Kam on the Issues

Kam is the son of a Chicago Public School teacher and a CPS graduate. He has aggressively advocated for equitable funding of public schools across Illinois. He authored HB 3917 which ensures that Chicago public schools with the most need receive the proper amount of funding. Kam delivered an elected Chicago School Board, because parents and our communities should have a say in our children’s schools—

not appointed political insiders.

He was the lead sponsor on the bill that put a moratorium on school closings in Chicago's most under-resourced communities. Kam is working to make college more affordable by protecting consumers from deceptive predatory loan practices and cracking down on student loan relief scams.

Kam has fought for fiscally and socially responsible budgets that focus on relief and recovery. Every year he has been in the General Assembly he has helped passed a balanced budget that pays off debt and saves for the future to put the state on more solid fiscal footing, while also investing in critical services like health care, education, senior care, and small business relief to rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic and move Illinois forward. Kam is working to help small businesses recover from COVID-19.

​

He worked to create new Back to Business grants for employers, invest in local economic redevelopment, waive fees on businesses hit hardest by the pandemic, and expand ways hospitality businesses can operate safely. Kam works closely with the tourism and hospitality industries to support and bolster their work as an economic engine in Illinois.

Kam has led on improving health care outcomes for all people by addressing implicit bias in care, correcting disparities in maternal and infant mortality, and expanding access to quality physical and mental health care. He was on the front line to stop the closing of Mercy hospital and to increase funding for safety net hospitals.

Kam was a lead sponsor and negotiator on the historical energy bill that will put our state on a path toward green energy with a deadline for carbon-free emissions, provide accountability from utitties to ratepayers and help our country build back better in a way that also prioritizes  communities that have long born the brunt of environmental injustice. He's fought against serial polluters who have contributed to unhealthy air.

Kam grew up in a law enforcement family and has tirelessly advocated for support for the women and men who serve and protect our communities. He also worked to pass landmark criminal justice reforms that highlighted accountability, created fairer bail and sentencing practices, bans chokeholds, and requires all police to wear body cameras. 

Kam authored and introduced House Bill 3932 which would create the Task Force on Missing and Murdered Chicago Women Act. Kam is fighting to protect victims of human trafficking by allowing survivors to access a statewide address confidentiality program to protect their privacy and safety.