Latest news with #SenateExecutiveCommittee
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
IL State Senator advances measure for extended leave for parents
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — An Illinois State Senator advanced a measure to protect leave for workers whose newborns need intensive care after birth. Under Senator Bill Cunningham's measure, employees of companies between 16-50 workers would be eligible for a maximum of 10 days of unpaid leave while their baby is in a NICU, while those working for companies with 51 or more employees would be eligible for up to 20 days. Sonya Massey bill passes House, heads to Governor's desk This leave would be on top of the protections under the Family and Medical Leave Act and ensures continued health insurance coverage and job protection throughout the entire leave period. 'Parents shouldn't have to choose between keeping their job and sitting by their baby's side in the NICU,' Cunningham said. 'This measure provides working people the breathing room they need during a medical crisis.' Cunningham is a Democrat who represents parts of Chicago and the Southwest Suburbs. His nephew was born prematurely and was placed in the NICU for months. IL State Senator pushing ban of 'bait-and-switch' gym membership sales tactic 'No parent should face punishment for doing what's right for their child's health,' Cunningham said. House Bill 2978 passed the Senate Executive Committee on Wednesday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Illinois senate leaders split on community college bachelor's degree plan
Two Democratic leaders in the Illinois Senate openly expressed their disagreement this week about Gov. JB Pritzker's proposal to allow community colleges to offer four-year bachelor's degree programs in certain high-demand employment fields. The exchange between Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, of Westchester, and Sen. Cristina Castro, of Elgin, who chairs the powerful Senate Executive Committee, took place during a hearing on an unrelated bill that would overhaul the way Illinois funds public universities. But it offered a public view of the reasons why the baccalaureate proposal, which Pritzker touted in his budget address in February, has so far failed to advance in the General Assembly. Both the university funding proposal (Senate Bill 13 and House Bill 1581) and the community college proposal (HB 3717 and SB 2482) are intended to stem the spiraling cost to students and their families of obtaining a four-year college degree. The funding proposal calls for increasing state funding for universities to reduce their reliance on tuition and fees. The community college proposal is intended to make certain four-year degrees available through lower-cost institutions and more accessible to older, nontraditional students who don't live near a four-year institution. The university funding plan, sponsored by Lightford, was the subject of a Senate committee hearing Wednesday. The bill allowing community colleges to offer four-year baccalaureate degrees did not advance out of a House committee before a March 21 deadline. During Wednesday's hearing, Lightford appeared with a panel of university presidents from Chicago State, Western Illinois, Illinois State and Northern Illinois universities, and the Southern Illinois University System – all of whom support the funding proposal but oppose the community college baccalaureate plan. 'If we're thinking about students' basic needs, we also need to be thinking about the students that don't necessarily go to the four-year schools,' Castro said to the panel. 'If students are really the focus, why are you guys opposed to the (four)-year baccalaureate degrees?' 'I'd like to answer your question, madam chair, because I believe it has zero to do with what we're trying to accomplish here,' Lightford replied. She said the university funding proposal was the product of four years of negotiations that were intended to address a specific set of issues facing universities – namely, the adequacy and equity of their funding systems. The community college proposal, she argued, would draw students away from universities that are already struggling to maintain enrollment levels. 'Community college students need to stay at the two-year community college level, and then students who are going for a bachelor's degree should stay at the university level,' Lightford said. 'Because what happens is, when you begin to offer four-year programs at a two-year school, those students who would traditionally go to the four-year university, we'll lose those students to the community college level.' During the exchange with Castro, Lightford referred to the community college proposal as 'your bill,' even though Castro is not listed as a sponsor or cosponsor of the Senate version. Castro corrected Lightford, saying: 'To be fair, it is the governor's bill. This is one of his initiatives that he has been working on.' But Lightford said the governor 'doesn't push a button on the floor or in a committee.' 'I like the governor,' she said. 'He's probably my favorite. … But this isn't that bill.' Dan Mahony, president of the SIU System, added that he does not oppose the concept of community colleges offering bachelor's degrees, and said negotiations are continuing on that proposal. He said he wants to make sure the final plan 'doesn't pit our universities and community colleges against each other in a way that's unproductive and not good for taxpayers and not good for students.' 'We want to do something that actually is productive, and that's what we're working towards, and we'll continue to work towards,' he said
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Illinois Sen.'s Sonya Massey bills advance through committee
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — State Senator Doris Turner's two measures in response to the murder of Sonya Massey advanced on Thursday. Both measures passed through the Senate Executive Committee on April 3. Senate Bill 1953 would require law enforcement to conduct a more comprehensive review of a prospective officer's past employment to ensure their physical and psychological fitness for duty as a police officer before making any offer of employment. IL DCFS attorney fired after report claims she worked at bank 'on State time' To guarantee the highest level of integrity and professionalism in the hiring process of sheriff's deputies and other personnel, the legislation would expand the creation of sheriff's merit boards as well as sheriff's merit commissions for counties with a minimum population of 75,000. 'Sonya's tragic murder brought to light the unjust hiring practices within the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office,' Turner (D-Springfield) said. 'The legislative measures come from conversations with state and county officials, law enforcement and community members. We have to take the necessary steps to ensure this never happens again.' On top of this, Turner is leading Senate Bill 1954 which would allow a county board to place a referendum creating a recall process on the ballot for the 2026 General Election. If a majority of votes approve the referendum, the county will adopt a recall process for countywide elected officials. Crime Stoppers offering more money for Wyndham hotel vandalism tips In order to recall a countywide elected official, electors of the county would be required to submit petitions containing signatures equal to at least 15% of the total votes cast for governor in the preceding election. Both Senate Bill 1953 and Senate Bill 1954 passed the Senate Executive Committee and are now headed to the full Senate. 'Our community needs to have trust in those who are elected to serve,' Turner said. 'My hope is that these measures will honor Sonya's life by showing our commitment to enhancing that trust. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Chicago Tribune
06-03-2025
- Health
- Chicago Tribune
Hearing on ‘right to die' bill put on hold as legislators work on changes
SPRINGFIELD — A hearing on legislation that would allow terminally ill people to end their lives with the help of a physician was postponed Wednesday as lawmakers sought more time to refine the proposal, which advocates are again pushing after failing to get a version through the General Assembly last year. The measure would legalize medical aid in dying, often referred to as physician-assisted suicide or medically-assisted death, allowing mentally competent, terminally ill adults the right to access life-ending prescription medication. If a bill is passed this year and signed by Gov. JB Pritzker, Illinois would join 10 other states, among them Oregon, California, Colorado and Hawaii, as well as Washington, D.C., in allowing medical aid in dying. The legislation, filed by state Sen. Linda Holmes, an Aurora Democrat, was pulled from the agenda of a Senate Executive Committee hearing as lawmakers sought to add at least one amendment. Details over how the bill would be changed were not clear. The measure is opposed by disability rights advocates and the Catholic church, which say it could lead to discrimination, coercion and abuse. Some medical practitioners also are against it. Holmes offers personal reasons for backing the measure, as both of her parents died of cancer, including her father when she was 15. 'It was horrific to watch a vibrant 6-foot man waste away to 90 pounds at the end of his life, and the suffering that was obvious and apparent was devastating,' Holmes said in an interview with the Tribune last month. As written before Wednesday's scheduled hearing, the legislation would be reserved for Illinois residents who are deemed to have six months or less to live. A doctor would be required to provide 'sufficient information' to a patient for 'all appropriate end-of-life care options, including comfort care, hospice care, palliative care, and pain control, as well as the foreseeable risks and benefits of each.' A written request for the life-ending medication would have to be filled out by the patient and witnessed by at least two people 'who attest that to the best of their knowledge and belief the patient has mental capacity, is acting voluntarily, and is not being coerced or unduly influenced to sign the request.' One of the witnesses cannot be a relative, someone entitled to their estate, a representative from the patient's health care provider, their attending physician at the time of the signed request or, if applicable, their interpreter, under the bill. If doctors have doubts over whether the patient has the mental capabilities to determine their fitness for end-of-life medication, they must refer the patient to a licensed mental health professional to assess their mental capability. Holmes proposed an almost identical bill last year, but never called it for a committee hearing, saying her goal was merely to start discussions. This year, she said she will push the bill, saying it has garnered additional support from legislators and constituents. Among backers is the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. 'I would hear from people, and I'd be sitting in my office, fighting back tears, because you hear all these stories,' Holmes said in the interview. 'I think it was important for me to hear them, just so I had a good understanding of what we were doing and how people were really feeling about this.' Deborah Robertson testified during a legislative hearing on the bill last month that treatments for her rare and aggressive neuroendocrine carcinoma are limited. She said she's watched others with her diagnosis 'struggle in the pain … until they've taken their last breath,' and that she finds 'a level of comfort' in dying on her own terms. 'I deserve options to enjoy the time I have left with my loved ones and friends, and not worry about how my death will occur,' Robertson said. 'It's the last bit of control I have.' At a news conference Wednesday, Jules Good, who studies disability policy, spoke out against the legislation, noting that many disabilities can become terminal due to lack of access to appropriate care. She said there's been a push for some doctors to reclassify treatable conditions, such as anorexia, as terminal in order to give their patients the option to pursue an end-of-life method. 'As someone in recovery from anorexia nervosa, which threatened my life and has permanently damaged my body, I cannot overstate how dangerous this is. When I was at my lowest, if a doctor had told me I could just end it all, I absolutely would have,' Good told reporters. 'It is only through years of compassionate treatment, therapy and support that I'm able to stay up here today and say that I'm in recovery.' 'While the stated intent of this bill is to let people who are truly terminally ill to choose how, where and when to die, its impact would extend far beyond this population because of the systemic inequities of our health care system,' she said. Another opponent, Sebastian Nalls, a health care and home and community-based services analyst, said medical aid in dying 'provides another barrier and another hurdle' for these patients with disabilities.
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Lawmakers weigh whether to legalize ‘medical aid in dying'
CHICAGO — Lawmakers are considering legalizing a controversial medical practice that proponents say could ease suffering for the terminally ill. It's sometimes called 'assisted suicide,' although physicians and advocates for the practice prefer the term 'medical aid in dying,' or MAID. While Compassion & Choices — a group that advocates for medical aid in dying policies — found a majority of Illinois voters supported legalizing MAID in a 2023 poll, some critics call the process 'barbaric.' The measure, contained in Senate Bill 9, is being backed by Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora, who told her Senate colleagues at a hearing Friday that she supports the proposal because of her parents' deaths. Both her mother and father died after extended battles with cancer. 'You think the toughest thing you go through is watching somebody die, and you know what? It's not,' Holmes said. 'It's not as tough as watching somebody you love suffer and there's nothing you can do to ease that suffering. That is the hardest thing I've ever gone through.' Holmes' proposal would legalize MAID — a process where a doctor prescribes but does not administer a lethal combination of drugs — for patients whose doctors determine have less than six months to live due to a terminal illness. The patient then administers the drugs on their own at a time of their choosing. The bill contains several safeguards to prevent abuse, according to its proponents, including a waiting period to receive a prescription, a requirement that the patient receive a terminal diagnosis from two doctors, a requirement that patients prescribed lethal medication have sufficient 'mental capacity.' Friday's meeting of the powerful Senate Executive Committee was a 'subject matter' hearing, meaning no vote was taken. The bill will need more committee hearings, a vote in both legislative chambers and approval by the governor before becoming law. Ten other states and Washington, D.C., have all legalized some form of medical aid in dying. Oregon was the first state to legalize MAID in 1994. Advocates for the proposal include patients with terminal illnesses, people whose loved ones used the procedure in other states and doctors who specialize in end-of-life care. In 2022, Deb Robertson of Lombard was diagnosed with neuroendocrine carcinoma — a rare and aggressive form of liver cancer. She asked lawmakers to give her 'permission' to take her own life. 'It would give me the option to die peacefully and on my own terms,' Robertson said. 'There's a level of comfort in that.' Diana Barnard, a doctor in Vermont who offers MAID prescriptions, said most patients have 'a very clear understanding' of what's an acceptable quality of life as they approach death. 'We have now 27 years of national experience with the practice that really shows these laws are working well,' Barnard said. But the medical practice is controversial among doctors and disability activists. Benjamin German, a doctor on the West Side of Chicago, said the 'problem' with the bill was its safeguards. 'For some of my patients, these safeguards will be just tight enough for lawmakers to assume things will be okay and amply generous to allow abuse to happen,' German said. 'People and organizations looking for ways to exploit this law, I fear, will find a way.' Disability advocates, meanwhile, say they worry about medical professionals mischaracterizing illnesses as terminal, misdiagnosing people or pushing vulnerable or marginalized people to consider ending their own life. 'As someone with a disability myself – I use a wheelchair – I can say firsthand that my life is often viewed as something to pity and not something to cherish,' Riley Spreadbury, an independent living advocate from Joliet, said. 'It's sentiments like these that make me incredibly concerned regarding Senate Bill 9.' MAID is also opposed by groups that express a 'consistent life ethic,' meaning they object to abortion, capital punishment, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. Those groups include the Catholic Church and non-religious groups such as Illinois Right to Life. 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. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
