General Assembly Meets First Deadline
The Illinois General Assembly is rolling through the 2025 spring legislative session, as it has met its first significant deadline and is nearing the half-way point of the legislative calendar. Friday, March 21, was the deadline for bills to be approved by a substantive committee in their houses of origin. For bills to be viable, they must have been passed out of a committee and sent to their respective chamber floors by that date. Friday, April 11, is the deadline for bills to be considered on the legislative chamber floor, thus requiring bills to be approved by their houses of origin and sent to the opposite chamber for consideration by this date. This represents the half-way point of the legislative process.
Over 6,000 bills were introduced this spring in the Senate and House of Representatives. All know that most of these bills will not progress, but it is anyone’s guess which ones the bill sponsors are planning to push through. Now that the first deadline has passed, it significantly reduces the number of viable bills and gives one a much better idea to know what bills are to be taken seriously. Approximately 1,500 bills are now listed on the legislative calendars in the two chambers.
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Bills of Interest That Are Pending on the Chamber Floors
As part of our ongoing advocacy efforts, we are actively engaging with legislators, agency officials, and other key stakeholders to monitor, influence, and shape legislation that impacts chiropractic physicians, health care providers, and small businesses across Illinois. Below is a summary of some of the key bills we are working on this session, along with updates on proposals that may affect licensure, insurance practices, medical policy, and workplace regulations.
Medical Licensure
HB 1270 (Hauter, R-Morton) removes the fee under certain conditions for a physician licensed under the Illinois Medical Practice Act to apply for a volunteer license.
HB 3850 (Huynh, D-Chicago), under the continuing education provisions of the Medical Practice Act, provides that the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) may require educational requirements to include simulation training or standardized patient training in certain circumstances.
Insurance
HB 35 (Morgan- D-Highwood) creates the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Systems Use in Health Insurance Act to authorize the Illinois Department of Insurance to review insurers’ AI use. It prohibits an insurer to issue an adverse consumer outcome regarding denial, reduction, or termination of insurance plan benefits that results solely from AI.
HB 3445 (Katz Muhl, D-Northbrook) clarifies in statute that the timeline for insurers to request recoupment is 12 months.
HB 3782 (Harper, D-Chicago) provides that, if a health insurance issuer requires a prior authorization for a recurring health care service for the treatment of a chronic health condition, the approval shall remain valid from the date the health care professional or health care provider receives the prior authorization approval for the duration of the chronic health condition or the length of the treatment, as determined by the patient’s health care professional, unless the standard of treatment for that health condition changes.
Medical Practice
HB 1863 (Mussman, D-Schaumburg) and SB 291 (Morrison, D-Deerfield) create the One Health Framework Task Force for the purpose of developing a strategic plan to promote interdisciplinary communication and collaboration among physicians, veterinarians, and other scientific professionals.
HB 2852 (Yang Rohr, D-Naperville) and SB 1238 (Villa, D-West Chicago) authorize the Department of Public Health to develop and publish on its website an educational pamphlet regarding the use of nonopioid alternatives for the treatment of chronic pain which shall include information on available nonopioid alternatives, including nonpharmacological therapies.
HB 3711 (Cassidy, D-Chicago), an initiative of IDFPR, makes comprehensive changes to the provisions regarding misconduct of health care providers. It creates a new duty to report for health care providers if they have any knowledge of “reportable misconduct” about other health care providers. It includes extensive definitions of misconduct and sets timelines and other reporting requirements for physicians and other health care providers in which to comply.
There are some provisions of the bill that have raised concern from the ICS, Illinois State Medical Society, and other health care provider groups. The bill was approved by the House Health Care Licenses Committee and sent to the House floor for consideration, but the Department, bill sponsor, and committee chairman have all pledged to work with the stakeholder groups to find agreement on the proposed changes.
Small Business
HB1435 (Johnson, D-East Moline) and SB 1441 (Peters, D-Chicago) make changes to the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program. It specifies the timeline for employers to enroll employees into the program by stating that employers must enroll employees into the program who have been employed for at least 120 days. It also clarifies that the programs must be Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) and must be portable for employees.
HB 1616 (Hoffman, D-Belleville) makes changes to the Employment Blood and Organ Donation Leave Act. It states that, for part-time employees, the employer shall calculate the daily average pay the part-time employee received during his or her previous two months of employment. This act only applies to employers with 51 or more employees.
HB 2522 (Stuart, D-Collinsville) and SB 212 (Fine, D-Glenview) make changes to the Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act. It states that an employer must compensate the employee during the break-time at the employee’s regular rate of compensation and shall not require the employee to use paid leave during the break-time or reduce the employee’s compensation during this time. This act only applies to employers with more than five employees.
Bills of Interest That Did Not Meet the Committee Deadline
HB 1066 (Schmidt, R-Milstadt) prohibits a group health plan or an accident and health insurer offering group or individual health insurance coverage from discriminating with respect to participation under the plan or coverage against any health care provider who is acting within the scope of that provider’s license or certification.
HB 3033 (Yang Rohr) would authorize a chiropractic physician to perform student athlete health examinations and to participate in concussion oversight teams.
HB 3347 (Chung, D- Bloomington) would allow a public body that is a licensing board authorized by IDFPR (including the Illinois State Medical Board) to conduct a public meeting through an interactive video or telephone system without any members being present at any physical meeting location, provided that a quorum of members is participating and the public body provides public notice and public access consistent with the requirements of the Act.
HB 3450 (Costa Howard, D-Lombard) would create the Naturopathic Medical Practice Act to provide for the licensure of naturopathic doctors.
Schedule
The legislature will be working throughout April (with a brief break around the religious holidays) and May in the Capitol with the hope of final adjournment by the end of May.
