Hyde Park-Kenwood state Representative Kambium “Kam” Buckner (D-26th) just wrapped up the spring legislative session, sponsoring bills that improve roads for pedestrians and cyclists and measures that reform the property tax system. 

“I came into this session after my failed attempt at the mayor’s race, really looking at the things I had learned on that campaign, and trying to commit to finding more ways for Chicago and Springfield to work together,” Buckner said. In the February 28 municipal election, Buckner placed eighth out of nine candidates, earning 2% of the vote. He told the Herald the campaign trail made him double down on his commitment to make sure the budget reflects the needs of the community and to bring property tax relief to Illinois residents.

Buckner said that this session felt like the first “normal session” he’s seen since 2019, the year he was elected to the General Assembly. “Covid-19 happened in 2020, and we were not in the Capitol,” he said. “When we did get back in the Capitol, for the last couple of years, lobbyists weren’t there, constituents weren’t in the hallways.” 

Now that they’ve returned, he said, “the energy was a lot more palpable.” 

Among one of Buckner’s biggest legislative achievement’s this session was a property tax measure he sponsored that would reform the state’s system for selling delinquent property taxes. The measure is backed by the Cook County treasurer’s office 

“People are losing their homes because they have not been able to pay their property taxes, and out of state buyer(s) come in and buy the taxes up from under a family. Then they own the home, but they often never try to put money back in the home. And often they use loopholes to back out of those purchases,” Buckner said. “So many of our communities in South Shore and Woodlawn, are two really good examples, where investment has slowed down, development has slowed down.”

The measure aims “to try to find an easier way to make that people can get back in their homes, and not have these unscrupulous tax buyers sitting on these properties, and once again denying development in the community,” Buckner said.  

The General Assembly passed a $50 billion budget on May 26, during which Buckner said he “carried the transportation omnibus, which does a lot of things, but hopefully will improve service, and improve the way that RTA is governed.”

“It makes Chicago the first large city in the country to have a legislated edict on electrification of buses — that’s such a big deal and I’m super proud of that work.” 

The state’s budget also allocates funds towards making childcare and preschool available to every 3- and 4-year-old, homelessness prevention and for public universities and community colleges. 

“Things were going to be different this year because the federal funds have begun to dry up, and we know that the state had a bit of a budget gap,” Buckner said. “At the end of the day, I’m really congratulatory and laudatory about what we were able to do.” 

Regarding transportation, several bills introduced by Buckner this year, including HB3530, HB3649 and HB4447, would make roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists. The bills lower the default speed limit, allow bikers to not make a complete stop at stop signs and create a rebate for people purchasing electric bikes. “That really was spurred by the deaths of three young Chicagoans during my mayoral campaign,” Buckner said. He noted Elizabeth Grace “Lily” Shambrook, Raphael “Rafi” Cardenas and Ja’Lon James, all bikers under the age of 8 who were killed by automobiles.”

“As I went to vigils and talked to people about them and their lives, (I) looked at how dangerous it has become for young Chicagons just to try to traverse the city on their bicycle, something that I did a lot as a kid,” he said. “To think that our young people aren’t able to move around without having to meet the ultimate fate, I wanted to do something about that.” 

Other bills he worked on this session strengthen reproductive rights and gender affirming care, address gun violence and move to hold off on standardized testing for young Illinoisans.

House Bill (HB) 4664, which he co-sponsored, is a reproductive rights and gender affirming care omnibus bill that protects health care providers and their patients from legal attacks by neighboring states, shielding them from criminal discovery and extraditions, and expands healthcare access and options in Illinois. For example, it guarantees that abortion medications, PEP/PrEP and gender affirming care are covered by insurers at no extra cost within Illinois and ensures a patient’s ability to receive hormonal birth control over the counter from a pharmacist. The act also strengthens protections for families using assisted reproductive treatments like IVF or surrogacy. The bill passed both houses and was signed into law by Governor J.B. Pritzer on January 13. 

Another bill Buckner co-sponsored, HB9, removes the requirement that anyone undergoing a gender transition get a new birth certificate with the State Registrar of Vital Records. It was signed into law on February 17. 

“We have to take out barriers that make it difficult for people to live their truths,” he said.  

HR1043, a resolution which “urges the General Assembly to address gun violence in Illinois through comprehensive policy change and support proper appropriations for victim services,” which Buckner also co-sponsored, was adopted by the House on January 10. 

Buckner noted that last year, he was able to introduce a bill, HB4757, that banned unserialized and untraceable ghost guns, and this year he was proud to co-sponsor the assault weapons ban and a bill that will create civil liability in Illinois for gun manufacturers. “We talk about so many facets of gun violence prevention, but we never talk about the economics of it. And there are folks who are getting filthy rich off of the carnage on our streets,” he said. 

HB5285, which Buckner sponsored and which prevents the State Board of Education from standardizing assessments for students in pre-kindergarten through second grade except for diagnostic purposes, was signed into law on February 10. “Let’s give our young people a chance to build their foundation and build their base,” he said. “Let’s not burden them with these standardized tests, where these companies from out of town are making a bunch of money to test our kids and say that something’s wrong with them.” 

SB208, sponsored by Buckner and signed into law on March 13, amends the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program which changed the act to apply to all “small employers” with at least one employee and introduced penalties for employers who fail to enroll employees in the program. 

HB45, which was signed into law on February 10 and sponsored by Buckner, amends the election code concerning the verification of voter signatures, and ensures that each political party, candidate and civic organization may have one poll watcher present at each location where mail-in vote ballots are processed.  

In other work, Buckner added, “Both Sen. Peters and I carried a bill (HB3259) that would increase youth employment by allocating, we asked for $300 million dollars. So the bill started the conversation about the budget, what it would look like.” He noted that they did end up getting $200 million in the budget for youth employment projects. 

Until the next session starts up this fall, Buckner said he is aiming to be “very present in the community … just listening to what people are saying. I usually pull together my agenda for each session based on what people are telling me, and what I’m hearing from people around the district.” 

He said “this year was not about quantity when it came to legislation, it was about quality. It was about making sure that the things that we passed, the things that I worked on, were going to be change agents.”