Illinois General Assembly Wrap-Up

The General Assembly adjourned on May 22. Here is the status of some of the bills introduced this session and reported in previous issues of WomanView.

H.B. 2439

H.B. 2491,

which aimed to require custodial parents to obtain court approval to change their children’s residence, did not pass. This bill is a great example of the influence calls from constituents to legislators can have on the legislative process. H.B. 2491 would have required custodial parents to obtain prior approval from a state court to move a child to a new residence if that new residence is over 100 miles from the residence of the child at the time of the last custody order, even if that residence is within the state of Illinois. The bill also would have required custodial parents to give noncustodial parents a minimum of 30 days’ notice of the intent to move residences.

Since it appeared at first that the senators on the Judiciary Committee were determined to pass this bill out of committee, Wendy Pollack and Margaret Stapleton of the Poverty Law Project (PLP) tried to work with the authors of the bill—members of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA)—to improve the bill. For example, PLP suggested avoiding the need to go to court (and the related need to hire an attorney) when there was no objection to the move or when the move would have no real impact on visitation (e.g., the noncustodial parent lives a great distance away). PLP also suggested alternate procedures in cases that involved domestic violence or child abuse so that the process would not impede an escape from abuse or in any way put women and children at further risk of harm.

PLP’s suggestions were not accepted by ISBA. Due to the voices of opposition heard from WomanView readers and others, support for H.B. 2491 by the Senate sponsor, Sen. Todd Sieben, and other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee waned. Senator Sieben did not call the bill to be heard by the Judiciary Committee, and it was assigned to a subcommittee, effectively killing the bill for the session.

A note of caution. The substance of this bill probably will resurface in future legislative sessions. If you are interested in this issue and would like to work with PLP on alternate language or strategies, please contact Wendy Pollack at 312.263.3830 ext. 238.

H.B. 3097

, the expansion of the unemployment insurance program, would have expanded eligibility for UI benefits to cover workers who lose their jobs due to a loss of child care and would cover more of the welfare-to-work group—those with only recent employment and those whose employment is mostly concentrated in one calendar quarter. H.B. 3097 was bottled up in committee and did not pass.

H.B. 3386

would have allowed families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to receive a $50 pass-through for each order on which child support is paid on behalf of the family (only one $50 pass-through per month per family is currently allowed). Also, it set up a pilot project to allow TANF families to keep $2 of every $3 in child support paid each month on their behalf. H.B. 3386 did not survive, but the state budget includes $50,000 to conduct a child support pilot project to test one of these ideas (details to come later).

H.B. 3427

passed both Houses and is awaiting the Governor’s signature. This bill, among other things, requires health insurance providers, including HMOs, to inform all females insured or enrolled of the right to designate an obstetrician or gynecologist as a principal health care provider and to provide a list of physicians specializing in obstetrics and gynecology from which women can make this choice. No insurer may restrict this right to designate an obstetrician or gynecologist as a principal health care provider.

H.B. 3446

, the Family Violence Option (formerly H.B. 3160 and S.B. 1374) would have helped domestic violence victims and survivors move from welfare to work. Although the House overwhelmingly voted in favor of this bill, it did not move out of the Senate Rules Committee because of opposition from Gov. Jim Edgar and Howard Peters, the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS).

H.B. 3447

would have allowed legal immigrants who enter the United States after August 22, 1996, and thus are excluded from receiving public benefits for the first five years in the United States by federal and state law, to receive benefits if they become victims of domestic violence in the United States. H.B. 3447 passed out of the House but did not move out of the Senate Rules Committee. However, PLP and other immigrant advocates are working with the Edgar Administration to include this provision as part of a package of immigrant initiatives that may be implemented.

S.B. 1215

provides that domestic battery and violations of an order of protection are Class 4 felonies if the defendant has any prior conviction for domestic battery, aggravated battery, stalking, aggravated stalking, or a violation of an order of protection. This bill passed both Houses and is awaiting the Governor’s signature.

S.B. 1350

creates special savings accounts called Individual Development Accounts (IDA). Low-income individuals may deposit earned income in the account, and the deposits are matched by the funds from the pilot project ($150,000 in state funds has been allocated). The individual may withdraw the money only to pay for particular purchases, such as home purchase, school, or business start-up. The bill awaits the Governor’s signature.

The Illinois State Board of Education’s Early Childhood Education Block Grant was increased by 15 percent for programs targeted at children under six. In fiscal year 1999 more than 20 million new dollars will be available to help children get ready to start school.