2024 State Legislative Review
State Legislative Review- Thanks for your efforts!
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The Illinois General Assembly adjourned its Spring Session in the early hours of Wednesday, May 29. Thanks to all of you who responded to our calls to action. Our Witness Sip Warriors provided hundreds of witness slips for more than twenty Committee Hearings as bills moved through the legislative process.
However, despite our best efforts, not much legislation was passed this session. Although disappointing this was not unexpected since it’s an election year when legislators tend to shy away from controversial issues. The work we did will set the stage for Veto Session in the fall.
What was accomplished in the final hours was the passing of a balanced budget for 2025 with investments in early childhood and k-12 education; healthcare, including coverage for immigrants and support for birth equity initiatives; and social services programs, including funding for immigrants and the unhoused. Special thanks to Elena Morone, our Immigration Issue Lead, who lobbied in Springfield this spring to elevate issues facing immigrants.
The state’s General Assembly also passed a state Child Care Credit, which would make Illinois one of more than a dozen states to approve such legislation in the wake of the COVID pandemic, when the federal government temporarily expanded the benefit. Low-income Illinois families with children under the age of 12 and those who qualify for the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit would be eligible to receive the credit in 2025.
Bills that did pass:
HB0581 amends the Hospital Emergency Service Act providing that “applicant” includes any person who presents at the hospital. Provides that hospitals shall furnish hospital emergency services in accordance with the procedures required by the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. (The intent was to inoculate Illinois from an unfavorable ruling by the Supreme Court on the case Idaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States; decision due any day)
HB 4867 amends the Illinois Human Rights Act declaring the public policy of this State that a person has freedom from unlawful discrimination in making reproductive health decisions and such discrimination is unlawful.
House Bill 5142 would require insurance providers to cover all pregnancy, postpartum and newborn care services that are rendered by perinatal doulas or licensed certified professional midwives. Such services would include home births, home visits and support during labor, as well as necessary equipment and medical supplies.
The measure is part of a broader effort proposed by the governor to enhance birth equity across Illinois with investments aimed at improving maternal health outcomes – especially in underserved communities.
HB5239: Reproductive Health – Interstate, amends the Reproductive Health Act to prohibit the State from using its resources to get involved in cases related to reproductive health care products or services that are legal in Illinois, such as providing information or assisting interstate investigations.
HB5431 amends the County Department of Corrections Law, modifying and removing provisions relating to security restraints on a prisoner who is pregnant or in postpartum recovery. Shockingly, pregnant people in prison give birth in shackles. Watch for an upcoming Spotlight to learn more about this barbaric practice.
SB773 requires health insurance plans in Illinois to cover the diagnosis and treatment of infertility. It would also require employers with more than 25 employees to cover an annual menopause health visit for those 45 and older without imposing cost sharing requirements
The most disappointing inaction this session is that lawmakers declined to progress Karina’s Bill, SB 2633, which would strengthen the law to protect domestic violence survivors from firearms. We will continue to work hard on this in the fall.
For more information and to get more involved in advocacy contact Jill Lexier at [email protected].
Jill Lexier
State Policy Advocacy Chair, Illinois