In an effort to address the teacher shortage at public schools, Sen. Erica Harriss' House Bill 1297 would allow teachers the ability to buy up to two years of service credit at a private or parochial school from the Teachers Retirement System.

“This bill is a good step in allowing teachers the flexibility to move from the private sector into public schools and buy back their time in the retirement system,” said Senator Harriss. “With the current law set to expire June 30th, this legislation is merely an extension of a sunset now set for 2028 if signed into law.”

Sen. Seth Lewis passed various bills that are now on their way to the Governor for final action, including two that seek to protect cancer patients.

House Bill 3202 mandates insurance coverage for home saliva cancer screening tests every two years for at-risk individuals in the state.

House Bill 2799 requires insurance companies and managed care plans to provide coverage for medically necessary proton beam therapy for the treatment of cancer, and prohibits insurers and managed care plan providers from requiring a higher standard of clinical evidence deeming the proton beam treatment necessary.

You can read about additional legislation from Sen. Lewis at the button below.

Too often child victims are traumatized again by the criminal justice system, which is why Sen. Chapin Rose passed a bill, House Bill 2607, which would create a legal mechanism to allow victims under the age of 13 to testify outside the courtroom, with the testimony shown in the courtroom via a closed-circuit television system.

“This is an important layer of protection for children who have been victims of the worst types of crimes, who would be re-victimized all over again by having to speak about the worst moments of their life in front of a courtroom of strangers, while their abuser stares them down,” said Rose. “This won’t fix the trauma for the family that brought this to my attention; but, I hope that it will help them find justice as they will now know that their efforts will help future victims of abuse.”

Parents of special needs children are required to make many, often serious, decisions about their children’s healthcare, a job that only gets harder if they can’t get access to test results and other medical records. In Illinois, sometimes those parents aren’t able to get access, even if the records are from tests and procedures that required the parents’ consent to be performed. 

Sen. Steve McClure passed legislation through the General Assembly designed to help with this issue. Senate Bill 188 closes the loophole for special needs children ages 12 – 17, which received great praise from parents like Deborah Gossrow.

“There aren’t enough words to express my gratitude for the Senator’s generosity in agreeing to side with me on creating amendments to which will ultimately secure the goal of recognizing this being in the best interest of both the child and their family in more than one capacity," said Deborah Gossrow, a constituent who brought the issue to Senator McClure.