Chicago City Wire

Sara Feigenholtz introduced SB0102 in the Illinois Senate on Jan. 17, 2025, during the general assembly session 104, according to the Illinois General Assembly.

According to the Illinois General Assembly site, the legislature summarized the bill's official text as follows: "Amends the Nurse Practice Act. Ratifies and approves the Nurse Licensure Compact, which allows for the issuance of multistate licenses that allow nurses to practice in their home state and other compact states. Provides that the Compact does not supersede existing State labor laws. Provides that the State may not share with or disclose to the Interstate Commission of Nurse Licensure Compact Administrators or any other state any of the contents of a nationwide criminal history records check conducted for the purpose of multistate licensure under the Nurse Licensure Compact."

The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.

In essence, this bill amends the Nurse Practice Act to ratify and approve the Nurse Licensure Compact, facilitating multistate licenses for nurses, allowing them to practice in their home state and other compact states. The Compact aims to enhance public health and safety, promote uniformity of nurse licensure requirements, enable interstate practice, and ease licensure redundancies. It includes provisions for sharing licensure information among states while safeguarding the confidentiality of criminal history records, and emphasizes adherence to state labor laws. The bill establishes processes for license application and renewal, and sets guidelines for adverse actions on multistate licenses. Furthermore, a coordinated licensure information system will be maintained, and an Interstate Commission of Nurse Licensure Compact Administrators will be created to oversee implementation. The effective date of the Compact depends on legislative enactment by at least 26 states or a specific date, with provisions for withdrawal by states if needed.

Sara Feigenholtz has proposed one other bill since the beginning of the 104th session.

Feigenholtz graduated from Northeastern Illinois University in 1979 with a BA.

Sara Feigenholtz is currently serving in the Illinois State Senate, representing the state's 6th Senate District. She replaced previous state senator John Cullerton in 2020.

Bills in Illinois follow a multi-step legislative process, beginning with introduction in either the House or Senate, followed by committee review, floor debates, and votes in both chambers before reaching the governor for approval or veto. The General Assembly operates on a biennial schedule, and while typically thousands of bills are introduced each session, only a fraction successfully pass through the process to become law.

You can read more about bills and other measures here.

Bill Number	Date Introduced	Short Description
SB0102	01/17/2025	Amends the Nurse Practice Act. Ratifies and approves the Nurse Licensure Compact, which allows for the issuance of multistate licenses that allow nurses to practice in their home state and other compact states. Provides that the Compact does not supersede existing State labor laws. Provides that the State may not share with or disclose to the Interstate Commission of Nurse Licensure Compact Administrators or any other state any of the contents of a nationwide criminal history records check conducted for the purpose of multistate licensure under the Nurse Licensure Compact.
SB0103	01/17/2025	Amends the Adoption Act. Provides that a person may commence an adoption proceeding for a youth in care only if the youth in care is placed with the petitioning person or persons by the Department of Children and Family Services at the time the petition is filed, and the Department has provided its consent to the adoption or has otherwise approved the adoption. Requires the Department to adopt rules or procedures or both as to what constitutes its approval of the adoption. Provides that a person whose rights have been terminated under the Juvenile Court Act of 1987 does not have to be made a defendant in a petition for adoption. Provides that the following persons must be given notice of a petition for adoption unless the person has been determined not to be a parent of the child or has had parental rights terminated by a court of competent jurisdiction: (i) any person who is recorded on the child's birth certificate as the child's parent; (ii) any person who is openly living with the child or the child's mother at the time the proceeding is initiated and holds out the child as that person's child; (iii) any person who has been identified as the child's parent by the mother in a written, sworn statement, including an Affidavit of Identification; or (iv) any person who was married to the child's mother on the date of the child's birth or within 300 days before the child's birth, unless that person has been determined not to be the parent of the child or has had parental rights terminated by a court of competent jurisdiction.
SB0104	01/17/2025	Amends the Adoption Act. Provides that in request for a confidential intermediary by an adoptive parent or legal guardian of an adopted or surrendered person under the age of 21, the appointment of the confidential intermediary may include, for the purpose of exchanging medical information, identifying information or arranging contact with a mutually consenting adoptive parent or legal guardian of an adopted or surrendered person under the age of 21 who is biologically related to the petitioning adoptive parent's or legal guardian's adopted or surrendered child. Provides that the confidential intermediary shall disclose identifying information about the adult adopted or surrendered person that would have been reflected on the original filed certificate of birth under certain circumstances. Moves a provision regarding records a confidential intermediary has access to from a Section concerning the Illinois Adoption Registry and Medical Information Exchange to a Section concerning confidential intermediaries.
SB0105	01/17/2025	Amends the Open Meetings Act. Provides that for a 3-member body, 2 members of the body constitute a quorum, and the affirmative vote of 2 members is necessary to adopt any motion, resolution, or ordinance unless a greater number is otherwise provided. Provides that a Chicago Police District Council may hold a closed meeting involving public safety concerns to discuss (i) an ongoing, prior, or future law enforcement or official misconduct investigation or allegation thereof involving specific individuals or (ii) other topics that if discussed in an open meeting would pose an unreasonable risk to an ongoing criminal investigation or an unreasonable risk to the safety of specific individuals. Provides that an agenda for each regular meeting of a public body must be posted the principal office of the public body if such an office exists. Provides that if a public body has a website that is maintained by its full-time staff but does not have a principal office or single building where meetings are regularly held, that body is deemed to have complied with the requirement to post physical notice at the office or building of the meeting if the notice is timely posted on the public body's website. Excludes from the definition of "meeting" for a Chicago Police District Council a gathering of 2 members, except if gathered for a regularly scheduled meeting or otherwise gathered to adopt any motion, resolution, or ordinance. Provides a Chicago Police District Council may hold meetings by audio or video conference without the physical presence of the members under certain conditions except for required regularly scheduled meetings.