On Monday, the members of the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus unanimously elected State Senator Martin Sandoval to serve as the Caucus Co-Chair. In this role, Sandoval will help steer the ILLC’s legislative priorities. “I am grateful to my Latino Caucus colleagues for entrusting me with this new responsibility,” Sandoval said. “As we look ahead to the 100th General Assembly, great challenges loom. We will need to contend with a budget stalemate and a President who has displayed appalling hostility toward the Hispanic community. More than ever, the ILLC must be united, determined, and strategic in its efforts to improve educational outcomes, expand economic opportunity, and ensure our communities public safety. I am eager to tackle these and other matters with my fellow Caucus members. I thank outgoing ILLC Co-Chairs Senator Iris Martinez and Representative Lisa Hernandez for their leadership, and I look forward to working with incoming Co-Chair Representative Fred Crespo to advance our Caucus’ goals.” The son of Mexican immigrants, Sandoval has more than 30 years of leadership experience at the highest levels of state, county and federal government. He was the first Latino senator to be appointed as the chairman of the committee on Commerce and Economic Development and currently serves as the Chairman of the Illinois Senate Transportation Committee. Sandoval created the first joint committee on immigration in the Illinois Senate, where he also served as Chairman. The function of the Caucus is to serve as a forum for the Latino Members of the Illinois General Assembly to coalesce around a collective legislative agenda.