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Keep ROFR And Anti-Competitive Language Out Of The Energy Bill
Monday, Oct 27, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] Voters and the Governor already rejected lawmakers’ push for anti-competitive “Right of First Refusal” (ROFR) bills that handed transmission contracts to incumbent utilities. Now, the same principles that would raise costs on ratepayers are back. They are trying to rebrand ROFR and pretend it’s about protecting Illinois. As energy legislation is finalized in Springfield this month, let’s keep ROFR and anti-competitive language out of bill. Let’s remember Illinois voters:
• 76% say anti-competition laws only strengthen utilities, not citizens. • 75% say ending competition drives up prices and kills savings. The message is clear: voters want more competition, not less. Voters’ concerns about higher energy prices are only on the rise. Since this poll, they’ve endured a sizzling summer with skyrocketing prices, and a new report says the cost of heating a home this winter is expected to jump nearly 8%. Voters have made their voice clear: Say no to energy inflation. Don’t hand more power and control to ComEd and Ameren. Say no to ending cost-cutting competition. And say yes to policies that provide lower cost to consumers.
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When RETAIL Succeeds, Illinois Succeeds
Monday, Oct 27, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] Retailers take risks. Eric Williams, founder of Hyde Park’s The Silver Room, wants politicians and policymakers to know most retailers open their stores out of passion and to fill a creative need, not to become wealthy. Located on Chicago’s South Side, the Silver Room is part clothing boutique, part music venue, part community hub, and part artists’ studio. The Silver Room is as diverse as the community it serves. Findings of a recent economic study are clear: the retail sector is a cornerstone of the state’s economy and crucial to our everyday lives. Retail in Illinois directly contributes more than $112 billion in economic investment annually – more than 10 percent of the state’s total Gross Domestic Product. Policies that support small businesses help communities thrive as retailers like Eric are better equipped to meet local needs. We Are Retail and IRMA are showcasing the retailers who make Illinois work.
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Critical 340B Program Needs Federal Reforms
Thursday, Oct 23, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] A federal program created in 1992 to support safety-net clinics with the care they provided to uninsured patients is being abused by for-profit pharmacies and large hospital systems. The 340B program has become a cash cow with profits flowing away from the very patients and communities the program was meant to help. Reform at the federal level is critical to ensure that the 340B program works as it was intended by providing necessary funds to safety-net clinics that serve some of the neediest patient populations in Illinois and across the country. Multiple investigations have found that the program has created perverse incentives for hospitals to prescribe more and higher-cost medicines, as well as buy up smaller independent clinics and practices to benefit from their prescriptions as well. Meanwhile for-profit pharmacies are making millions of dollars off hospitals, with no requirements to provide low-cost medicines to patients. Sisters Working It Out supports reforms that increase transparency and improve oversight to help return 340B to its original purpose of helping low-income patients and the safety-net clinics they rely on. Congress must act to reform this critical federal program.
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What Illinois Can Learn From Texas On Battery Energy Storage
Thursday, Oct 23, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] As Illinois confronts skyrocketing electric bills, legislators are on the hunt for solutions that provide relief as quickly as possible. Battery energy storage is our best and most cost-effective solution. But last session— without evidence —opponents attempted to claim that battery energy storage wouldn’t work. Try telling that to Texas, where the rapid deployment of battery storage has already prevented blackouts and saved consumers billions. Called “Ground Zero for the US Battery Boom” by Bloomberg, Texas added enough storage in 2023 to power 3 million homes and drop grid emergency risk during peak hours from 16% to less than 1%. The result? Storage saved consumers an estimated $750 million in 2024. Texas has proven that storage is the quickest, cheapest, most reliable way to get consumers relief from skyrocketing, demand-induced price spikes. Storage is a nimble way to address growing populations, power-hungry data centers, and meet other electrification-related power needs. These are benefits Texas saw from storage even as the state reduced its gas generation capacity by 166 MW last year. Illinois lawmakers should follow Texas’s lead and pass the Clean and Reliable Grid Act this fall to deploy 6GW of energy storage by 2035. Click here for more information.
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The Truth About 340B: Protecting Patient Access To Discounted Rx Drugs And Essential Healthcare Services
Thursday, Oct 23, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] Drugmakers are making it harder for patients and hospitals to access discounted medication through the federal 340B program, which requires pharmaceutical companies to lower the cost of certain drugs for hospitals caring for the state’s most vulnerable residents. The Patient Access to Pharmacy Protection Act (HB 2371 SA 2) will protect 340B and its positive impact on individual lives. The 340B program is critically important for Illinois’ Safety Net and Critical Access Hospitals that predominantly serve Medicare, Medicaid and uninsured patients. Of the 100 Illinois hospitals participating in 340B, 70% are Safety Net or Critical Access Hospitals. Instead of supporting patients, Big Pharma has been promoting false narratives about 340B. Here’s the truth:
• Big Pharma supported Congressional expansion of 340B in 2010. • Laws like HB 2371 SA 2 have passed nearly 20 states. • HB 2371 SA 2 does NOT require a state appropriation. • 340B providers must meet rigorous requirements and undergo regular audits. Because of drugmaker restrictions, hospitals operating on thin margins face cutting services unless action is taken by the General Assembly. Protect patient access to comprehensive healthcare services and discounted drugs. VOTE YES on HB 2371 SA 2! Learn more.
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