New Director of Department of Insurance: Senator Anne Gillespie was appointed this week by Governor Pritzker to serve as the new Director of the Department of Insurance. She replaces Dana Popish Severinghaus who is stepping down April 15. Gillespie is expected to resign her Senate seat in the coming days and local Democrats will appoint her replacement for the 27th Senate District. Because Gillespie was elected to a four-year term and has more than 28 months remaining, the appointee will be required under Illinois law to run in a special election this November. Both Representatives Mark Walker and Mary Beth Canty have expressed an interest in the appointment. Other candidates could emerge as well. Read more here.
103rd ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY:
The House returned to session on Monday, April 15 for five days while the Senate reconvened Tuesday, April 16 for four days.
Last week, the Senate focused on the final passage of Senate Bills and the House worked to position bills for final passage. Last Friday was the deadline to pass substantive Senate Bills out of the Senate, although some deadline extensions are expected to be granted. This Friday marks the House’s deadline to pass its substantive bills out of its chamber.
The Illinois Senate placed 90 Senate Bills on an Agreed Bill List to allow expedited passage by voting on all the legislation on one roll call.
The House Insurance Committee approved, by a vote of 10 – 5, HB 4611 (Jones) which bans discrimination based on age, race, color, national or ethnic origin, immigration or citizenship status, sex, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity or gender expression when setting auto insurance premiums. The bill is an initiative of Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. HB 4611 now heads to the full House.
Elimination statewide of the tipped credit for workers is the focus of HB 5345 (Hernadez), which the House Labor Committee examined during a lengthy hearing. Currently, employers are required to pay tipped workers $8.40/hour plus tips. And if tips do not get employees to at least $14/hour (which is the current minimum wage in Illinois), employers are required to make up the difference. Proponents argue the bill will clear up confusion with the minimum wage and bring statewide uniformity after Chicago passed an ordinance to phase out the tipped wage by 2028. Opponents say the minimum wage increase agreement they reached in 2019 was intended to prevent any expansions of minimum wage until 2025. They also contend any statewide application should be slowed until after Chicago’s tipped wage takes full effect. The sponsor committed to hold the bill on Second Reading to continue conversations and negotiations. HB 5345 passed committee by a vote of 17-11 and now heads to the House Floor.
Health data privacy is the subject of HB 4093 (Williams). By creating the Protect Health Data Privacy Act, the legislation would require companies to have a health data privacy policy identifying what information they are collecting, using, selling, and storing and why. Companies would also have to gain consent from those who have their data collected. HB 4093 passed the House Judiciary – Civil Committee by a vote of 10-3 and now heads to the full House.
HB 4475 (LaPointe) is designed to strengthen network adequacy and access to mental health services; it passed unanimously out of the House Mental Health Committee and now heads to the full House.
SB 773 (Castro) which mandates insurance coverage for infertility passed the Senate 50-1 and now goes before the House.
The Illinois Senate unanimously approved SB 2697 (Morrison), requiring insurance companies in Illinois to cover genetic testing for those patients with a family history of cancer. It would cap out-of-pocket costs at $50; Illinois Medicaid patients would be covered with no out-of-pocket costs. The measure heads to the House.
SB 2979 (Cunningham) makes changes to the liability guidelines in the Biometric Information Privacy Act. Specifically, liability faced by the business would accrue on a per-employee basis, rather than a per-collection basis. The legislation also allows the use of electronic signatures as a means of granting written consent. Having passed the Senate 46-13, the bill is now before the House. Read more here.
Legislation to prohibit a consumer reporting agency from making a credit report containing any adverse information about the consumer related to medical debt - SB 2933 (Stadelman) – passed the Senate unanimously and now heads to the House.
Having passed the Senate unanimously, SB 2639 (Hastings) now will be considered by the House. The legislation ensures that insurance companies will provide coverage for doctor-recommended infertility treatments without requiring patients to complete treatments that were deemed ineffective by their doctor. The bill would also allow a licensed physician to immediately approve any of these procedures based on the covered patient's medical, sexual, and reproductive history, age, physical findings, or diagnostic testing.
Rep. Ozinga Steps Down: Republican Representative Tim Ozinga abruptly resigned from the Illinois House on Monday. Local Republicans will select his replacement for the 37th House District.
Upcoming Subject Matter Hearings: The House Health Care Availability & Accessibility Committee will hold a hearing on April 22 at 10 am in the Bilandic Building in Chicago to discuss pharmacy benefit managers.
2024 Key Dates and Session Deadlines:
April 19: House Third Reading Deadline
May 3: Committee Deadline for Bills in the Opposite Chamber
May 17: House and Senate Third Reading Deadline for Bills in the Opposite Chamber
May 24: Adjournment
May 25 – 31: Contingent Session Days
GOVERNOR’S HIGHLIGHTS:
IDPH Offers Reproductive Health Grants: The Illinois Department of Public Health awarded $2 million to three different organizations to provide training that will increase access to abortions across the state. The Abortion Provider Capacity Building Grant Program awarded grants to the Midwest Access Project (MAP), Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL), and the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) College of Nursing.
Midwest Access Project: MAP will expand their long-standing work providing sexual and reproductive healthcare clinicians with training in procedural and medication abortion. Their innovative training model fills gaps nationwide in medical education, advanced practice nursing, midwifery education, and clinical training.
Planned Parenthood of Illinois: PPIL plans to expand upon an already robust training effort by offering more procedural abortion training for physician trainees and advance practice nurses, and medication abortion training for eligible providers.
UIC – College of Nursing: UIC will establish a training program to expose new advanced practice nurses to abortion care through the Reproductive Advocacy and Diversity in Advanced Nursing Training (RADIANT) Fellowship.
Botulism Like Cases Reported in Illinois: The Illinois Department of Public Health is urging healthcare facilities, particularly emergency rooms -- to be on a heightened lookout for patients with symptoms similar to botulism. The warning follows two cases of the disease reported in La Salle County, where both individuals received injections of Botox (or a similar, possibly counterfeit) product. IDPH is investigating, in collaboration with the LaSalle County Health Department and the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. The CDC and FDA have been contacted about the situation. The Tennessee Department of Health has also reported a similar cluster. Read more here.
Gubernatorial Appointments: Governor Pritzker appointed the following:
- John Pady will serve as a Member of the Energy Workforce Advisory Council.
- Danny Silverthorn will continue to serve as a Member of the State Employees’ Retirement System Board of Trustees.
OTHER NEWS:
Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough died Sunday following an undisclosed illness. Yarbrough served as a State Representative from 2001 through 2012. The Cook County Democratic Central Committee will appoint her replacement. Because she was less than two years into her four-year term, a special election will be held in November.
State Employee Health Insurance: State employee health insurance costs registered the largest single-year increase in several years, according to a new report from the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. The state is facing a 16.5% increase (or $533 million), COGFA finds, and suggests that the spike is due in part (or entirely) to new coverage mandates that lawmakers have enacted in recent years – including “medications not otherwise guaranteed to be covered, such as certain weight-loss medications.” Read the full report here.
COGFA Monthly Briefing: The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability issued its March monthly report, noting that revenue deposits into the State’s General Funds rose $413 million this March as compared to March of 2023. Fueling the 9.7% increase were strong gains from the Personal Income Tax and Federal Sources, and other State sources. The report also discusses the commission’s revised FY 24 and FY 25 revenue forecasts. Read the entire report here.
