* WBEZ…

When West Suburban Medical Center abruptly closed its doors temporarily last month, saying it had run out of cash to pay staff, there was little warning for thousands of patients and hundreds of employees.

Illinois regulators tasked with overseeing hospitals had little power to stop it. They also might not be able to keep open some of the dozens of other safety net hospitals around the state that mostly treat low-income and immigrant communities amid federal changes next year that could drastically reduce how much money medical centers get paid.

But two Democratic state lawmakers are proposing legislation to help the state better prepare. Bills from state Sen. Laura Fine and state Rep. Robyn Gabel would require all hospitals to file plans with the state in case they close or scale back services to make sure patients don’t fall through the cracks. For-profit hospitals owned by investors, like West Suburban, also would have to give the state a deeper look into their finances. Now, that’s largely shielded from the public. […]

The plans would include everything from who owns the hospital, to how to safely transfer patients to other hospitals if their owners temporarily suspend services or close. Hospitals would need to identify potential gaps in services they would create, and what would happen to their employees and medical trainees. Hospitals that don’t comply would be fined no more than $500 a week, or just over $25,000 a year.

* Sun-Times…

The Illinois House passed a bill Wednesday restricting future immigration detention centers from being built near community buildings.

The bill would bar the placement of immigration detention centers within 1,500 feet of schools, churches, day care centers, cemeteries, public parks, forest preserves, private residences and public housing. Existing detention facilities like the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview would not be affected by the legislation.

After passing out of the House along partisan lines with support from Democrats and opposition from Republicans, the bill now goes to the Illinois Senate. […]

Republican House Floor Leader Patrick Windhorst, a lawmaker from Metropolis, raised concerns over the legislation’s legality and compared it to a California law, struck down in a federal court, that would have phased out private, for-profit prisons and detention centers.

[House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch] argued his bill would not meet the same fate, saying the California law was a ban, while this is only a restriction.

* Capitol News Illinois…

Illinois drivers who have their license suspended for speeding or reckless driving violations could have an alternative under legislation being considered in the Statehouse.

Rep. Marti Deuter, D-Elmhurst, is pushing a bill that would allow drivers to have a speed control device installed in their car rather than having their license suspended.

“Speeding is a chronic problem on our streets and is a threat to public safety,” Deuter told a House committee last month. “Speeding is a factor in nearly half of all deadly crashes. Risk of fatality increases as speed increases.”

Under House Bill 4948, drivers who have their license suspended following two infractions within 12 months for either reckless driving or speeding 26 mph or more over the speed limit would qualify to apply for a permit with the secretary of state’s office to join the program. If approved, they’d have to pay a $30 monthly fee to have the device installed in their car. Drivers would be required to use the device for one year after their first suspension, two years after their second suspension and three years after three or more suspensions. […]

The bill was approved unanimously by the committee but is still being negotiated before getting a full vote in the chamber. […]

Participants would still be subject to some prohibitions, however, such as driving a commercial vehicle or school bus. […]

Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, was among the lawmakers who participated in LifeSafer’s demonstration of the technology outside the Statehouse on Wednesday.

“It feels very natural and it also feels really safe,” Guzzardi told Capitol News Illinois. “You as a driver, you don’t notice it after a couple of minutes. You’re driving normally.”

* HB5011 passed the House unanimously yesterday. WTVO…

A proposed Illinois law would prevent police departments from evaluating officers based on traffic stops, tickets or citations.

House Bill 5011 would expand existing limits on police citation quotas by barring law enforcement from using the number of tickets or citations an officer issues when evaluating job performance.

Under current Illinois law, cities are prohibited from requiring officers to issue a specific number of citations within a set time period.

The new proposal goes further, preventing police departments from comparing one officer’s citation totals to another when conducting performance reviews.

* Center Square…

A longtime disability advocate in the statehouse, Rep. Charlie Meier, R-Okawville, gathered with advocates and parents Tuesday to speak about his proposed legislation that would address their perceived failings of the state’s Department of Human Services.

House Bill 5129 would prevent families or guardians of children with developmental disabilities from having to give up custody of their child in order to access more state services. […]

Meier spoke about additional legislation he’s proposed this session, calling on lawmakers to bring reform to the department.

Among them is House Bill 1122, which he said would make clarifications to current statutes requiring the department to review all emergency 911 calls stemming from community integrated living arrangements and other group living settings.

* WGLT…

GOP state lawmakers want to lower gas prices in Illinois as the price of gas has risen above $4 a gallon because of the war in Iran.

Republican state Rep. Ryan Spain, representing an area north of Peoria to the Iowa border, introduced the bill. He said Illinois puts more of a burden on its drivers by having two taxes on fuel.

“We imposed a motor fuel tax across the state that was adjusted 6 years ago, 7 years ago now, in 2019, but then we impose a sales tax on top of that motor fuel tax, a tax on a tax,” Spain said.

Spain said by pausing this tax it would give quicker relief to Illinois families. He added the bill would only pause the sales tax and not the motor fuel tax. […]

The bill has not been called for a vote, but Spain said the bill could fit into this year’s budget.

* Tribune…

Unlike the rest of Illinois, where a single statewide program governs school-based dental visits, Chicago runs its own parallel program jointly administered by CPS and CDPH. Across the rest of the state, providers mail permission forms asking parents to supply their child’s insurance information and may follow up if anything is missing. In Chicago, providers say they are barred from contacting parents to finalize incomplete forms. If a student’s insurance cannot be verified, the provider must treat the child free of charge — a policy that, compounded by low Medicaid reimbursement rates, can quickly render participation financially untenable. […]

The push in Springfield to fold Chicago’s program into the state version run by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services comes as the number of contracted dental groups in Chicago’s program has fallen to 10 from 17 in 2016, according to CDPH data. With fewer dental groups, the percentage of CPS students served by the dental program also fell to 16% in the 2024 school year from 28% in the 2016 school year. […]

CPS and CDPH said in a joint statement that the Springfield legislation would unnecessarily eliminate Chicago’s independence while removing important safety checks the city provides. […]

State Sen. Julie Morrison, D-Lake Forest, the bill’s chief Senate sponsor, said providers deserve more support than the city is offering.

“When you’ve got dentists who do not want to serve, who are not being given the information that helps them bill, and they’re expected just to do it for free or find out the Medicaid information themselves, that’s not supporting the dentists who are coming in to underserved neighborhoods,” Morrison said.

* Tribune…

The Illinois House on Wednesday passed a measure meant to encourage public high schools across the state to connect their students to organizations that will help them register to vote when they turn 18. […]

The bill, which passed by a 77-24 vote and now goes to the Senate for consideration, was inspired by Jackson, the civil rights leader who died Feb. 17 at 84. On the House floor, the legislation’s main sponsor uttered a variation of a famous Jackson line about young people and voting: “Senior high school graduation must be seen as a passage rite into adulthood. On that graduation day or night, we must put a diploma in one hand, symbolizing knowledge and wisdom, and put a voter registration card in that other hand, symbolizing power and responsibility,” state Democratic Rep. Kimberly Du Buclet said.

Meanwhile, some Republicans who opposed the bill raised concerns, including that there wouldn’t be parental involvement in guiding their high schooler’s decision to register to vote and that the decision could be influenced by “radical, activist teachers.” […]

However, state Rep. Will Davis, a Democrat from Homewood who voted for the bill, criticized Republican lawmakers who didn’t support a measure that would allow “younger people to get more engaged” in the democratic process.