Amid uncertainty in Washington, Illinois lawmakers pass slimmed-down Medicaid package


Lawmakers in Springfield passed a slimmed-down Medicaid omnibus bill this year as state budget constraints and federal funding uncertainties loomed large.


by Peter Hancock
Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD - Nearly every year, Illinois lawmakers pass a package of measures dealing with the state’s Medicaid program, the joint federal and state health care program that covers low-income individuals.

Known as the Medicaid omnibus bill, it sometimes includes bold components, like a 2021 initiative that made millions of dollars available to local communities to help them plan and design their own health care delivery systems. Other packages have focused on smaller changes like guaranteeing coverage for specific conditions and medications or adjusting reimbursement rates for different categories of health care providers.

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And most years, the packages receive bipartisan support because they are negotiated, largely behind closed doors, by an unofficial, bipartisan Medicaid Working Group.

This year, however, lawmakers passed one of the narrowest packages in recent memory, due mainly to the Trump administration’s vows to make sweeping cuts in federal funding for the program while state lawmakers faced their own set of budget constraints.

“There were many, many, very worthy program expansions, rate increases that we considered during this process that we were unable to include because of the uncertainty in Washington,” Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, the current chair of the Medicaid Working Group, said on the House floor Saturday.

The Illinois Medicaid program currently costs about $33.7 billion a year, according to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services. Of that, $20.9 billion, or about 62%, comes from the federal government while much of the state’s share comes from taxes levied on hospitals, nursing homes and managed care organizations – money the state uses to draw down federal matching funds.

The program covers nearly 3.5 million people in Illinois, or about a quarter of the state’s population. According to the nonpartisan health policy think tank KFF, the program pays for 40% of all child births in Illinois while covering 69% of all nursing home residents.

This year’s Medicaid omnibus bill, a 231-page amendment inserted into Senate Bill 2437, contains items that could be hugely beneficial to many Medicaid enrollees, but which don’t carry large price tags. In fact, the entire package is estimated to cost just under $1 million.

One of this year’s additions would make it easier for family members of medically fragile children who qualify for in-home nursing care to receive training to become certified family health aides, a designation that would enable them to administer medications, help with feeding and perform many of the same tasks as a certified nursing assistant.

Another provision would require all hospitals with licensed obstetric beds and birthing centers to adopt written policies that permit patients to have an Illinois Medicaid certified doula of their choosing to accompany them and provide support before, during and after labor and delivery.

Although those provisions enjoyed bipartisan support, another provision that extends coverage to certain categories of noncitizens drew Republican opposition Saturday, resulting in a partisan roll call vote.

The program covers noncitizens who meet the income requirements for Medicaid and have pending applications for asylum in the United States or for special visas as victims of trafficking, torture or other serious crimes. Those individuals can receive coverage for up to 24 months, provided they continue to meet the eligibility requirements.

Moeller said the language was not a new extension of health care benefits to noncitizens, but instead a “technical and administrative fix” to an existing program that had been requested by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services.

But for Republicans, the programs sounded too similar to the more controversial programs, Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors and Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults, that extend health care to a large category of people who are not U.S. citizens, including some who are in the country illegally.

“For us on this side of the aisle, that is the poison pill,” said Rep. Norine Hammond, R-Macomb, the deputy House minority leader. “So in spite of the fact that we have article after article in here, that is very worthy of a yes vote, I would urge a no vote.”

At Gov. JB Pritzker’s request, the budget bill lawmakers passed Saturday night cancels the program for immigrant adults, which had covered about 31,000 noncitizens age 42-64. But it provides $110 million over the next year, all in state funds, for the immigrant seniors program, which covers about 8,900 noncitizens age 65 and over.

The Medicaid bill passed the House late Saturday night, 76-39. It then passed the Senate shortly after midnight, 36-19.

It next goes to Pritzker’s desk for his consideration.


Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

Challenges to Illinois gun laws could go before the Supreme Court


Arguing the U.S. Supreme Court should have taken the Maryland case, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote AR-15s are arms protected by the Second Amendment.

Woman holding an AR-15 rifle
Photo: Wyatt Dilley/Unsplash

Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas wrote: "Our Constitution allows the American people – not the government – to decide which weapons are useful for self-defense." SCOTUS refused to take a look at the issue of states regulating which guns people can or can't own legally.

By Greg Bishop .::. Associate Editor
The Center Square

Challenges to local and state gun bans in Illinois could be the next case in front of the U.S. Supreme court on the “AR-15 issue.”

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a challenge to Maryland’s ban, The Center Square reported. In the order, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said whether a state can ban an AR-15 is a question he expects the court to take up, but not right now.

“Although the Court today denies certiorari, a denial of certiorari does not mean that the Court agrees with a lower-court decision or that the issue is not worthy of review,” Kavanaugh wrote.

Arguing the U.S. Supreme Court should have taken the Maryland case, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote AR-15s are arms protected by the Second Amendment.

“Tens of millions of Americans own AR–15s, and the ‘overwhelming majority’ of them ‘do so for lawful purposes, including self-defense and target shooting,’” Thomas wrote. “Our Constitution allows the American people – not the government – to decide which weapons are useful for self-defense.”

Second Amendment Foundation’s Alan Gottlieb said the justices had a full docket this term but is confident the issue will be addressed.

“I really like what the Supreme Court justices [had] written,” Gottlieb told The Center Square Tuesday. “That's why I have really good faith that they're going to take another case … The question is when. They really overloaded this session and it's a real problem.”

Kavanaugh noted several other cases pending in the federal appeals courts, including a case challenging Cook County and Illinois’ ban. Gottlieb is a plaintiff in Viramontes v. Cook County.

“It's a great possibility that can be one that gets to the Supreme Court or another case out of Illinois, because there are so many of them,” he said. “They're already even ahead of schedule on that one. It's very likely an Illinois case is what the Supreme Court will hear.”

Monday, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s ruling in favor of the state and the county, queuing the Viramontes case for a possible appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Southern District case where a judge found the state’s gun ban unconstitutional is pending in the appeals courts with plaintiffs scheduled to file their reply brief Friday.



Illinois lawmakers pass bill to raise age of senior driving tests


New bill would allow a spouse, parent, grandparent, sibling or child of any Illinois driver to submit medical information about the driver to the secretary of state if they think the person’s medical condition interferes with their driving abilities.


Older driver on the road during a light rain
Photo: Cheng Xiao/Unsplash

Drivers 87 and older will have to take an annual driver’s test says new bill waiting for the Illinois governor's signature.

by Jade Aubrey
Capitol News Illinois
SPRINGFIELD - A bill unanimously passed by the Senate on Thursday and on its way to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk will increase the age that senior drivers in Illinois are required to take an annual driver’s test.

Currently, if a driver renews their driver’s license between the ages of 79 and 80, they are required to take a driving test. Drivers between 81 and 86 are required to take a driving test every two years, and drivers 87 and older have to take the test annually.

If Pritzker signs House Bill 1226, sponsored by Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, only drivers 87 and older will have to take an annual driver’s test. Illinois drivers between 79 and 86 won’t be required to take a driver’s test to renew their license; instead, they’ll only have to take a vision test, and if they have a driving violation, a written test.

The bill would also allow a spouse, parent, grandparent, sibling or child of any Illinois driver to submit medical information about the driver to the secretary of state if they think the person’s medical condition interferes with their driving abilities. Currently, only medical officials, police officers and state’s attorneys can submit such information.

HB 1226, also called the Road Safety and Fairness Act, has garnered bipartisan support. Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced his support for the bill in January alongside lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. The bill was conceived by a constituent of Rep. Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore, last year.

The bill has 86 cosponsors in the House and 35 in the Senate.

Illinois is the only state that requires seniors to pass a driving test solely due to their age. But state data indicates that older drivers tend to have lower crash rates.

In 2023, the crash rate for drivers aged 75 and older was 24.61 per 1,000 drivers, which was lower than any other age group, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. The low crash rate has been consistent since at least 2018, according to the Secretary of State’s Office’s 2023 Study on Age-Related Driving Abilities.

The crash rate is more than double for many of the other age groups.


Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. Jade Aubrey contributed to this article.




Bill banning carbon sequestration near Mahomet Aquifer clears General Assembly


The Mahomet Aquifer supplies water to hundreds of thousands of people in central Illinois. Estimates for the number of Illinois residents served daily by the aquifer range from 500,000 to 1 million people. The bill to keep water supply safe comes after recent leaks at a carbon injection site in Decatur.


by Jade Aubrey
Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD - A bill that bans carbon sequestration over, under or through portions of the Mahomet Aquifer passed out of the Illinois General Assembly on Tuesday.

The bill has been a point of contention in the Statehouse during this year’s legislative session, after it was found that a leak occurred during carbon injections carried out by ADM, a Decatur-based agriculture giant.

Carbon sequestration is a relatively new technological process that pumps liquified carbon dioxide deep underground for long-term storage. Proponents say it could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions for high-emissions industries like ethanol production.


Roughly 8,000 metric tons of liquid carbon dioxide and other ground fluid escaped the area it was permitted to be in.

The ADM injection site, which opened in 2011, received the first federal permit for “geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide” in 2017. Since then, the project has stored more than 4.5 million tons of carbon dioxide more than a mile underground.

Photo: Capitol News Illinois/Jerry Nowicki

State Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana, watches as her bill to ban carbon sequestration under, above or through the Mahomet Aquifer, is voted on.

Although the leak did not take place in the Mahomet Aquifer area, roughly 8,000 metric tons of liquid carbon dioxide and other ground fluid escaped the area it was permitted to be in. ADM temporarily paused carbon injections in October after another issue with a well was identified.

The Mahomet Aquifer supplies water to hundreds of thousands of people in central Illinois. Estimates for the number of Illinois residents served daily by the aquifer range from 500,000 to 1 million people.

In 2015, portions of the aquifer in 14 Illinois counties were designated as a sole source aquifer by the EPA, since contamination of the aquifer could cause significant public health risk. That EPA designation also indicates that there are no “reasonably available alternative drinking water sources” that could be used if the water in the aquifer were contaminated.

Senate Bill 1723 passed on Tuesday with bipartisan support. The bill was spearheaded by Sen. Paul Faraci, D-Champaign, and Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet. It comes after Illinois lawmakers passed a law last year allowing carbon sequestration anywhere in Illinois.

“Proposals under consideration by the U.S. EPA today would store 50 times the amount of carbon that has been stored at the ADM facility under the Mahomet Aquifer,” Andrew Rehn, the climate policy director of Prairie Rivers Network, said during a Senate committee hearing on the bill in March. “Last year's bill leaves a critical gap. It says you have to replace drinking water if you damage it through your carbon sequestration activity, and the sole source designation means that there is no alternative.”

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Charles Harvey, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, spoke on the dangers of carbon sequestration in the wake of the recent ADM leak during the committee hearing. He called the ADM injection facility an “experiment,” as the injection of carbon at such a depth had never been done before.

He said the pressure and depth of the injections led to fissures in both the injection pipes and the levels of rock the carbon was being pumped into and stored under. Since carbon dioxide is a gas, he said it began to seep through the cracks and the fissures and rise back to the surface, which began the leak.

“To do this, it had to move at an alarming velocity of at least three meters a day to have reached it in the four months that after injections for when the seismic inference was made,” Harvey said. “Now, the original report predicted that with 90% confidence this would not happen.”


Opponents of the bill argued that since the Mahomet Aquifer sits at roughly 200 feet under the surface, it isn’t at risk to leaks, as carbon injections pump the gas thousands of feet underground.

Due to the aquifer’s sole source designation, bill proponents also argued that central Illinois residents can’t afford the water to be at risk.

“Eighty-five percent of the geographic land mass in the state of Illinois can be used for carbon sequestration. The aquifer is a very small piece of that, it's just kind of the width of Central Illinois,” Rose said. “You can sequester north or south of this without putting anybody's water in jeopardy.”

Opponents of the bill argued that since the Mahomet Aquifer sits at roughly 200 feet under the surface, it isn’t at risk to leaks, as carbon injections pump the gas thousands of feet underground.

“The geology under and around the Mahomet Aquifer is the best geology to ensure that thousands of feet below the aquifer — we’re not talking immediately under the aquifer, we’re talking thousands of feet, up to a mile below — is the best geology to ensure that the carbon capturing is taking place,” Donovan Griffith, the vice president of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, said during the committee. “It's the best in the state.”

The bill passed out of the Senate in April 55-0. It now awaits approval from the governor after passing out of the House on Tuesday with a vote of 91-19.

IMA released a statement on X following the passage of SB1723 urging Gov. JB Pritzker to veto the bill. “Carbon capture and sequestration is a safe and proven technology that is key to maintaining economic growth and advancing our state’s decarbonization goals. We urge Gov. JB Pritzker to veto this legislation, which discourages investment in clean energy projects including sustainable aviation fuel,” said Mark Denzler, President and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association.


Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. Jade Aubrey contributed to this article.




Illinois pushes to ban ‘forever chemicals’ in firefighter gear due to cancer risk


Numerous scientific studies from the American Cancer Society, National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate the correlation between exposure to PFAS found in turnout or bunker gear and the increased number of firefighters developing various forms of cancer.


Firemen move a barrel during a firetraining exercisse
Photo: Matt C/Unsplash

Suits designed to keep firemen safe may actually be killing them. Illinois lawmakers are working to make a law against local departments from using PFAS-ladened gear.

by Reilly Cook & Grace Friedman
Medill Illinois News Bureau

SPRINGFIELD - A bill to ban the sale of firefighter protective gear containing “forever chemicals” is gaining momentum in the Illinois General Assembly, as lawmakers, union leaders and firefighters themselves warn that the very equipment designed to save lives may be silently endangering them.

House Bill 2409, co-sponsored by Rep. Mike Kelly, D-Chicago, and Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, seeks to expand on the state’s existing PFAS Reduction Act by targeting a lesser-addressed but critical source of firefighter exposure to these harmful substances: their turnout gear.

Turnout gear, also known as bunker gear, is the specialized protective clothing worn by firefighters to protect them when they respond to fires or other hazardous situations.

“We know the damage that PFAs can do to our bodies,” Kelly said in an interview. “While this is supposed to protect us, it’s doing us serious harm.”

PFAS have long been used to make products -resistant to water, heat and staining, but research has increasingly linked them to serious health issues, including multiple forms of cancer. According to the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization trying to protect environmental health through better industry standards, PFAS were first added to firefighters’ personal protective equipment in 1976.

The bill is backed by the Associated Firefighters of Illinois, a statewide union representing more than 17,000 firefighters and paramedics in 237 communities. Advocates argue that the legislation is crucial in addressing the leading cause of death among firefighters today—chronic illnesses such as cancer.

“Little did we know that the bunker gear, the very gear that is supposed to protect us, to keep us safe, is actually killing us,” AFFI President and retired firefighter Chuck Sullivan said. PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because they can stay in the human body a long time.

Numerous scientific studies from the American Cancer Society, National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate the correlation between exposure to PFAS and the increased number of firefighters developing various forms of cancer. Kelly and Villavalam cited this research as the impetus driving the legislation.

Sullivan said the Illinois bill closely follows similar legislation passed in Massachusetts, Minnesota and Connecticut. Under HB 2409, manufacturers would be banned from selling gear containing PFAS in Illinois after Jan. 1, 2027. In the interim, labeling requirements would take effect beginning in 2026. Fire departments would be mandated to phase out affected equipment, such as self-contained breathing apparatuses or certain rescue harnesses, by 2030.

“When we put our gear on, it's not on the forefront of our mind that that is also dangerous and also giving us additional exposures,” Steve Shetsky, a member of AFFI’s executive board, said. “So this bill would absolutely limit those exposures, which would make this profession safer.”

Retired Chicago Fire Department Lieutenant Jim Tracy knows the risk firsthand. Diagnosed with colon cancer six years ago, he endured chemotherapy, radiation and surgery to eradicate the cancer he blames on the uniform.

“I was 22 years in the field when I got diagnosed,” Tracy said. “It is unfortunately one of those cancers you get from PFAS.”

Tracy, who spent 28 years working as a firefighter, said it was only recently that they received one set of gear that is “99% PFAS free.” The new equipment was delayed in production, he said, because manufacturers had to remove PFAS-laced materials from collars and cuffs and replace them with 100% cotton. Many firefighters, however, still wear older gear that is laden with forever chemicals.

“Personal protective equipment,” Tracy said. “It’s not very protective if it is giving us cancer.”

In addition to his own health battle, Tracy said he has many colleagues in the department who have gotten sick but do not report their illnesses out of fear of losing their jobs.

“They don’t want to get kicked off the job, so they go through it on their own and don’t tell the department,” he said.

‘Financial unknowns, replacements under testing’

HB 2409 passed the House 114-0 on April 10. It passed a Senate committee unanimously and is awaiting final action on the Senate floor before it can head to Gov. JB Pritzker for a signature.

Despite bipartisan support in both legislative chambers, the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association has been vocal in its opposition to the bill, citing concerns about the availability and cost of compliant gear.

Firefighter jackets and hats
Photo: Ken Steele II/Unsplash

Illinois Fire Chiefs Association opposes the bill, citing concerns about the availability and cost of safer equipment for firefighters.

John Buckley, executive director of the IFCA, testified before the Senate Labor Committee on May 6, urging lawmakers to amend the bill to delay the enforcement date.

“Our ask and our solution to the problem was to move the date from Jan. 1, 2027, to Jan. 1, 2029 — to give two years to determine if gear would be available and meet the needs of the firefighters in Illinois,” Buckley said.

While Buckley emphasized that the IFCA supports eradicating PFAS from firefighter gear, he warned that the current timeline does not allow enough time for departments to identify, test and purchase safe alternatives, which he said are not affordable or readily accessible.

“Currently, nothing’s been tested and vetted that meets that requirement,” he said. “The gear that’s out there that is PFAS-free is in very limited use, and some of it does not meet national standards,” Buckley said.

Buckley also pointed out that the proposed legislation lacks a funding mechanism to help departments cover the cost of new gear, which he said could “range from $4,000 to $5,000 per set.”

According to the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal, the state has 39,564 firefighters. Outfitting each with PFAS-free equipment could cost between $158 million and $198 million—a significant expense as Illinois faces a tightening budget picture for fiscal year 2026.

Still, sponsors said protecting firefighters from potentially deadly chemical exposure should take precedence over its price tag and logistical concerns.

“Our first responders deserve to work with equipment and clothing that does not pose a risk to their health,” Villivalam said. “This measure ensures they are able to continue to be protected while doing their work effectively.”

Even if HB 2409 becomes law, Buckley said he plans to continue pushing for a 2029 effective date when the 104th General Assembly reconvenes in January 2026.


Reilly Cook and Grace Friedman are graduate students in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, and fellows in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.


Tagged: PFAS found in firefighter gear, Health risks for firefighters, Illinois firefighters exposed to deadly chemical exposure, Making firefighting safer, Manufacturers would be banned from selling gear containing PFAS in Illinois



Despite opportunities, students are transferring from community colleges to public universities at a low rate


Only 28% of low-income students transfer, compared to 44% of higher-income students. And while Black and Latino students make up 44% of community college enrollment in Illinois, they make up just 31% of those who transfer to public universities.


by Peter Hancock
Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD — As the cost of higher education continues to rise, many students have turned to local community colleges as a way of holding down the cost of pursuing a degree.

Sometimes referred to as the “2-plus-2” model, the idea is to complete the freshman- and sophomore-level general education requirements at a local community college – where tuition rates may be half to one-third that of a four-year institution – then transfer to a university to finish out a degree.

University of Illinois
Photo: PhotoNews Media Archives

Illinois graduates who transferred from a community college take out, on average, 38% more debt than those who start at four-year schools. Transfer students also attempt an average of nine more credits during their college career than those who don’t transfer.

By many measures, Illinois has been a leader in making the transfer process accessible for community college students. A 2020 report from the Illinois Board of Higher Education and Illinois Community College Board noted that Illinois led the nation in bachelor’s degree completion rates among community college transfer students, with nearly 54% completing their degree within six years.

But a new report by a higher education advocacy group says that statistic offers an incomplete picture. While the completion rate may be high for those who succeed in making the transfer to a university, many more community college students never make the transfer, even though that’s their plan when they first enroll.

The report by the Partnership for College Completion says that while 79% of community college students start with the intention of transferring to a university, only 35% of them do.

The success rate is even lower for low-income students and students of color, the report states. Only 28% of low-income students transfer, compared to 44% of higher-income students. And while Black and Latino students make up 44% of community college enrollment in Illinois, they make up just 31% of those who transfer to public universities.

The report also says Illinois graduates who transferred from a community college take out, on average, 38% more debt than those who start at four-year schools. Transfer students also attempt an average of nine more credits during their college career than those who don’t transfer.

“We’re trying to put a bridge between different systems that were not designed to work with each other and aren't honestly designed to work primarily for students,” Mike Abrahamson, associate director of research and policy at PCC and a coauthor of the report, said in an interview. “We’re seeing breakdowns at every part of this pipeline.”

Abrahamson said the 2-plus-2 model works best for the small percentage of students who come into the system knowing what they want to major in and what university they want to transfer to. But for most others, he said, multiple barriers can stand in the way of a student making a seamless transition from community college to a four-year school.


Some universities have prerequisites for their upper-level courses that may not be aligned with the general education core curriculum that a student may have taken in community college.

One of the biggest obstacles, according to the report, is identifying the community college courses for which credits are eligible to be transferred between institutions, a process known as “articulation.”

Illinois has two programs intended to make it easier to transfer credits between schools. The Illinois Articulation Initiative, begun in 1993, sets out a “general education core curriculum” that more than 100 participating institutions have agreed to accept. And the Student Transfer Achievement Reform, or STAR Act, provides that students who graduate from a community college with an associate’s degree can, if they meet other qualifications, automatically be admitted to a public university and enroll as a junior.

But Abrahamson said the process is not as smooth and seamless as it would seem. For example, he said, some universities have prerequisites for their upper-level courses that may not be aligned with the general education core curriculum that a student may have taken in community college.

“We heard from students about, ‘Oh, I took this marketing class, and it didn't transfer for major credit, it transferred for elective credit. I had to take a marketing class, and it was the exact same course and I paid twice for it,’” Abrahamson said.

Another barrier, the report noted, is the direct cost of transferring from one school to another. That can include application fees as well as fees for obtaining copies of transcripts, costs that can multiply if the student applies to multiple four-year institutions.

“In our discussions with students, we found that those could be significant barriers for students,” Abrahamson said. “It's a $30 or $40 application fee, but you multiply that over a couple institutions, and it can be a real barrier for students to apply.”

Recommendations to lawmakers

The report offers several recommendations to make the transfer process easier, some of which are being considered in the General Assembly. Chief among those is to reform the way Illinois funds higher education.

Lawmakers are considering legislation this year to overhaul university funding, one that would distribute new funds using a needs-based formula similar to the Evidence-Based Funding model used in K-12 education. But the Partnership for College Completion report also calls for overhauling community college funding, “to reduce over-reliance on tuition and fee revenue.”

Another proposal under consideration this year is to implement a statewide direct admissions program in which graduating high school seniors and community college students who are eligible to transfer to a university would be automatically admitted to public universities where they are qualified.

The report calls for expanding that program further by coupling it with “guaranteed need-based financial aid.” “I think almost all of our universities want to serve more transfer students and want to serve their students as best they possibly can,” Abrahamson said. “A lot of this comes down to giving them the resources they need to do that.”

Gov. JB Pritzker has also pushed for a bill allowing community colleges to offer four-year bachelor’s degree programs in certain high-demand employment fields. But that measure has stalled thus far, with Democratic leaders recently expressing disagreement on the plan at a committee hearing to discuss the funding bill.


Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

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It's no joke, high taxes is the number one concern for Illinois residents


Illinois residents have the highest combined state and local tax burden in the nation, accounting for nearly 17% of their paychecks, and the second-highest property taxes in the country, according to the financial website WalletHub.


by Judith Ruiz-Branch
Illinois News Connection

CHICAGO - High taxes and a weak economy are the top concerns of Illinois residents according to a new poll, with nearly half of those surveyed saying they would leave the state if given the opportunity.

The poll, conducted for the Illinois Policy Institute, showed more than half of those surveyed rank the state's high taxes as their number one concern, with the overall economy coming in second. Half of voters surveyed said they would move out of the state, regardless of whether they can afford it.

Dylan Sharkey, assistant editor for the Illinois Policy Institute, said the group started conducting surveys to shed light on tax issues.

"It's impossible for lawmakers to deny that these are the issues that people care about," Sharkey contended. "Because when you have a survey or a statewide poll, it's hard to deny those voices."

Illinois residents have the highest combined state and local tax burden in the nation, accounting for nearly 17% of their paychecks, and the second-highest property taxes in the country, according to the financial website WalletHub.


The bottom line should be that taxes should not be a first resort. The first resort should be to do more with money they already have.

Since 2020, it is estimated Illinois has lost close to 500,000 residents. Sharkey argued the poll helps to dispel the myth people are leaving the state due to the weather. He added states of similar size and climate, such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, are also losing residents but at a much slower rate.

"This might seem obvious to some people, but of course, high taxes are number one," Sharkey emphasized. "Part of the reason we do this polling is because there are lawmakers and groups out there who look at our state and think, 'Well, we just need more money to fix the problem.' And the reality is, if you take more money from people, they're just going to find a new home."

Sharkey added he hopes the poll will serve as guidance for Illinois lawmakers as they consider new legislation which could add to the tax burden residents already carry.

"Even if lawmakers aren't in consensus over new taxes, their constituents are," Sharkey asserted. "The bottom line should be that taxes should not be a first resort. The first resort should be to do more with money they already have."




Advocates push for mandatory minimum nurse staffing ratios at Illinois hospitals


The Illinois Health and Hospital Association, the Association of Safety Net Community Hospitals and the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network issued a statement saying they strongly oppose HB 3512.


by Grace Friedman
Medill Illinois News Bureau, Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD — Health care unions continue to rally for legislation to address understaffing they say strains hospitals and threatens both patient safety and staff well-being.

Lawmakers are considering the Hospital Worker Staff and Safety bill, which would establish mandatory nurse-to-patient staffing ratios and increase support for underfunded hospitals.

The proposed legislation, Senate Bill 21 and House Bill 3512, aims to establish minimum staffing ratios in hospitals and fund critical safety-net hospitals across the state. Advocates with health care worker unions have been holding a series of rallies at the Capitol in support of the legislation in recent weeks.

“Our hospitals are staffed unsafely,” Kawana Gant, a certified nursing assistant at UChicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, said at a recent Statehouse rally. “I have worked short shifts where there are 30 patients and only one CNA on the floor. How can you give quality care? It is not safe.”

Gant, who has worked at Ingalls Hospital for nearly 30 years, says she has watched many of her colleagues quit due to the mental and physical toll the short staffing has had on their bodies.

“This is an opportunity for legislators to hear us, to know that these hospitals are not safe.” Gant said.

But similar versions of the proposed legislation have been introduced at the Statehouse for recent years and have failed to gain traction. Generally backed by unions representing nurses, such as the Service Employees International Union, previous staffing ratio measures have run into opposition from hospital groups that say they’re unworkable.

The proposed legislation filed this year has yet to receive a hearing in a substantive committee, meaning it will be an uphill battle for it to move by the time the legislature adjourns at the end of the month.

Like previous versions, it would mandate that hospitals “employ and schedule sufficient staff to ensure quality patient care and safety.” In addition, hospitals would have to share annual staffing metrics with the Illinois Department of Public Health to help ensure they are at proper staffing levels.

“This bill gives you a real voice,” Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, said to rallygoers. “It gives you a way to speak up when things are unsafe for you and the people who you care for.”

However, not all lawmakers are convinced that now is the right time to implement staffing ratios.

“You can mandate the staffing ratios, but if those professionals don’t exist, what have you really done?” said Rep. Norine Hammond, R-Macomb. “We’ve been trying for years to get more people into the health care field, especially after COVID, and we’re just not there yet.”

Hammond expressed concern that enforcing strict staffing requirements without enough qualified workers in the pipeline could place unrealistic burdens on hospitals. She warned that such mandates might unintentionally strain facilities already struggling with labor shortages and lead to adverse financial consequences, especially for smaller or rural hospitals.

Hospital trade groups echo those concerns, calling the legislation unworkable, burdensome and an ineffective way to solve a problem that should be addressed by the specific needs of each hospital or care center. The Illinois Health and Hospital Association, the Association of Safety Net Community Hospitals and the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network issued a statement saying they strongly oppose HB 3512.

They said it was introduced “as a backdoor effort pushed by organized labor to impose unworkable, government-imposed health care staffing ratios in Illinois.”



“This proposal would relegate the essential, complex and nuanced protocols established to safely and efficiently staff a hospital 24/7/365, to a series of burdensome forms and onerous paperwork that hospitals would be required to submit to the (IDPH) to establish minimum staffing standards for every hospital worker, in each hospital unit,” the groups said in the statement.

Still, according to a recent Service Employees International Union survey of Chicago area hospital workers, 70% of respondents reported understaffing, and over 25% reported unsafe or unmanageable workloads. Additionally, in the same survey, 47% of the respondents stated an intent to leave their jobs soon.

To help enforce safety standards, the legislation introduces “assignment despite objection forms” that give hospital workers the opportunity to document and report any assignments that they believe are unsafe. Hospitals are then required to provide this information to IDPH, which would have to publish an annual report on all these staffing metrics. The legislation would also require IDPH to “make recommendations for minimum staffing standards for hospital workers in each hospital unit.”

In addition to protecting staff, advocates said this bill would allocate proper essential resources to underfunded hospitals around the state, including Mount Sinai Hospital on Chicago's West Side, a Level 1 trauma center that helps underserved and violence-impacted communities.

“Mount Sinai saved my son's life,” said Sonya Brown, who traveled from Chicago to Springfield recently to advocate for the safety-net hospital that treated her son after he was shot seven times in 2020.

“He was shot in the head, he was shot in the neck, he was shot in the chest, the abdomen and shoulder, and the arm,” Brown said. “If they wouldn't have gotten to him in time, he would have died.”

Mount Sinai serves as a health care provider for communities on both the South and West sides of Chicago, areas that experience some of Chicago's highest rates of gun violence. If the hospitals are not protected by measures in this legislation, advocates said, the victims in these neighborhoods risk longer travel times to alternative trauma centers.

They said the bills would help allocate essential resources and enforce staffing standards at safety-net hospitals to continue effectively serving vulnerable communities.

“All of our staff is overworked,” said Jessica Mendoza, a nursing assistant at Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in Hines. “A lot of our veterans are coming into the VA to get help with their health, but we do not have the staff to provide it.”

Mendoza, who has worked at the Hines VA Hospital for nearly two years, said that due to the low number of staff, they rarely get a break. She noted that the lack of sufficient staffing makes it difficult to provide the level of care that the veterans need.

The health care workers and advocates gathering in Springfield at the recent rally emphasized that without sufficient staffing and resources, the quality of patient care throughout Illinois hospitals will continue declining, and worker burnout will escalate.

“They expect you to do the job of five or six people but pay you for one.” Sen. Lakesia Collins, D-Chicago, said at the rally. Prior to joining the General Assembly, Collins was a CNA in nursing homes.

As the legislation stagnates at the Capitol, hospital workers and advocates said they plan to keep organizing and sharing their stories. They said they're calling on lawmakers to prioritize frontline health care workers and the patients who depend on them.

Grace Friedman is a student in the Medill Illinois News Bureau, a program at the Medill School of Journalism that provides local news outlets with state legislature and government coverage. She can be reached at gracefriedman2025@u.northwestern.edu.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

This article first appeared on Capitol News Illinois and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.


Happy days for homeschool parents, Illinois HB2827 stalls in the House


House Bill 2827 fails to pass Illinois House. Some Democrats spoke out against bill regulating Illinois homeschool practices while the sponsor says, "it is necessary to ensure homeschool children are protected."

Homeschool student studying with laptop
Photo: Steven Weirather/Pixabay

A young student does research on her laptop at home. According to opponents, House Bill 2827 creates a lot of red tape for homeschooled children. It would make schools pass records up through several layers of government and require tracking down families to review what they’re teaching and whether their kids are skipping school or not. The measure failed to make it out of the Illinois House on Friday.


By Greg Bishop .::. Associate Editor
The Center Square

SPRINGFIELD - Homeschool parents worried about the state of Illinois imposing regulations on the practice have a reprieve after the measure failed to advance.

House Bill 2827 accumulated tens of thousands of opponent witness slips filed against it since the measure was filed earlier this year. Sponsor, state Rep. Terra Costa Howard, D-Glen Ellyn, rose Friday to announce the bill isn’t ready, but said it is necessary to ensure homeschool children are protected.

“To the victims who are out there: We see you, we hear you and we will keep fighting for you,” she said.

Costa Howard said she was keeping the measure held on third leading into the Friday deadline to pass House bills to the Senate. She defended the measure, saying it does not mandate curriculum, but does require homeschool families to report to government officials that they homeschool, or they could face truancy charges.

“It truly is a simple form that can protect families from those nosey neighbors,” she said.

Homeschool parents worried about the state of Illinois imposing regulations on the practice have a reprieve after the measure failed to advance.


The fight isn’t over for opponents.

Tens of thousands of opponents filed witness slips against the measure since it was introduced earlier this year. Some Democrats spoke out against the measure, saying it could criminalize homeschool parents raising and teaching their children how they see fit.

Republican state Rep. Amy Elik said the bill was “doomed from the beginning.”

“A simple form was not so simple was it? It created burdens on families across Illinois, our entire school system,” Elik said, “and nobody seems to care that that was going to cost our schools and our families valuable resources that could be spent instead of fixing our public school system that often fails children.”

Elik said she’s glad the measure is being held, but she said the fight isn’t over for opponents.

“I can tell you our families still feel like they are under attack and walking on eggshells in Illinois,” she said. “That happens all the time in this chamber.”

The measure will be held, but could come back up in some fashion before the scheduled end of session May 31.

Legislators are off next week. The House returns April 22. The Senate returns April 29.


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Illinois House passes three bills, including measure to limit landlord fees


There was heated debate when lawmakers took up House Bill 3527 involving school mascots. Bill would prohibit schools from using a name, logo, or mascot that is derogatory or representative of a disabled individual or group.

Empty apartment
Photo: Max Vakhtbovycn/PEXELS

The Illinois House passed HB3564, which prohibits landlords from charge fees for the processing, reviewing, or accepting of an application, or demand any other payment, fee, or charge before or at the beginning of the tenancy. Landlords may not call the fee or charges something else to avoid application of these provisions. It also limits fees the total amount that can be collected for late fees.


By Kevin Bessler .::. Staff Reporter
The Center Square

SPRINGFIELD - It was a busy day for the Illinois House of Representatives Tuesday with a slew of bills passing through the chamber.

One measure, House Bill 3564, prohibits a landlord from imposing a move-in fee for renters. It also limits fees for the late payment of rent to a one-time $15 fee for every $1,500 of rent. Democratic state Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan, said that amount is pointless.

“As a landlord, I’m going to tell you that $15 is not punitive enough to force anyone to pay their rent on time,” said Mayfield. “We have a lot of problems with individuals who don’t want to pay their rent and having the ability to charge a daily late fee actually spurs them to pay their rent.”

The measure passed by a vote of 61-43 and is headed to the Senate for consideration.

There was heated debate when lawmakers took up House Bill 3527 involving school mascots. State Rep. Maurice West’s bill would prohibit schools from using a name, logo, or mascot that is derogatory or representative of a disabled individual or group.

“This is something that is exploiting a community and if there is an inkling of injustice somewhere, there’s a threat to justice everywhere,” said West, D-Rockford.

The particular school that drew West’s ire is Freeburg High School and their mascot the “Midgets”, a community several hundred miles from his district. The school is located in state Rep. Kevin Schmidt’s district, who said the community is proud of the mascot.

“It’s going to blow up,” said Schmidt, R-Millstadt. “It’s not going to have the effect that you want. This is a local issue, the local school board should be voting on it, not the state overreaching.”

The measure passed 71-38 and if passed by the Senate, the law would require schools to adopt a new mascot by Sept. 1st, 2028.

The House also approved the Illinois Sexual Assault Survivor Treatment Act in House Bill 2805 sponsored by House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, which prohibits insurance co-pays for sexual assault exams. The measure now heads to the Senate.


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