The Illinois Senate Wednesday agreed the state should continue and expand a tax credit for employers who hire ex-offenders.
Under the measure, an employer would be able to claim a tax credit up to $1,500 for wages paid to someone who has been con-victed of any crime, other than a person required to register as a sex offender.
To qualify for the tax credit, the employer would have to hire the ex-offender within three years after the ex-offender was re-leased from an Illinois adult correctional center.
Illinois has had a such tax credit since 2006, but it only gave employers a tax credit up to $600 and only applied to employment of first-time, nonviolent ex-offenders hired within one year of being released.