County seeks to secede
An Illinois county wanting to leave the state and join Missouri has been denied. Jersey County, along with others in downstate Illinois, have been investigating ways to break the state into two pieces since the 2020 Presidential Election.
Jersey County issued a letter to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office to seek a formal opinion on whether a county could secede from the state and join another state. Attorney General Kwame Raoul said the state’s constitution does not provide a statutory procedure for the secession of counties.
State fines insurer
The Illinois Department of Insurance announced fines totaling nearly $232,000 for Health Care Service Corporation, the parent company of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, for violations of the Network Adequacy and Transparency Act.
The act requires health insurers to post up-to-date, accurate, and complete provider directory information. A statement from the company said the information noted in the order was corrected in May.
EV charger grants
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has announced the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act EV Charging Notice of Funding Opportunity for the purchase and installation of light-duty electric vehicle charging stations at publicly accessible locations.
This round is expected to fund 675 fast charging ports. Each application must include a minimum of two charging station locations, with at least two standalone chargers at each location.
