2024 Legislative Session Review
The Illinois General Assembly wrapped up its 2024 spring legislative session in the early hours of May 29. The targeted adjournment deadline was May 24, but due to delays in budget negotiations, extra days were needed to complete all of the work pending before lawmakers.
The House of Representatives worked into the night on Friday, May 24, but then members were sent home for the remainder of the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The Senate worked into the night on Saturday, May 25, passed its version of a Fiscal Year 2025 state budget, then adjourned for the summer. The House came back on Tuesday, May 28, to take up the budget bill and the related revenue package legislation. The session spilled into Wednesday as House members wrangled over the budget legislation, finally adjourning just after 4:30 a.m. on May 29.
More than 450 bills were approved by both chambers of the legislature during the session; those will be sent to the Governor for his consideration. The Illinois Chiropractic Society has a strong presence in the State Capitol – monitoring and analyzing legislation and then communicating with legislators, legislative staff and other stakeholder groups regarding bills that would impact chiropractic physicians. The ICS has also initiated important legislation and works with other healthcare stakeholders to gather support for laws that help providers and their patients.
Medical Practice Issues
HB 5290 (Cassidy, D-Chicago) creates the Medical Debt Relief Act that establishes a fund to be used to discharge the medical debt of eligible Illinois residents. A coordinator will negotiate and settle, to the extent possible, the medical debt of eligible residents owed to hospitals and other health care providers and entities.
Insurance Issues
HB 5395 (Moeller, D-Elgin) contains Governor JB Pritzker’s insurance reform provisions, which are designed for greater transparency It would prohibit some health insurance companies from using “utilization management” to deny coverage, including step coverage (the requirement for many months of conservative treatment before insurer will cover medically necessary treatment), including prior authorization for mental health treatments.
SB 2735 (Fine, D-Glenview) requires that insurance plans amended, delivered, issued, or renewed on or after January 1, 2026, shall offer all reasonably available methods of payment from the insurer or managed care plan to the contracted health care provider. It prohibits the insurer from mandating the provider to accept payment by credit card and provides that if one of the available payment methods has a fee associated with it, the insurer shall notify the health care provider of certain information and provide the health care provider with instructions on how to select each method.
SB 2744 (Fine, D-Glenview), starting January 1, 2025, provides that a health insurance plan shall provide coverage for COVID, influenza and RSV vaccines without imposing a deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or any other cost-sharing requirement.
Business Issues
HB 3763 (Guzzardi, D-Chicago) amends the Personnel Record Review Act to provide that, upon the written request of an employee, the employer must provide the requested documents, including any employment-related contracts or agreements that the employer maintains are legally binding on the employee
HB 5561 (Evans, D-Chicago) amends the Whistleblower Act; provides that an employer may not take retaliatory action against an employee who discloses or threatens to disclose information about an activity, policy, or practice of the employer that the employee has a good faith belief that such activity, policy, or practice violates a State or federal law, rule, or regulation or poses a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.
SB 3208 (Villa, D-West Chicago) provides that an employer shall provide an employee with a copy of the employee’s pay stubs upon the employee’s request within 21 days of that request. It also requires that an employer shall maintain a copy of an employee’s pay stub for at least three years, regardless of whether the employee’s employment ends during this period.
SB 3649 (Peters, D-Chicago) creates the Worker Freedom of Speech Act to prohibit an employer from taking disciplinary action against an employee if the employee declines to attend or participate in an employer-sponsored meeting if the meeting or communication is to communicate the opinion of the employer about religious or political matters.
State Budget
The legislature approved a $53.1 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2025 – a 5% increase over the current budget. It includes a $350 million increase for K-12 education; a $300 million increase in Medicaid spending; and $3.5 billion for the capital construction plan (an increase of $500 million over current levels). The 1% sales tax on groceries was eliminated, but new revenues were generated from an increase in the sports betting tax ($200 million), capping the retailers’ discount for collecting sales tax ($100 million), changes in corporate taxes ($526 million), and increasing the video gaming tax ($35 million).
Schedule
The legislature is not expected to return to the capitol until the Fall Veto Session. Those dates have yet to be published, but it will likely occur after the November 5, 2024 General Election.
