Working for Illinois Caucus

The Illinois Valley’s newest state representative calls the planned closure of Planned Parenthood in Ottawa a “setback for overall care in our community”.

The Democrat on Thursday says the Planned Parenthood clinic closure adds to the number of critical healthcare providers closing or reducing services in the Illinois Valley. That’s why she says her first piece of proposed legislation is to create a rural hospital task force. Briel says she will lean on local voices to review why hospitals and essential health services are closing with hopes of turning that trend around and instead start to expand and improve healthcare services.

Ottawa’s Planned Parenthood is one of 4 clinics in Illinois set to close in the coming weeks. While disappointed in that fact, Briel points out that women will still be able to access needed reproductive health medications because of expanded mail-order options.

84th District State Representative Stephanie Kifowit says she has remained busy during the break between the end of the lame duck session and the start of the spring session, mostly working on re-filing legislation that didn’t pass in the last General Assembly. Legislators had until Friday to submit re-filed legislation for review.

Kifowit spoke about some of the bills she is re-filing, including a bill that would assist reservists and National Guard members serving in elected positions in participating in meetings remotely when they are called into service.

"This could cause them to miss a meeting or a board meeting, whatever position that they are in. So I filed it last year, didn’t get called in the house, filing it again this year. It would amend the Open Meetings Act to allow reservists and National Guardmen to be able to participate remotely and vote remotely if they are serving their country on duty. So I think that’s the right thing to do. It allows the folks that elected them to be properly represented, and it allows that individual to do their job as an elected official."

Kifowit will serve on several committees for the 104th General Assembly, including leadership roles as the vice chairwoman of the Veterans’ Affairs committee and chairwoman of the Appropriations-Pensions and Personnel committee. She is also on the Personnel and Pensions and Appropriations-General Services committees.

The spring session for the 104th General Assembly is set to begin on Tuesday.

84th District State Representative Stephanie Kifowit says it was a much busier lame duck session held earlier this month than had been expected, as 24 bills were approved. She says a few of those bills were co-sponsored by her, including the Shabbona Lake State Park land transfer bill.

Kifowit says she has worked closely with Senate Bill 867’s other chief sponsors, including Rep. Will Gazzardi and Sen. Mark L. Walker, to return land that previously belonged to members of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation.

"It was very interesting to hear about their, just their history with regards to this land. So the land transfer is contingent on the state and the tribe executing the land management agreement, under which the park will continue to be operated at the park and open to the public, and certainly that has to be in the agreement. The Potawatomi Indians once occupied much of the Great Lakes region, but they were gradually displaced by the growing settlements of the Europeans."

Another bill Kifowit co-sponsored that was passed was House Bill 4781, also known as the Kinship in Demand (KIND) Act, which she says allows for a kin-first approach when placing children from abusive or neglectful situations in the foster system through the Department of Children and Family Services.

"What that means is if there’s a child in an abusive or neglectful household that needs to be removed from their parents, that the Department of Children and Family Services looks into placing them with an aunt, an uncle, a grandma, a kin immediately related to them. But in addition to that, they get the qualifying payments and assistance that that foster placements would get, the kin would get that as well."

Kifowit also noted other bills that were passed in the lame duck session, including adjustments to Karina’s Bill allowing for abuse victims with orders of protection to obtain a search warrant to seize weapons from alleged abusers, and SB 727, which requires the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to conduct additional statewide testing of community water supplies for dangerous chemicals like 1.3-Dioxane.

The 24 bills passed during lame duck are awaiting a signature from Governor J.B. Pritzker.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – State Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, will bring her decades of experience in the classroom and as a leader in education policy to discussions about strengthening Illinois’ public schools, retaining teachers and uplifting the needs of students and parents as chair of the House Elementary and Secondary Education: Administration, Licensing and Charter Schools Committee.

“I’m excited to examine the policies currently governing our classrooms, and look for innovative steps we can take to cut red tape, certify educators and get them teaching as quickly as possible,” said Scherer. “Having spent nearly 30 years in our local classrooms, I’ve seen how state policies can help educators and students succeed, and I’ve seen how it can hold them back. We must be open to reviewing these, and focus on what works for our students.”

Since 2019, Scherer has served as Elementary and Secondary Education: Administration, Licensing & Charter School Committee’s chairwoman. Since 2020, school districts have faced the difficulties of COVID-19, challenges with retention and recruitment of new educators, and other issues.

Special needs and bilingual students have been especially impacted by these shortages, with many unable to receive the type of instruction that their situation demands. For example, one-third of all vacancies are for special needs educators. Through a review of current policies and practices, Scherer plans to increase the number of teachers in Illinois’ schools along with the quality of instruction they provide.

“With over 90 percent of our schools facing a teacher shortage, it’s clear that this is an issue that affects all of us no matter where we live,” said Scherer. “Let’s come together, no matter the differences, to craft policies that uplift the profession, support our schools and give our students the world-class education they deserve.”

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — A new task force could be created to find out why rural hospitals are closing in a newly proposed plan.

The bill was filed by freshman Rep. Amy Murri Briel (D-Ottawa) who said in her district there have been four hospital closures in six years.

"Those of us who live in rural communities have been facing this crisis for ten years," Briel said. "No one has been able to figure it out or maybe there hasn’t been the will to do something about it."

The closing of rural hospitals is a national crisis, with many of these hospitals cutting services or closing due to profitability issues.

Another issue that plagues hospitals is the rise of ransomware attacks, cyberattacks that target hospital computers, lock access away from doctors and only return access after a fee has been paid.

One of the hospital closures in Briel’s district was from a ransomware attack. She hopes this plan will help find a way to strengthen hospital computers from these attacks.

“This feels to me like there is finally an opportunity to find what’s wrong and use the brightest minds I know Illinois has to come up with a solution to make it work," Briel said.

Spokesperson for Illinois Health and Hospital Association (IHA) Paris Ervin said that Illinois rural hospitals are vital to the Illinois state healthcare system.

"More than 1.6 million Illinoisans live in rural communities and rely on their local hospital as an important, and only often, source of healthcare," Ervin said. "IHA is reviewing House Bill 1301 and looks forward to working with Rep. Briel."

According to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, across the U.S. nearly 200 rural hospitals have closed in the past two decades.

Lawmakers could consider this bill when they return to Springfield next week

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Members of the 104th General Assembly are making final preparations for their upcoming spring session. 97th District State Representative Harry Benton says part of the process for representatives is committee assignments.

Benton says he will be a vice chair on a committee as a two-term representative, which will give him more responsibilities and help him collaborate with fellow lawmakers. Members submitted their committee requests last week and will get their assignments toward the beginning of the spring session.

Benton says with some new members to the General Assembly, there appears to be optimism for some effective bipartisan work.

"Just excited about the 104th, and I think we have some good new members and seems like people are working together. There’s…we’re starting to see a bipartisan support and a bipartisan trend going into the 104th with Speaker Welch appointing a Republican as a chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee. Dan Swanson is a really great guy, 27-year veteran. He cares about veterans, and I think he’s gonna be a great chair of that committee."

The spring session for the 104th General Assembly in Springfield is scheduled to begin on January 28.

Illinois District 72 Representative Gregg Johnson of East Moline is discussing his goals for the next term. The Quad City Democrat plans to focus on mental health coverage, cutting living expenses, and creating new safety codes for all Illinois workers.

“I’m really concerned that workers understand that there are rights as workers, but the ultimate right that workers have is that they are to go perform their duties and then go home in one piece at the end of the day back to their families,” said Johnson.

Johnson has created more opportunities for school social workers, more mental health scholarships for students and health care providers, and a structural design code for buildings and mines.

Johnson said that mental health has been on the back burner and wants to concentrate on it. “I don’t feel like we’re particularly here in the quad cities able to address this situation unless we take an all-hands-on deck approach right now I’m just not seeing that. We have to double down.” 

He says some progress has already been made but will take a long time to undo. “Every single year, we’re going to have to look for things that we’ve done to make things better, but we are going to have to work hard for the next fifteen, twenty years on all of these issues to truly get where we need to be.”

Johnson wants to address the bills he wasn’t able to get passed last term, such as a prescription drug affordability board and continuing protection for Illinois workers. Johnson is continuing to look for more opportunities in scholarship programs and nonprofit organizations.