Illinois Legislature Heads Into Spring Break
The Illinois General Assembly has been working steadily the past few weeks in the spring legislative session, but now will take off the first week of April for a spring break. It has been a somewhat odd session schedule so far, as the two chambers have been alternating weekly work schedules for the most part of this year. Either the Senate or the House of Representatives has convened in session, but few times have both chambers been in the capitol the same week. Still, dozens of committees have met weekly, and hundreds of bills have been sent to their respective chamber floors.
The Illinois Chiropractic Society has been actively participating in the legislative process throughout the session, and several pieces of legislation have, or will be, amended to address ICS concerns.
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The ICS is again pushing legislation that would prohibit a group health plan from discriminating in participation and reimbursement amounts against a health care provider who is acting within the scope of the provider’s license. Representative Kevin Schmidt (R-Millstadt), a chiropractic physician, has introduced HB 5131 on behalf of the ICS. Working with a coalition of other healthcare providers, the ICS has similar language in HB 4646 (Williams, J., D-Chicago) and SB 3000 (Fine, D-Glenview). Unfortunately, these bills were not approved by the insurance committees before the deadline and are unlikely to progress this spring. The coalition will continue its work on this issue later this year.
The ICS has also initiated legislation to clarify that chiropractic physicians are authorized to perform medical examinations for driver’s training instructors. That bill, SB 2824 (Stadelman, D-Rockford), was approved unanimously by the Senate Transportation Committee and is poised to pass on the Senate floor.
Legislation has been introduced to add new reporting and bookkeeping requirementsfor health care providers under the Health Care Violence Prevention Act, SB 2713 (Morrison, D-Deerfield), and adding new patient rights to the Medical Patient Rights Act, SB 1579 (Villa, D-West Chicago). These bills are under legal review by the ICS.
HB 4698 (Yang-Rohr, D-Naperville) amends the Medical Practice Act regarding charges for multiple in-network services during the same appointment and raised some concerns for chiropractic physicians. The sponsor has committed to working with the ICS and other stakeholders and amend the bill to resolve our concerns. The sponsor of HB 4565 (Favor Diaz, D-Grayslake) has made a similar commitment to work with the ICS on an amendment in her language regarding the Freedom to Work Act for Health Care, which would implement restrictions on enforcement of non-compete agreements between health care facilities and providers. HB 5472 (Johnson, D-E. Moline) has already been amended to address ICS concerns regarding adding new background information required for medical license applications.
The ICS is monitoring several pending bills that would affect small business owners. SB 3821 (Lightford, D-Maywood) would increase the minimum wage by two dollars per year until it reaches $27 by 2032. SB 2967 (Johnson, D-Waukegan) would create the Menstrual Health Workplace Equity Act to provide that an employee who experiences a menstrual health condition may use up to 40 hours of annual paid leave to which the employee is entitled under the Paid Leave for All Workers Act. HB 5208 (West, D-Rockford) amends the Bereavement Leave Act to increase leave in certain circumstances for family bereavement leave, child extended bereavement leave, and general bereavement leave. The bereavement leave provided here would be in addition to the unpaid leave time allowed under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.
The legislature will be working in April and steadily through May in its attempt to adjourn the session by May 31, 2026.
