GENERAL ASSEMBLY WRAPS UP 2026 SPRING SESSION
Working through the weekend, the Illinois legislature finished its business in the early hours of the morning on what became Monday, June 1. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate worked late Saturday night, May 30, and all day Sunday and Sunday night – passing a Fiscal Year 2027 State budget.
As part of the value of being a member of the Illinois Chiropractic Society, and as we know that ICS members rely on us to protect your interests in the Capitol, ICS actively participated in the legislative process throughout the session and left its mark on several pieces of legislation.
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Here are some of the legislative highlights from the session:
SB 2824 (Stadelman, D-Rockford) was an initiative of the ICS that clarifies that chiropractic physicians are authorized to perform health examinations for drivers’ training instructors. This legislation will strengthen the practice of chiropractic physicians in Illinois and is another example of parity among physicians licensed under the Medical Practice Act. The bill was approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives and will be sent to the Governor for his consideration.
HR 937 (Schmidt, R-Millstadt) is a resolution that congratulates the ICS on the 100th anniversary of its founding. The resolution was adopted by the House of Representatives. On that note, please do not forget to sign up for the ICS Centennial Celebration and Practice Building event in July. You can find out more here.
HB 3711 (Cassidy, D-Chicago) requires a health professional to report to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation within 24 hours after witnessing sexual conduct or intimate conduct at the person’s place of work. The bill includes reporting requirements for hospitals and certain healthcare employers. It was approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives and will be sent to the Governor for his consideration.
HB 4698 (Yang-Rohr, D-Naperville) amends the Medical Patients’ Rights Act to state that a medical office must provide a notice stating that the patient may be billed for multiple services, including a separate office visit charge or billing for diagnostic testing or follow-up, in certain circumstances. The original bill, which would have amended the Medical Practice Act and caused confusion among fee-splitting and billing procedures for chiropractic physicians, was amended to address ICS concerns. The bill was approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives and will be sent to the Governor for his consideration.
HB 4826 (Cassidy) states that a licensee under the Medical Practice Act shall not receive continuing education credit toward the renewal of a professional license for any education course, program, seminar, instruction, or webinar that are expressly prohibited by law. The bill was approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives and will be sent to the Governor for his consideration.
HB 5228 (Hoffman, D-Belleville) contains language for the omnibus Workers’ Compensation Act legislation. It makes positive changes regarding utilization review and prior authorization under the act. The bill was approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives and will be sent to the Governor for his consideration.
HB 5387 (Morgan, D-Highland Park) extends the sunset date of the Medical Practice Act for five years, until January 1, 2032. This is standard procedure as the licensing acts are extended five years at a time, so technical “clean-up” language can be added to ensure that all of the information in the act is up to date. The original bill, drafted by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, contained a few substantive changes regarding record retention that raised some concerns for the ICS and other stakeholder groups. IDFPR made changes to address these issues based on the ICS and Illinois State Medical Society concerns. The bill was approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives and will be sent to the Governor for his consideration.
SB 3222 (Lightford, D-Maywood) creates the Illinois Hemp Act and prohibits the sale, distribution, manufacture, or production of hemp products without authorization or required licensing. The bill was approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives and will be sent to the Governor for his consideration. The final version of this bill is under legal review, and ICS members will be notified if any parts of the final act will impact them.
SB 3325 (Johnson, D-Waukegan), in provisions concerning implicit bias awareness training, provides that, on and after January 1, 2027, a course covering the topics of perimenopause and menopause may count toward the requirement that a health care professional who has continuing education requirements complete at least a one-hour course in training on implicit bias awareness per renewal period. The bill was approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives and will be sent to the Governor for his consideration.
SB 3688 (Loughran Cappel, D-Crest Hill) amends the Medical School Curriculum Act to require medical schools to include in the curriculum the study of perimenopause and menopause recognition and management. The bill was approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives and will be sent to the Governor for his consideration.
There were other pieces of legislation, bills that ultimately were not approved by the legislature, which were amended in the process to address ICS concerns.
The sponsor of HB 4565 (Favor Diaz, D-Grayslake) prepared amendments to include chiropractic physicians in the Freedom to Work Act for Health Care bill in response to an ICS request. The sponsor of HB 5472 (Johnson, D-E. Moline) amended his bill to address ICS concerns regarding adding new background information required for medical license applications. The sponsor of SB 3607 (Stadelman) prepared an amendment to his Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act on behalf of ICS requests. The amendment would have added chiropractic physicians to the bill regarding non-compete clauses. Monitoring and influencing legislation in the Illinois General Assembly is a vital function of any membership organization. In the thousands of pieces of legislation that work their way through the legislative process each year, there can be dozens of initiatives that affect an organization’s members. That is no different for the ICS and chiropractic physicians throughout the state. One bill, or one provision of a bill, has the potential of greatly impacting a chiropractic practice. That is why the ICS is diligent in its legislative and advocacy mission, and why this work is an important and valuable component of ICS membership. This version of the bill defines “Health care professional” as a physician licensed to practice medicine in all its branches under the Medical Practice Act. The bill was approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives and will be sent to the Governor for his consideration.
SB 3222 (Lightford, D-Maywood) creates the Illinois Hemp Act and prohibits the sale, distribution, manufacture, or production of hemp products without authorization or required licensing. The bill was approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives and will be sent to the Governor for his consideration.
SB 3325 (Johnson, D-Waukegan), in provisions concerning implicit bias awareness training, provides that, on and after January 1, 2027, a course covering the topics of perimenopause and menopause may count toward the requirement that a health care professional who has continuing education requirements complete at least a one-hour course in training on implicit bias awareness per renewal period. The bill was approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives and will be sent to the Governor for his consideration. SB 3688 (Loughran Cappel, D-Crest Hill) amends the Medical School Curriculum Act to require medical schools to include in the curriculum the study of perimenopause and menopause recognition and management. The bill was approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives and will be sent to the Governor for his consideration.
