State Reports

Items listed under State Reports have been received by the Documents Unit, Illinois State Library, Springfield, and are usually available from public libraries in the state through inter-library loan. Issuing agencies may have copies available. For items listed under Other Reports, write to the publisher as noted.

State Reports

• Law Enforcement and the Disabled, Senior Citizens, Human Resources and Veterans Department, Office of the Secretary of State, Rm. 450, Centennial Bldg., Springfield 62756 (July 1989), 40 pp. plus 30-page study guide and test questions.

This training program for police officers contains sections on persons with mental illness, hearing impairments, visual impairments, mental retardation, mobility impairments and epilepsy. The material is designed to provide an understanding of each disability and to establish guidelines on how to interact with persons who are disabled.

General readers may also wish to refer to another publication from the same office. Your Encounter with the Disabled: A Resource Manual on Disabilities, which offers similar information on these six categories of disability for the average citizen.

• Parent to Parent: A Guide for Parents of Children with Special Needs, Senior Citizens, Human Resources and Veterans Department, Office of the Secretary of State, Rm. 450, Centennial BIdg., Springfield 62756 (April 1989), 48pp.

This resource guide lists support groups and professional agencies by county as well as statewide advocacy and service provider agencies. It also contains a list of toll-free numbers and a suggested reading list. Another useful publication from this office is A Guide to Services for Persons with Disabilities, which lists local service-providing agencies by county.

Other Reports

• "An Economic Perspective of Illinois' Labor Force Dynamics," Policy Forum, by Cheng H. Chiang, Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois, 1201 W. Nevada, Urbana 61801 (Vol. 2, No. 1, 1989), 4 pp.

According to the author, state demographer for the Illinois Bureau of the Budget, "Illinois' labor force in the 1980s can be characterized as slow growing, with declining numbers of young workers, reduced dominance by men and increasingly nonwhite." The policy implications of such changes are many and complex. For instance, the change in the age structure of the labor force will affect the state's tax revenues, the decline in the number of teenagers in the labor force will ease somewhat the unemployment level, and the faster growth in the labor force among nonwhites may force policymakers to look seriously at social and economic equality issues. Decisionmakers in both government and business and industry, as well as workers present and future, need to be aware of these important data.

Anna J. Merritt

Proof of insurance The new year brought with it a requirement that Illinois motorists carry liability insurance on their vehicles. State lawmakers approved mandatory insurance in 1988, bringing Illinois in line with 40 other states and the District of Columbia. Lawmakers sided with citizens, whom public polling indicated favored the measure, and against insurance companies who opposed it. Secy. of State Jim Edgar championed the measure. Estimates were that 5 million Illinois vehicle owners had carried liability insurance and another 2 million had not. Now everyone must or face a $500 fine, loss of registration for two months and a $50 reinstatement fee to reregister the vehicle. The minimum insurance specified in the law provides up to $20,000 in coverage for injury or death to any one person, up to $40,000 for injury or death to all victims and $15,000 for property damage caused by a negligent driver. Motorists are required to carry an insurance card in each vehicle and will be asked to produce the card when stopped for traffic checks or involved in accidents. Edgar's office will also run periodic random checks of motorists. Edgar has added 35 employees with a budget of $1 million to operate the program and expects to cover his costs with the reinstatement fees. At the same time Edgar has embarked upon an education campaign to alert motorists to the new law. He has run a $50,000 campaign that included billboards, brochures, posters and radio and television announcements. And on December 1 he kicked off a series of eight press conferences to draw media attention to the issue. Edgar called it an issue of fairness: "The 5 million responsible motorists in this state are tired of footing the bill for thousands of accidents they don't cause." Michael D. Klemens

January 1990/Illinois Issues/38