The End of Session, Part 2: Big New Bills 📃

Dear Neighbor,

Last week I shared some updates with you about the budget we passed in late May. Today, I’d like to describe a few major pieces of legislation we passed this spring session.

This was the first full legislative session since the mass shooting in Highland Park last July Fourth and the Halloween mass shooting on the West Side. We convened for a special session in January to pass a measure banning the sale of assault weapons, but we went a step further this year, passing a new law allowing lawsuits against gun manufacturers for marketing practices that encourage violence. 

It was also the first full session since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, so we continued legislating to protect abortion rights in Illinois. Specifically, we passed a measure cracking down on “crisis pregnancy centers” that deceptively pose as abortion clinics and then harass pregnant people to dissuade them from seeking abortion care. We also strengthened our protections for out-of-state abortion providers seeking to train or practice in Illinois, expanded access to cancer screens and early detection, and strengthened our “shield law” to protect people seeking medical abortion services.

Did you know that many public schools in Illinois still only have half-day kindergarten? Well, we’re changing that, requiring full-day kindergarten in every district by 2028. We’re also prohibiting book bans at local libraries, creating a new “racism-free schools” policy and strengthening anti-bullying protections at school. 

And a measure that I first introduced five years ago finally got passed — by a new legislator whose enthusiasm and persistence helped it finally get over the finish line. You might remember Martin Shkreli, the “Pharma bro” who increased the price of a lifesaving AIDS medication by 5,000% and went to jail for it.

Well, in 2018 I introduced the Pharmaceutical and Health Affordability: Restrictions on Manufacturers’ Amoral Behavior through Reasonable Oversight (PHARMABRO) Act to prohibit price gouging on generic and off-patent drugs. The pharmaceutical industry killed the bill that year, and in subsequent years as well, but this year, the prohibition was introduced by my colleague Rep. Nabeela Syed, a 24-year-old first-term Muslim-American legislator from the suburbs, and she finally got it passed. A huge win for Rep. Syed and for Illinois!

Another new legislator, Rep. Jenn Ladisch-Douglass, continued our longtime efforts to lower insulin prices by reducing the state’s monthly copay cap and creating a new insulin affordability program for uninsured Illinoisans that will launch in 2025.

We passed many more bills as well, and in next week’s update, I’ll focus on the measures that I introduced and passed this year.

 Until then, stay in touch—

Will