Julie Hamos (born January 29, 1949) is a former Democratic member of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

, representing the 18th District from 1999 to 2010. Her district included

Rogers Park Rogers Park is the first of Chicago's 77 community areas. Located from the Loop, it is on the city's far north side on the shore of Lake Michigan. The neighborhood is commonly known for its cultural diversity, lush green public spaces, early ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and the suburbs of Evanston,

Wilmette Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan and Evanston, Illinois, it is located north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a population of 27,087 at the 2010 census. The ...

Kenilworth Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Warwick (district), Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, south-west of Coventry, north of Warwick and north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a ...

, Winnetka and Glencoe.

Early life

Born in

Budapest, Hungary Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population of ...

, the seven-year-old Julie, her brother and parents escaped at the height of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. She grew up in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. After receiving her law degree in 1975 from

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

, Hamos became the first staff attorney for a newly formed subcommittee of the powerful

U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means The Committee on Ways and Means is the chief tax-writing committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee has jurisdiction over all taxation, tariffs, and other revenue-raising measures, as well as a number of other program ...

. Later she became legislative and political action director for the

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is the largest trade union of public employees in the United States. It represents 1.3 million public sector employees and retirees, including health care workers, correcti ...

, working on policy issues affecting working men and women. From 1981 to 1984, Hamos served as legislative counsel and policy advisor to then-State's Attorney

Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh term ...

, advocating for the first-ever laws and policies on domestic violence and sexual assault. She was appointed in 1984 as director of the child support division, with oversight of 300,000 child support cases. In 1988, Hamos founded Julie E. Hamos & Associates, a public policy and community relations consulting firm. Hamos lives in Chicago with her husband, Alan J. Greiman, a retired

appellate court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

Illinois House of Representatives

20040712 01 Bill Lipinski, Steve Schlickman, Barack Obama, Julie Hamos (8183521427) (cropped)

In 1998, incumbent

Jan Schakowsky Janice Schakowsky ( ; née Danoff; born May 26, 1944) is an American politician who has served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from since 1999. She is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat ...

ran for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

in Illinois's 9th congressional district. Hamos was elected her successor. She took office December 31, 1998. In June 2004, Hamos was selected as a fellow at the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

for Senior Executives in State and Local Government.

Congressional campaign

In July 2009, Hamos declared her candidacy for the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

in Illinois’ 10th congressional district, but lost to Dan Seals in the Democratic primary in February 2010. In April 2010, she was appointed by Governor Pat Quinn to be the new director of the

Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS), formerly the Department of Public Aid, is the code department of the Illinois state government that is responsible for providing healthcare coverage for adults and children who qua ...

, the agency that oversees the Illinois Medicaid program.

Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services

Hamos led the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) until January 9, 2015, when she resigned before incoming, newly elected governor

Bruce Rauner Bruce Vincent Rauner (; born February 18, 1956) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who served as the 42nd governor of Illinois from 2015 to 2019. Prior to his election, he was the chairman of R8 Capital Partners and chai ...

took office. During her tenure at HFS—Illinois' largest state agency—she guided the expansion of managed care in the Illinois Medicaid program, the expansion of coverage under President Barack Obama's health care law and upgraded technology systems. She also implemented child support initiatives "such as working with fathers on parenting, making child support information available on cell phone and intercepting gambling winnings at casinos."

References

External links

Illinois General Assembly - Representative Julie Hamos (D) 18th District
''official IL House website''
BillsCommittees
* *''Follow the Money'' - Julie Hamos
200820062004200220001998
campaign contributions

profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamos, Julie 1949 births Living people American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent George Washington University Law School alumni Hungarian emigrants to the United States Hungarian Jews Jewish American state legislators in Illinois Harvard Kennedy School staff Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives Women state legislators in Illinois 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees people Candidates in the 2010 United States elections 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians