SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers passed two-dozen bills during their annual fall veto session that ended Friday, Oct. 31, including a measure that will empower the state’s Department of Public Health to issue vaccine guidelines amid federal uncertainty.
House Bill 767 would allow IDPH Director Sameer Vohra to issue state-specific guidelines while granting more authority to the Immunization Advisory Committee — a group of doctors, nurses and public health professionals who offer guidance to the director.
“This bill makes important changes that both codify the role of trusted experts in our vaccine recommendation process and ensure science-based vaccine access through Illinois-regulated insurance plans,” Vohra said in a news release.
The bill builds on an executive order Gov. JB Pritzker issued in September directing IDPH to develop vaccine guidelines. That directive came amid federal vaccine guideline changes initiated by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime skeptic of vaccine safety and efficacy.
Read more: Illinois to issue its own vaccine guidelines
Among those were the Food and Drug Administration’s decision in August to rescind emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines. That meant removing approval of the vaccine for children and adults ages 6 months to 64 years who have no underlying risk conditions. Kennedy also fired the agency’s director, Susan Monarez, and dismissed the entire board of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
“With this new authority for the Department of Public Health, Illinois is choosing to stand with decades of sound science, not RFK’s latest conspiracy theory,” said state Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, the bill’s chief sponsor.
The legislation still allows IDPH to take guidance from the federal government, but it also allows it to consider World Health Organization recommendations, the Immunization Advisory Committee, the IDPH medical director and “medical and scientific experts in the field of disease prevention.”
It passed on a party-line vote, with Republicans opposing it largely due to its political undertones. State Rep. Bill Hauter, R-Morton, a medical doctor, characterized it as “a Trump derangement syndrome bill.”
“We are pro-vaccination, but this bill makes sure that we can't vote for it because we have a bill that's signaling to their base how much they're battling the 'evil' Trump administration,” Hauter said.
The legislation would also require state-regulated insurance plans to continue to cover vaccines that are recommended by IDPH guidelines at no cost to patients regardless of federal guidance.
It would allow the advisory committee to override an IDPH director’s recommendations with a two-thirds vote. It also requires the agency to publish any guidance from the group on its website.
The bill to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk for consideration.
Lawmakers approve protections for public officials
State lawmakers also approved legislation aimed at protecting public officials from threats and harassment by allowing them to shield certain information, like phone numbers and home addresses, from public disclosure.
House Bill 576, sponsored by state Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, would allow state lawmakers, constitutional officers, state’s attorneys, public defenders, county clerks and other elected officials to request that government agencies, businesses and individuals redact or refrain from posting their personal information on public websites.
It would also allow a public official to use their campaign fund to pay for personal security and security upgrades to their home, including security systems, cameras, walls, fences and other physical improvements.
It comes amid a startling rise in violence and threats aimed at public officials.
Larger elections bill stalls
Meanwhile, a broader elections bill did not make it across the finish line for a second time.
House Bill 575, sponsored by state Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, among other provisions, would have mandated election authorities allow curbside voting for disabled people, universities to provide on-campus early voting and Election Day polling locations, and high schools to hold annual voter registration drives for seniors before graduation.
The bill would also have established a pilot program for universal vote centers, which are locations where people within an election authority can vote regardless of the precinct in which they are registered.
But the measure stalled due to concerns over language that would loosen fundraising restrictions on state legislators and statewide elected officials running for federal office.
State lawmakers presently can’t hold fundraisers on legislative session days or the day immediately prior. Under the proposed language, this would not apply for a federal fundraising event if it’s held outside of Sangamon County.
The change would have directly benefited a half-dozen state lawmakers running for Congress along with Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who is running for retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s seat. The primary election is March 17.
The bill was held up earlier this year due to pushback among House Democrats over a provision that would have allowed Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, to get out of a potential $10 million fine for accepting millions of dollars over campaign contribution limits during the 2024 election. The language was struck from the bill.
Gambling bill inches closer
A bill aiming to revive the state’s moribund horse racing industry passed the Illinois Senate but did not receive a vote in the Illinois House.
House Bill 2724, sponsored by state Sen. Patrick Joyce, D-Essex, would sunset the extraordinary power state lawmakers granted to Hawthorne Race Course in a 2019 gaming expansion law to veto any harness racetrack development within 35 miles of its existing track in Stickney.
This is intended to put pressure on Hawthorne to develop a harness racetrack and casino in southwestern Cook County or allow another developer to do it.
“They have yet to build a casino at their location in Stickney, and yet still have veto power over a racino in the south suburbs,” Joyce said, arguing that the veto power was given for good reason but not intended to last in perpetuity. “This bill is intended to help move the needle.”
The bill would also sanction a harness racetrack and casino in downstate Macon County.
The state's horse racing handle slid from $514 million in 2022 to $490 million in 2023 to $478 million in 2024, the lowest in 40 years, according to data from the Illinois Racing Board. And the number of foals being bred in Illinois has declined precipitously over the past few decades.
FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing in Collinsville, previously known as Fairmount Park, and Hawthorne are the only two tracks still operating in Illinois, with the latter the only one offering dates for harness racing. Famed Arlington Park closed in 2023 and has been demolished. The Chicago Bears have plans to build a new stadium there.
Advocates say new racinos could help revive the industry, with revenues from gambling partially going to increased purses at the tracks.
But gambling industry bills are never simple in Illinois due to many players often with competing interests. Hawthorne opposes the legislation and is seeking to maintain its veto power. Video gambling terminal operators in Decatur also oppose the racino, worrying it could cut into their margins.
The bill passed the Senate 49-8. It can be immediately voted on in the House when lawmakers return in January.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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