Toi Hutchinson
Toi has earned a reputation as a highly effective and well-regarded public servant. On November 3, 2019, she resigned her office as State Senator for the 40th Legislative District, a mix of suburban and rural communities south of Chicago, which she admirably served since 2009. In her new role, Toi has joined the Pritzker administration to oversee Illinois’ new recreational cannabis program, an initiative she helped move through the Senate during the 2019 General Assembly. Her most distinguishable legislative achievements include:
- Passing legislation to safeguard pregnant women in the workplace from discrimination.
- Overhauling Illinois’ tax system by passing legislation to create a graduated tax rate, reducing tax burdens for 97 percent of Illinois taxpayers.
- Playing a key role in crafting legislation to legalize adult-use cannabis in Illinois.
- Passing legislation to increase the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), allowing working families to keep more of their hard-earned money.
- Passing legislation giving Illinois farmers the ability to cultivate industrial hemp.
- Passing legislation to allow sex trafficking victims to seal court records.
Toi is the immediate past President of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), a bipartisan non-governmental organization that serves 7,383 legislators across 99 chambers and over 25,000 legislative staff serving all 50 states. She earned a Bachelor of English degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a law degree from Northern Illinois University College of Law. However, Toi’s most cherished role is being a wife to Paul and mother to their three children–Paul Jr., Camryn. and Ryan.
