Illinois House Progressive Caucus Endorses Slate of Legislation Headed to Senate

[March 30, 2023]  SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois House Progressive Caucus, representing nearly two-dozen progressive legislators in the Illinois House, is supporting a wide range of legislation this spring that will improve the lives of Illinoisans of all ages facing a variety of challenges.

The Caucus is endorsing more than 20 House Bills that cleared the House last week and are now headed to the Illinois Senate for further consideration. If they pass the Senate, they only need Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature to become law later this year.

The slate of endorsed bills was recommended by individual members of the Caucus since the beginning of the new legislative session in January. Caucus members presented each idea at a Caucus meeting and asked the group for its support.

One measure calls for full-day kindergarten for all Illinois children. Others make reforms to cemetery laws, strengthen higher education opportunities for incarcerated persons, and make commonsense improvements in health care access and coverage.

“Our endorsed slate of legislation this spring reflects the wide diversity in representation, perspectives, and talents of our Illinois House Progressive Caucus,” said House Majority Whip Rep. Will Guzzardi, co-chair of the Caucus. “We are proud to support our members’ work to improve education and health care, to further reform our criminal justice system, and to strengthen traffic safety and rights for immigrants. We look forward to seeing these measures and others sponsored by our Caucus members become law this year.”

A full list of Illinois House Progressive Caucus endorsed bills is included below by topic.

Cemeteries
House Bill 1571 -- Cassidy -- Holds cemeteries accountable to honor the wishes of the deceased over property rights

Criminal Justice
House Bill 1397 -- Cassidy -- Strengthens Illinois’ criminal laws to better protect sexual abuse victims

House Bill 3026 -- Cassidy -- Expands what can qualify for discretionary earned sentence credit in jails and prisons

House Bill 3055 -- Mah -- Reaffirms right to religious freedom while in jail or prison

House Bill 3648 -- Ammons -- Requires a report to the Illinois General Assembly on the state of higher education in state prisons

House Bill 3740 -- Ammons -- Removes restrictions on the MAP grant program for incarcerated college students
 

Education
House Bill 1120 -- Guzzardi -- Requires charter schools to engage in union-neutrality language in renewing their charter

House Bill 2396 -- Canty -- Creates full-day kindergarten across Illinois over a six-year ramp-up period

Employment
House Bill 3129 -- Canty -- Requires employers with 15 or more employees in Illinois to include pay scale in job postings

Environment
House Bill 3595 -- Mah -- Creates statewide safety requirements for implosion of coal-fired power plants

House Bill 2086 -- Stava-Murray -- Allows restaurants in addition to retailers where consumers can fill their own container with ready-made food

Health Care
House Bill 1384 -- Cassidy -- Prevents insurers from denying coverage for medically necessary reconstructive services

House Bill 2350 -- Cassidy -- Removes gender definitions for insurance coverage of pap tests and prostate cancer screenings

House Bill 2719 -- Avelar -- Gives patients more rights in reducing medical debt

House Bill 3158 -- Cassidy -- Legalizes and regulates natural organic reduction for human remains

Higher Ed
House Bill 2528 -- Ammons -- Designates Illinois public colleges and universities as hunger-free campuses through a grant program

Housing
House Bill 1628 -- Stava-Murray -- Prevents landlords from requiring electronic payment only for rent

Marriage
House Bill 1591 -- Cassidy -- Modernizes Illinois law to protect marriage equality


Social Services
House Bill 2365 -- LaPointe -- Creates alternative pathway to licensure for clinical social workers

State Government
House Bill 3768 -- Rashid -- Adds a Middle Eastern/North African category for data to be collected by state agencies

Transportation
House Bill 2464 -- Cassidy -- Creates pedestrian beacon to warn and control traffic for street crossings and crosswalks