Both houses of the Illinois General Assembly passed H.B. 4011 on Wednesday, a bill that would establish a $25 million Emergency Security Grant Program at the Illinois Emergency Management Agency for non-profit organizations that are increasingly targeted by terrorism.

The Jewish Federation worked hard to pass the bill during an advocacy mission to Springfield in May.

Assistant Majority Leader Rep. Lou Lang and Majority Caucus Whip Sen. Ira Silverstein led the charge, along with co-sponsors Reps. Ann M. Williams (Lakeview) and Stephanie A. Kifowit (Aurora) and Sens. Daniel Biss (Evanston) and Napoleon Harris III (Harvey).

Although the General Assembly approved the creation of the security grant program, its counterpart bill, H.B. 4012 , must also past in order to appropriate the $25 million to fill the program. If funded, the $25 million would be made available to at-risk agencies for improved security measures, such as beefing up on-staff security guards and re-designing capitol building structures.

In the spring, JUF launched its own security grant program to meet the needs of the community and their first round of grants were made earlier this month, totaling more than $422,000. A one-year grant of up to $50,000 per facility toward site-specific projects is applied by JUF.

H.B. 4011 now goes to the governor, who will need to sign it within the next 60 days.

For more information, contact JUF Associate Vice President of Government and Community Partnerships Suzanne Strassberger at [email protected] .