“The three most dangerous words in the English language are always, assume, and never.”

That’s how State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) introduced a bill on the House floor to give some people a second chance. School districts – prohibited from hiring those with certain minor offenses, even from long ago – would now at least be able to consider them for employment.

The bill, she says, “addresses a lifetime barrier to employment” because of youthful mistakes. Among those who would benefit, Cassidy says, would be a delivery driver whose company fired her after contracting with a school district.

State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton), while supporting the bill, railed against the University of Illinois’ employment of James Kilgore, “a known terrorist, a murderer, is still  educating our children.”

Kilgore served six years in prison for a 1975 crime that resulted in a death; the U. of I. only recently discovered this. Kilgore is a part-time instructor at the U. of I.

H.B. 494 passed the House, 66-47.