Chicago City Wire

Sara Feigenholtz introduced SB1510 in the Illinois Senate on Feb. 4, 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 Nursing Education Scholarship Law. Creates the Nurse Educator Scholarship Fund as a special fund in the State treasury. Provides that all money in the Nurse Educator Scholarship Fund shall be used, subject to appropriation, by the Department of Public Health to provide scholarships to nurse educators. Provides that each fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2025, the State Comptroller shall transfer $1,500,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Nurse Educator Scholarship Fund to implement the nurse educator scholarship provisions. Makes a conforming change in the State Finance Act. Amends the Nurse Practice Act. Provides that, for fiscal year 2026 and for each fiscal year thereafter, $6,000,000 (instead of $4,000,000) of the moneys deposited in the Nursing Dedicated and Professional Fund each year shall be set aside and appropriated to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission for nursing scholarships awarded pursuant to the Nursing Education Scholarship Law. Effective immediately."

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 Nursing Education Scholarship Law to establish the Nurse Educator Scholarship Fund in the Illinois State Treasury. The fund will be used by the Department of Public Health to provide scholarships to nurse educators. Starting July 1, 2025, the State Comptroller will annually transfer $1.5 million from the General Revenue Fund to the Nurse Educator Scholarship Fund. The bill increases the annual allocation from the Nursing Dedicated and Professional Fund to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission for nursing scholarships from $4 million to $6 million, effective fiscal year 2026. Scholarships, awarded for up to three years and prioritizing applicants based on financial need, merit, and nursing experience, come with an employment obligation that must be fulfilled within a specified period post-graduation. The act takes effect immediately upon becoming law.

Sara Feigenholtz has proposed another 11 bills 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
SB1510	02/04/2025	Amends the Nursing Education Scholarship Law. Creates the Nurse Educator Scholarship Fund as a special fund in the State treasury. Provides that all money in the Nurse Educator Scholarship Fund shall be used, subject to appropriation, by the Department of Public Health to provide scholarships to nurse educators. Provides that each fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2025, the State Comptroller shall transfer $1,500,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Nurse Educator Scholarship Fund to implement the nurse educator scholarship provisions. Makes a conforming change in the State Finance Act. Amends the Nurse Practice Act. Provides that, for fiscal year 2026 and for each fiscal year thereafter, $6,000,000 (instead of $4,000,000) of the moneys deposited in the Nursing Dedicated and Professional Fund each year shall be set aside and appropriated to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission for nursing scholarships awarded pursuant to the Nursing Education Scholarship Law. Effective immediately.
SB1507	02/04/2025	Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. In a provision regarding automated speed enforcement systems in safety zones, provides a safety zone may, upon completion of a crash study, include a portion of Lake Shore Drive if the Chicago Department of Transportation designates an area of it as a high crash corridor.
SB1508	02/04/2025	Amends the Children and Family Services Act. Requires the Department of Children and Family Services to, no later than July 1, 2026, establish the Office of Alumni Support (Office) to provide assistance, guidance, and support to any former youth in care needing or requesting assistance, guidance, or support. Provides that the Office shall link former youth in care to existing supports, determine what additional supports are necessary to improve outcomes for former youth in care based upon identified needs, including researching existing evidence-based and evidence-informed practice models of providing assistance to former youth in care, and implement necessary changes to provide the additional supports. Provides that current and former youth in care shall provide input, guidance, and direction on the establishment and operation of the Office. Sets forth a list of stakeholders the Department shall engage with when developing the Office. Creates the Former Youth in Care Crisis Support Services Program for the purpose of providing former youth in care in crisis immediate funds to address urgent needs, including, but not limited to, emergency housing, healthcare, food, transportation, and items urgently needed to maintain the former youth in care in a work or educational setting. Provides that the Office of Alumni Support shall manage and operate the program. Requires the Department to submit quarterly progress reports to the General Assembly on the establishment of the Office. Requires the Auditor General to conduct a performance audit to determine if the Department is meeting the requirements of the amendatory Act. Provides that the performance audit shall be conducted 2 years after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Effective immediately.
SB1509	02/04/2025	Amends the Medical Assistance Article of the Illinois Public Aid Code. In provisions concerning Medicaid Access Adjustment payments to nursing facilities, provides that, for dates of service beginning July 1, 2025, the Medicaid Access Adjustment shall be increased to $5.75. Effective immediately.
SB1511	02/04/2025	Appropriates $1,000,000 from the Education Assistance Fund to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission for grants to eligible nurse educators to use for payment of their educational loans pursuant to Public Act 94-1020. Appropriates $1,000,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Board of Higher Education for nurse educator fellowships to supplement nurse faculty salaries. Appropriates $1,500,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Board of Higher Education for competitive grants for nursing schools to increase the number of graduating nurses. Appropriates $6,000,000 from the Nursing Dedicated and Professional Fund to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission for expenses related to the Nursing Education Scholarship Law. Effective July 1, 2025.
SB1559	02/04/2025	Amends the Department of Transportation Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Requires the Department of Transportation to conduct a traffic study following the occurrence of any crash involving a pedestrian fatality that occurs at an intersection of a federal or municipal highway.
SB1560	02/04/2025	Amends the Interagency Children's Behavioral Health Services Act. Requires the Department of Human Services, in coordination with a statewide association representing a majority of hospitals, to establish and offer a voluntary training that will be recorded and made available on the Department's website to all hospital social workers, clinicians, and administrative staff to inform them of BEACON, a centralized resource for Illinois youth and families seeking services for behavioral health needs, with the goal of encouraging families to seek assistance through BEACON and the Interagency Children's Behavioral Health Services Team. Provides that the training shall include how families and hospital staff can access BEACON, the process once a case is entered into BEACON, and State and community programs accessible through BEACON. Amends the Medical Assistance Article of the Illinois Public Aid Code. Requires a psychiatric hospital to contact a youth or the youth's parents, guardian, or caregiver about the BEACON portal (rather than the Family Support Program and the Specialized Family Support Program) prior to referring the youth to the Department of Children and Family Services because the youth was left at the psychiatric hospital beyond medical necessity. Amends the School Code. Requires the State Board of Education, in consultation with the Children's Behavioral Health Transformation Team in the Office of the Governor and relevant stakeholders, to report its work and make available resource materials, including model policies and guidance informed by a phased approach to implementing universal mental health screening in schools. Requires the State Board of Education to report its work by September 1, 2026. Provides that mental health screenings shall be offered by school districts to students enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12, at least once a year, beginning with the 2027-2028 school year.
SB1584	02/04/2025	Amends the Educator Licensure Article of the School Code. Requires the State Board of Education to allow an individual who has received a short-term approval license under the Illinois Administrative Code to extend the validity of the short-term approval license beyond the expiration date if the individual has taken leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. Requires the State Board of Education to allow an extension beyond the expiration date equal to or greater than the number of days the individual took for leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.
SB1382	01/29/2025	Amends the Motor Fuel Tax Law. Provides that "motor fuel" means all volatile and inflammable substances, whether in liquid or gaseous form (currently, volatile and inflammable liquids). Provides that incidental use of motor fuel on private roads or private highways in the operation of a motor vehicle does not constitute a "purpose other than operating a motor vehicle upon the public highways" and does not form a basis for a claim for refund. Effective immediately, except that certain provisions take effect January 1, 2026.
SB1383	01/29/2025	Amends the Condominium and Common Interest Community Ombudsperson Act. Repeals the sunset of January 1, 2026. Effective immediately.
SB1384	01/29/2025	Amends the Illinois Promotion Act. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the short title.
SB1385	01/29/2025	Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the short title.
SB1278	01/28/2025	Amends the Cemetery Oversight Act. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the short title.
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.