The End of Session, Part 3: My Bills ✍️

Dear Neighbor,

As I wrap up my series of newsletters recapping the spring legislative session I know that many folks still have lingering questions on the budget, specific policy initiatives, and more. I invite you to bring your questions, and a friend or neighbor, to my upcoming Spring Session Recap Town Hall on Friday, July 7 from 5:30 - 7:30 PM at Kosciuszko Park, 2732 N Avers Ave.

I’ll be joined by our neighboring elected officials Rep. Jimenez and Sen. Aquino. Together we’ll take a deeper dive on some of the major pieces of legislation passed this session, share updates on the ongoing migrant crisis, and create space to answer questions and hear feedback from the community.

Make sure you RSVP to our upcoming town hall at:  bit.ly/LegislativeTownHall2023 

Last week I shared some of the important bills that passed the General Assembly this spring. For my final update on the session, I’d like to describe the bills that I sponsored and passed this year. They may not have grabbed headlines like the ones I discussed last week, but I want you to have a sense of the issues I’m passionate about and working hard on in the capitol.

As is often the case, many of my bills this year focused on labor rights and worker justice. I passed a measure providing landmark protections for freelance workers (see this great op-ed in the Sun-Times by a local freelancer about the bill). I also passed a bill that I’ve been working for over a year to hold employers accountable for gender violence committed by their employees — for instance, under this bill, the Chicago Park District could be held liable for allowing ongoing harassment of its lifeguards. Other bills I passed will guarantee the right of charter school teachers to unionize without management interference, and will ensure racial diversity in public infrastructure jobs.

In the area of criminal legal reform, our law books still had some outdated provisions referring to the death penalty, which were causing problems for some defendants. So I repealed antiquated death penalty provisions from the criminal code. With the help of some amazing youth policy advocates from Young Invincibles, I also passed a measure requiring appointment of people with lived experience in our criminal legal system to a board that makes decisions about that system.

Healthcare and crisis intervention were also key areas of focus for me. As you know, I’ve been working on insulin affordability for many years now. This year, we passed a measure lowering insulin copay caps for state insurance plans from $100 per month to $35 and creating a new insulin affordability program for uninsured illinoisans. I passed another measure expanding the use of fentanyl test strips to prevent accidental opioid overdose deaths. I guaranteed insurance coverage for prosthetic devices so that young people with limb loss can participate in athletic activities to keep them healthy and strong. And I created a working group to implement the new 988 crisis help line, ensuring that people know about it and that it works effectively in concert with our other crisis response systems.

I sponsored an important new consumer protection bill that will hold predatory debt collectors accountable to pay legal fees if they engage in wrongful legal action.  And in housing, we created a new task force to support community land trusts like Here To Stay, innovative housing models that create long-term affordability in gentrifying areas like ours.

One measure I sponsored this year that will continue to be a priority for me is a bill to crack down on excessive car insurance rate hikes and discriminatory rate setting. Illinois has historically been hands-off in regulating the auto insurance industry, at least compared to other states, and that has led to insurance rates rising a whopping $527 million since this January alone. My proposal would also ensure that car insurance companies don’t base their rate setting on non-driving factors such as gender, marital status, credit scores, schooling, zip code, and more. While we did not pass the bill in this year’s spring session, I look forward to continuing to work with advocates in the Coalition for Fair Car Insurance Rates to get this done. 

Click on the link above to watch a short video featuring testimony from our Subject Matter Hearing on my Fair Car Insurance Rate Bill (HB 2203)

Those 11 bills I sponsored were just a small sample of the hundreds of new laws enacted by the General Assembly this year. If you have a question about any of these, or any other issue you’re passionate about, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Sincerely,

Will