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In session this week, committee work continued to remain the focus as we have only one more week to move bills out of committee to advance to floor action. So far, I have advanced 6 bills to the floor since the beginning of session and hope to move an additional 6 or so before we reach the deadline next Friday. I’ll describe the bills that have advanced and give a sneak preview of what we’re hoping to get done next week, but first as they say, some personal news.
This morning, I tested positive for COVID for the 2nd time. While I am glad that we’re getting back to in-person gatherings and love having advocates back in the Capitol as that is an important function of our government, that brings inherent risk. It is easy to let your guard down, especially in the hustle and bustle of a busy workplace like the Capitol and now I am concerned that I may have inadvertently shared my bad luck with others. I am experiencing mild symptoms, but am taking it seriously and resting away from my family in my old familiar “quarancave” in the basement. I will test according to CDC guidelines and will get back to the Capitol as soon as I safely can, mask at the ready.
In the meantime, this was an incredibly productive week. I am proud to say that I advanced a number of critical bills this week. The bills we advanced out of committee were:
HB1384: An initiative of the Illinois State Medical Society Student Section, this will require Illinois insurers to provide insurance coverage for reconstructive surgery for survivors of domestic violence. Stories of survivors who were denied access to reconstruction include some things you might expect, like broken noses requiring reconstruction, and others that are just chilling to contemplate like a woman whose abusive husband left scars all over her body so she would be forever reminded of his power over her. The bill advanced unanimously and will be ready for floor action.
HB1397: The Sex Crimes Division of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office noted a disturbing trend in sexual assault cases wherein a person would use coercive control to force a victim to “consent” to sex in order to avoid the person’s threats. Under Illinois law, there is a required element of force or violence or threat of force or violence for a charge of sexual assault. The cases these prosecutors were seeing were insidious: a landlord who threatened his tenant with deportation if she didn’t have sex with him is one example that actually made me gasp in the hearing. This will simply add the element of an offender exercising coercive control to our statutes, allowing prosecutors and law enforcement to bring cases against these attackers as well.
HB2223: Last year, during the work of the Dobbs Working Group, I was contacted by partners at the Juvenile Justice Initiative about a recent state Supreme Court decision that upheld the actions of a southern Illinois prosecutor when they decided to pursue charges against a juvenile offender for actions they took in Missouri. In the decision, Justice Burke stated that the language of the statute could be clarified to prevent this from happening in the future. Given our current work to prevent other states from prosecuting across state lines in the post-Dobbs world, making this clarification just makes sense.
HB2248: A recent U.S. Supreme Court Decision removed an important provision in disability rights laws, undermining the ability of those who experience discrimination from seeking emotional damages. By reinserting this provision in Illinois law, people with disabilities who experience discriminatory treatment under several federal laws will be able to recover damages. This is yet another bill in my ongoing partnership with the advocates of Access Living.
HB2350: Last year, my colleague Rep. LaShawn Ford passed a law expanding access to prostate cancer screening with an emphasis on the increased risk faced by people of African descent. As the bill was making its way through the process, our very own Torrence Gardner pointed out the gendered language in the law that could potentially prevent a person with a prostate who does not identify as male from accessing care. Torrence undertook research over the summer and the result is this bill that not only removes gendered language from the statutes concerning prostate and cervical cancer screening but adds factors to allow early coverage for prostate cancer screening for communities identified as having a higher genetic predisposition to contracting the disease.
These bills will all move to the floor for further action in the weeks ahead.
Next week, Covid permitting, I’ll be back in Springfield as we approach the deadline to get bills out of committee. Among other bills on the docket, I’m very excited to advance HB3158 which will make Illinois the 7th state to approve the practice of Natural Organic Reduction, sometimes referred to as Terramation, or human composting. This issue came about after several constituents shared news of the new practice being permitted in Washington, California, Oregon, Colorado, New York, and Vermont. Ultimately, the practice comes about as a way to continue to reduce your carbon footprint by allowing an alternative to burial which uses up land and usually involves significant additional materials including chemicals, or cremation which results in emissions, or water cremation which uses hundreds of gallons of the least renewable resource imaginable.
I will test once I hit day 5 per guidance and if I’m not able to travel, I’ll work with abled cosponsors and colleagues to ensure that the deadline doesn’t pass without my bills getting a hearing.
In the meantime, I’m open to good streaming suggestions as I ride out the next several days in the quarancave!
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