101st General Assembly Begins
The Illinois Senate and the Illinois House of Representatives were both in session this week to begin the new General Assembly. Legislators are busy drafting and filing their legislative initiatives for the year. The ICS legislative team has also been drafting the ICS legislative initiatives. We will be announcing the ICS initiatives in the very near future.
We have seen over 1,600 pieces of legislation introduced, and we fully expect to see thousands more. The ICS legislative team carefully reviews each piece of legislation for its impact to the chiropractic profession. We have already seen legislation regarding minimum wage increases, continuing medical educational requirements, and telehealth provisions. As always, we will keep our members informed as more pieces of legislation are filed and the session progresses.
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With a new General Assembly, there are always new legislators. As you may recall, in our video following Inauguration, we mentioned there are approximately 37 new state representatives and 15 new state senators. We have been meeting with legislators to discuss the importance of chiropractic and the issues facing the profession.
While we have been meeting with them, it is important for them to hear from you, too. Now is the time to establish relationships with your local legislators. We want them to know that you are a resource for them. With the approximately 5,000 bills filed each year, legislators cannot be experts on every subject. Therefore, they rely on their constituents and subject matter experts to help inform them of the issues. We want your local legislator to rely on you as an expert in chiropractic and healthcare issues.
If you have questions about the current issues or how to meet with your legislator, go to www.ilchiro.org//speakup. Speak Up! is an ICS created legislative guide to help our members understand the issues and how-to tips on meeting with legislators. As always, you can also call the ICS office and talk to our legislative team, too.
As this is the very beginning of the current legislative session, which will remain assembled until the end of May, we can anticipate much activity to monitor in the coming months. We will keep our members informed via Facebook and the Illinois Practice Edge as the session progresses.
