A longtime African-American state legislator is making history just as Democrats are set to begin a historic era of dominance in Springfield.
State Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-4th) was recently named Senate majority leader, making her the first African-American female to hold the position and among the highest-ranking elected officials in state governance.
The Jan. 9 appointment also solidifies what may have already been the case — Lightford, whose district includes all of North Riverside and all of Brookfield north of 31st Street, is arguably the most powerful black elected official in Illinois not named Preckwinkle.
Before stepping into her new role, Lightford, who was first elected to the Senate in 1998 while she was a Maywood village trustee, was a longtime assistant majority leader. Earlier this month, she was recently re-elected to head the powerful Illinois Legislative Black Caucus
With Democrats holding supermajorities in both the Illinois House and Senate, along with the governor’s office, Lightford is poised to wield significant influence in a time of perhaps unprecedented Democratic power in Springfield.
“We have to figure out how to generate revenue,” Lightford said in Jan. 13 interview. “We’re discussing a capital bill, minimum wage legislation that I introduced, fixing the pension system and paying down a lot of old debt.”
Lightford said that the Democrats will also focus on rectifying what had become a crisis of mass proportions in the state that hit lower-income communities the hardest — that of late payments to childcare providers.
The state has historically been late paying out money owed to childcare providers, but the problem only worsened under Gov. Bruce Rauner, Lightford said.
Before Rauner, she said, the state took between 90 and 100 days to pay childcare providers. When Rauner came into office, she said, “That number grew to over 365 days.”
The new senate majority leader said that the state is already making headway into speeding up those deferred payments. She said that Comptroller Susana Mendoza had already started to make payments that the former comptroller, Leslie Munger, had been withholding.
The fundamental issue, however, is that the state must start generating revenue in order to pay down its debts, Lightford said, adding that Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s approach to revenue growth includes taxing a range of previously untaxed or even non-existent revenue streams like legalized medical and recreational marijuana.
Lightford recently drafted a bill that would allow residents to remove low-level marijuana convictions from their record, if they get a judge’s permission. Lightford said that the Senate was unable to address the bill during its short lame duck session.
“Hopefully, we’ll have more support and understanding as it moves through the chamber,” she said.
Despite her new position, Lightford said she doesn’t necessarily feel that she’s reached her pinnacle.
“I don’t know that I’ve reached a pinnacle that would cause me to stop grinding for communities in need,” she said. “To be present at the table, where decisions are being made, is so important. It’s important that we make sure the voices of the vulnerable and the voices of those in diverse groups, in particular those in the African community, are heard.”
