Last week the House was in session; the Senate wasn’t. The Senate is in this week; the House is out. Then both chambers come back and are in pretty continuously until May 31.

The House basically held appropriations hearings during the week. The House supermajority also fast-tracked and passed HJRCA 28, sending it over to the Senate.

HJRCA 28 is the Democrats’ effort to lock their race-based approach to redistricting into the Illinois Constitution. It would turn our current gerrymandered map into quite the monster. Since the US Supreme Court appears likely to overturn race-based standards soon, Illinois Dems want to preserve its unfairness as best they can. They fear the Court’s decision will dilute their minority strength.

So if the Senate passes it by a 3/5 margin, HJRCA 28 will go on the November ballot for Illinois. If approved by 60% of voters, it would be inserted into the Illinois Constitution. But it’s murky whether it will survive a legal challenge. Some people say it will absolutely be unconstitutional; some say it’s wordsmithed to technically get around the US Supreme Court’s expected ruling. So it’s up in the air. The commonly-held view, though, is HJRCA 28 will be unconstitutional.

A few House bills will be heard in Senate Committees this week. However, a number of House bills we’ve been working against that came over to the Senate are not posted for a hearing this week. They have one more week after this to pass them out of committee.

Please File Witness Slips for These Bills

Witness Slip Instructions

Click on the witness slip link for each bill.

• • Fill out your personal information.
  • Under Firm/Business/Agency, Title, Representation, type “self” or “NA” if you are not representing an organization and do not have a title.
  • Under Position – Add Legislation, select Original Bill, unless otherwise noted.
  • Under Add Position, select Oppose. Then click Add Position. (Your position will then appear in the box to the right with a red circle and an x inside of it.)
  • Select Record of Appearance Only.
  • Check that you agree to the ILGA Terms of Agreement.
  • Check that you aren’t a robot.
  • Click Submit Witness Slip.

HB 4536 — Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago): another part of the school-based mental-health framework where teachers and administrators are trained to view students, families, discipline, identity, and social conditions through a state-approved therapeutic/equity lens.

HB 4536 re-classifies school “trauma-informed practices” to make it anything the left wants. It broadens the definition of trauma to include early relational trauma, caregiver separation, disrupted attachment, prolonged instability, racism, discrimination, lack of supports, identity development, and “systemic and historical oppression.” The bill is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday, April 28 at 2:00 PM in Room 212 Capitol.

Click HERE to file a witness slip in OPPOSITION to HB 4536.

Click HERE to email your state senator to OPPOSE HB 4536.

HB 4606 — Cristina Castro (D-Elgin): This is the universal newborn home-visiting bill. In plain English: the State is building the framework for government-supported home visits after birth, tied to mental health, lactation, substance use, social determinants of health, community referrals, and future data systems.

It also creates a permanent DHS administrative home and statewide infrastructure for newborn home visits, screening, referrals, data collection, future funding priorities, and coordination with public-health/social-service stakeholders. Big Brother wants to make sure you raise your child the way they see fit. The bill is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Health & Human Services Committee on Wednesday, April 29 at 3:30 PM in Room 400 Capitol.

Click HERE to file a witness slip in OPPOSITION to HB 4606.

Click HERE to email your state senator in OPPOSE to HB 4606.

HB 4834 — Adriane Johnson (D-Waukegan): removes testosterone, mifepristone, misoprostol, GnRH analogues, and estrogen from the Prescription Monitoring Program, a state-run system that lets doctors and pharmacists see what drugs a patient has already been prescribed, mainly to prevent abuse and dangerous interactions. But in this case, to remove all records of transgender hormone therapy and medical abortions. These prescriptions will no longer be tracked or visible to other providers plus it requires deleting some existing testosterone prescription records.

This is a dangerous bill, according to State Representative Bill Hauter, MD, who said doctors won’t have this critical information, which can be a matter of life or death in some instances. The bill is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Executive Committee on Wednesday, April 29 at 2:30 PM in Room 212 Capitol.

Click HERE to file a witness slip in OPPOSITION to HB 4834.

Click HERE to email your state senator to OPPOSE HB 4834.

THANK YOU!