EPA to establish the program.

“It is exciting to offer this service to Illinoisans with old paint taking up space in their homes,” said Holmes (D-Aurora). “To get rid of it in an environmentally safe manner will give us an opportunity to make our state’s soil and water cleaner for our children and to safely produce our crops to feed the state and nation.”