Illinois General Assembly bills relevant to women and girls

The Illinois General assembly has reconvened in Springfield for the 1999 spring session. WomanView will keep you abreast of some of the legislation relevant to women and girls. Depending on the legislation and its status, you may be asked to make calls, or send letters or faxes to the Governor, state legislators, bureaucrats, or others to voice your opinion. Hearing from constituents is an important part of the legislative process and can make the difference in passing or defeating a bill. Your calls, petitions, etc., made a big difference last session.

The following bills are just a handful of the thousands of bills now pending in the General Assembly—some are good for women and girls and deserve your support; others not. If you would like to know more information about any of these bills, contact Wendy Pollack at 312.263.3830 ext. 238.

H.B. 72, sponsored by Schoenberg (D), creates the Freedom of Choice Act. This act ensures that Illinois will not put any more restrictions on a woman’s right to choose to terminate a pregnancy than there are in federal law.

H.B. 709, sponsored by Cowlishaw (R), would overturn a state court decision, Doe v. Wright, which held that the state of Illinois must pay for Medicaid recipients’ abortions that are necessary to protect a woman’s health. The bill would limit payment by the state of abortions only if they are necessary to preserve a woman’s life.

H.B. 796, sponsored by Hannig (D), would require a woman to have a 24-hour waiting period before undergoing an abortion.

H.B. 597, sponsored by Hamos (D), amends the Illinois Insurance Code to require insurers to cover contraceptives on a basis equal to any other prescription drug covered by the insurance policy.

H.B. 2, sponsored by Madigan (D), creates the Illinois Family and Medical Leave Act. It contains provisions similar to those in the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, except that it applies to employers with 25 or more employees instead of 50 or more. H.B. 122, sponsored by Schoenberg (D), is the same language.

H.B. 154, sponsored by Tim Johnson (R), would require insurers to cover all FDA-approved drugs for the prevention or treatment of breast cancer and for computer-aided diagnosis of breast cancer and all nutritional and dietary therapies for breast cancer. Also, coverage for some investigational cancer treatments. The bill would create a Breast Cancer Treatment Advisory Committee made up of General Assembly members who have knowledge of breast cancer treatment procedures.

H.B. 172, sponsored by Lang (D), would require employers to grant an employee up to eight hours’ leave per year to accompany the employee’s child to visits with a health care provider.

H.B. 392, sponsored by Jones (D), would prohibit the use of handcuffs, leg irons, or any other restraints while transporting pregnant female prisoners to a medical facility for the purpose of delivering her baby or while she is in labor.

H.B. 485, sponsored by Ronen (D), creates the Children’s Product Safety Act.

H.B. 596, sponsored by Hamos (D), would require all hospitals to conduct hearing screenings of all newborn infants.

H.B. 579, sponsored by Schoenberg (D), and H.B. 626, sponsored by Flowers (D), are different versions of a patients’ bill of rights within a managed health care system.

H.B. 650, sponsored by Lindner (R), adopts the Family Violence Option (FVO), a state option in the federal welfare reform law. The FVO allows states increased flexibility in applying requirements of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program to families affected by domestic violence.

H.B. 854, sponsored by Gash (D), would allow a victim of sexual assault or abuse to request to have a court order entered to seal the records of the court in connection with the proceedings of the trial court.

H.B. 1188, sponsored by Myers (R), creates the Address Confidentiality for Victims of Domestic Violence Act. Domestic violence victims would be able to apply to have an address designated by the Attorney General serve as their address for purposes of service of process and receipt of mail.

H.B. 1272, sponsored by Scully (D), requires a person convicted of domestic battery be sentenced to a minimum of 24 hours of imprisonment.

H.B. 474, sponsored by McKeon (D), amends the Illinois Human Rights Act by making it illegal to discriminate against an individual based on her or his sexual orientation.

H.B. 540, sponsored by Schmitz (R), requires the Department of Human Services to create a Web page containing information on selected individuals who are in arrears in their child support obligations.

H.B. 885, sponsored by Coulson (R), provides that for purposes of enforcement of a child support order, a transfer of money or property made by the person owing the child support is fraudulent if the transfer is made with the intent to defraud the person due the child support (usually the custodial parent) or if the transfer is made without receiving equivalent value for the money or property.

H.B. 1186, sponsored by Bellock (R), allows alimony and child support court orders to include a cost-of-living adjustment. Currently court orders must have an exact dollar amount, and this requires going to court to request any increase in the amount of the support.

H.B. 1233, sponsored by Hamos (D), requires the Department of Public Aid to pay interest on child support collected but not distributed in a timely manner to custodial parents.

H.B. 586, sponsored by O’Brien (D), would reduce the copayment fee, create a Task Force on Child Care Rates, and set aside funds to enhance the quality and supply of child care.

H.B. 671, sponsored by Pankau (R), changes the standard on which a court may restrict reasonable visitation from "endanger seriously" the child’s health to "endanger" the child’s health and gives guidelines on when temporary supervised visitation may be awarded; denies visitation to noncustodial parents or other relatives who have been convicted of any offense involving an illegal sex act regardless of the age of the victim or a violent felony while incarcerated or on parole, etc.; allows a revocation of visitation if the court determines that the person granted visitation chronically failed to comply with the visitation order of the court.