House sends 41 bills to Senate as Friday legislative deadline looms
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[March 22, 2023]
By Capitol News Illinois
news@capitolnewsillinois.com
The Illinois House passed 41 bills to the Senate Tuesday ahead of a
scheduled Friday deadline.
The measures, among others, included a ban on polystyrene food
containers, bills focusing on gender inclusivity in state law and a
requirement that expectant parents have a “duty” to split
pregnancy-related costs, including for abortions.
Below are a few of the measures that passed, all of which will require
Senate approval and a signature from the governor to become law.
Proposed south suburban airport
The long-debated idea of building a cargo-oriented airport and shipment
center in Chicago’s south suburbs could get another look under one bill
that passed the House.
House Bill 2531, by Rep. Will Davis, D-Homewood, calls on the Illinois
Department of Transportation to establish a process for prequalifying
entities that could offer a public-private agreement to develop such a
project.
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“Many people in the Southland feel that there is a developer who has the
resources, the capacity and a desire to build it, and they would love to
be able to respond to this document,” Davis said. “So what we’re asking
is that IDOT put a document out there to see if there is a developer
willing to respond.”
The bill changes a law the General Assembly passed in 2013 that gave
IDOT permission to launch such a project. HB 2531 would require the
agency to establish a prequalification process within six months of the
bill becoming law.
The bill also expands the potential scope of the project to include not
just an airport, but a “cargo-oriented development” that includes both
“multimodal nodes of freight transportation and centers of employment in
logistics and manufacturing.”
The idea of a south suburban airport has met opposition from some
business groups and operators of the Rockford airport.
The bill passed 72-40 and now heads to the Senate.
Polystyrene container ban
A bill that would ban polystyrene disposable food containers – commonly
referred to by the brand name Styrofoam – passed the House by a 67-43
vote.
After Jan. 1, 2024, House Bill 2376 would prohibit retail establishments
from selling or distributing containers made of polystyrene foam.
“I think this is a reasonable measure that starts with just carry-out
food containers, promotes responsible stewardship for our planet,” Rep.
Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, a Democrat from Glenview and the bill’s lead
sponsor, said on the House floor.
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The bill would provide temporary exemptions for certain establishments
including food pantries, soup kitchens, non-profits, and federal, state,
or local government agencies that provide food to “needy individuals at
no or nominal charge. A ban would take effect for those entities
beginning in 2025.
Sen. Laura Fine, D-Glenview, is the lead sponsor of an identical bill in
the Senate.
Splitting pregnancy expenses
The House, on a 65-40 vote, approved a proposal stating that each parent
in a pregnancy “has a duty” to split pregnancy-related costs. These
costs include health insurance premiums, abortion services and medical
costs including delivery.
House Bill 2477 provides that pregnancy-related costs must be split at
least 50 percent between the pregnant person and the “other party to the
pregnancy or the other intended parent,” meaning the person who
contributed sperm or the person who has expressed the intent to become
the child’s legal guardian. This excludes cases of sperm donation and
contracted surrogacy.
Someone wishing to recover pregnancy costs would have to file a motion
to that effect in civil court.
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State Rep. Margaret Croke, D-Chicago,
speaks in favor of a bill on the House floor Tuesday stating that
each parent in a pregnancy “has a duty” to split pregnancy-related
costs. (Credit: Blueroomstream.com)
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“I really want to drive home that we are talking about in some instances
thousands and thousands of dollars, even when you have insurance,” said
the bill’s chief sponsor, Rep. Margaret Croke, D-Chicago.
Croke said the bill is supported by the House’s Dobbs working group,
which was formed last summer in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s
decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization which
overturned Roe v. Wade.
The bill was met with opposition from Republicans including Rep. Patrick
Windhorst, R-Metropolis, and Rep. Travis Weaver, R-Edwards. They took
issue with the fact that the bill would require splitting the cost of
abortions.
Antidiscrimination bill
A bill that would give Illinois residents the right to sue in state
court for violations of federal antidiscrimination rules passed
unanimously out of the House.
Under many federal programs, private companies and organizations that
receive federal funding are required to abide by nondiscrimination
rules. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that people who are
victims of such discrimination may not recover damages for the emotional
distress that results from it.
Under House Bill 2248, by Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, violations of
those federal rules would become violations of state law as well, and
people could sue in state court and recover up to $4,000 in damages for
each violation.
The bill had support from several disability rights organizations. There
was no organized opposition.
Gender-inclusive measures
The House approved three proposals Tuesday aimed at increasing
gender-inclusivity in state law.
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The first bill, sponsored by Cassidy, is a follow-up to a bill from last
year that will require insurance companies to cover Pap tests and
prostate exams. The law currently requires that insurance companies
cover Pap tests for “female insureds” and prostate exams for “male
insureds.” Both types of tests are used as cancer screenings.
The measure would remove the gendered requirements, meaning insurers
would have to cover Pap tests and prostate exams for all people they
insure.
“It ensures that nobody is excluded from access to preventative care,”
Cassidy said on the floor Tuesday.
House Bill 2850 was approved 78-32.
The House also approved a bill requiring state agencies to track the
number of state employees “who identify as non-binary or gender
non-conforming.”
This adds to the existing state requirement that agencies track the
number of employees that are women, members of racial and ethnic
minority groups, and who have physical disabilities.
House Bill 2297, the first bill sponsored by Rep. Kevin Olickal,
D-Chicago, was approved 72-39.
A third measure, from Rep. Lakesia Collins, D-Chicago, removes gendered
language in several state laws that relate to children. This includes
swapping “he or she” for language like “children” as well as swapping
the title of the “Independent Juvenile Ombudsman” for “Independent
Juvenile Ombudsperson,” among other similar changes.
House Bill 1596 passed 72-37. It would be effective 60 days after
becoming law.
Approximately 1.6 percent of the adult population in the U.S. identifies
as transgender or non-binary, according to a 2022 survey from the Pew
Research Center.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news
service covering state government. It is distributed to more than 400
newspapers statewide, as well as hundreds of radio and TV stations. It
is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R.
McCormick Foundation.
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