Chicago City Wire

Mattie Hunter introduced SB2475 in the Illinois Senate on Feb. 7, 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 Department of Human Services Act. In provisions concerning death reports investigated by the Department of Human Services' Office of Inspector General, provides that death reports with no allegation of abuse or neglect shall only be released to the Secretary of Human Services and to the director of the facility or agency when a recommendation is made. Provides that unredacted investigative reports may be shared with the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Amends the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act. Provides that the Department of Human Services shall operate and maintain an Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education-Wood for the education of individuals who are blind, visually impaired, or DeafBlind and are seeking competitive integrated employment. Makes conforming change to the School Code. Amends the Community-Integrated Living Arrangements Licensure and Certification Act. Removes all references regarding the operation of community-integrated living arrangements for the supervision of persons with mental illness. Amends the Early Intervention Services System Act. Extends early intervention services to children who have been found eligible for early childhood special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and have an individualized education program. Amends the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code. Adds physician assistance to the list of medical professionals listed under the definition of "qualified examiner". Adds advanced practice psychiatric nurse to several provisions listing medical professionals making mental health determinations. Makes conforming changes to the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act. Amends the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act. Removes a requirement that a person witness the signing of a consent form. Repeals provisions in the Department of Human Services Act, the State Finance Act, and the Illinois Income Tax Act concerning the Autism Research Checkoff Fund. 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 various Illinois statutes and regulations, focusing on mental health, developmental disabilities, and related services. It revises protocols for sharing unredacted death and investigative reports among state departments and eliminates specific references to mental illness supervision within community-integrated living arrangements. The bill establishes an Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education-Wood for individuals who are blind, visually impaired, or DeafBlind, enhances early intervention services for eligible children, and adds physician assistants to the list of medical professionals eligible for specific tasks. It also repeals references to the Autism Research Checkoff Fund. Effective immediately upon becoming law, it mandates quality reviews for Individualized Family Service Plans and updates the list of disqualifying conditions for firearm ownership under mental health statutes.

Mattie Hunter has proposed another five bills since the beginning of the 104th session.

Hunter graduated from Monmouth College in 1976 with a BA.

Mattie Hunter is currently serving in the Illinois State Senate, representing the state's 3rd Senate District. He replaced previous state senator Elga L. Jefferies in 2003.

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
SB2475	02/07/2025	Amends the Department of Human Services Act. In provisions concerning death reports investigated by the Department of Human Services' Office of Inspector General, provides that death reports with no allegation of abuse or neglect shall only be released to the Secretary of Human Services and to the director of the facility or agency when a recommendation is made. Provides that unredacted investigative reports may be shared with the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Amends the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act. Provides that the Department of Human Services shall operate and maintain an Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education-Wood for the education of individuals who are blind, visually impaired, or DeafBlind and are seeking competitive integrated employment. Makes conforming change to the School Code. Amends the Community-Integrated Living Arrangements Licensure and Certification Act. Removes all references regarding the operation of community-integrated living arrangements for the supervision of persons with mental illness. Amends the Early Intervention Services System Act. Extends early intervention services to children who have been found eligible for early childhood special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and have an individualized education program. Amends the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code. Adds physician assistance to the list of medical professionals listed under the definition of "qualified examiner". Adds advanced practice psychiatric nurse to several provisions listing medical professionals making mental health determinations. Makes conforming changes to the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act. Amends the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act. Removes a requirement that a person witness the signing of a consent form. Repeals provisions in the Department of Human Services Act, the State Finance Act, and the Illinois Income Tax Act concerning the Autism Research Checkoff Fund. Effective immediately.
SB2476	02/07/2025	Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act. Creates a credit in an amount equal to 20% of the qualified conversion expenditures incurred by a taxpayer for a qualified converted building. Effective immediately.
SB2477	02/07/2025	Amends the Illinois African-American Family Commission Act, the Asian American Family Commission Act, and the Illinois Latino Family Commission Act replacing current provisions in those Acts with the following: Makes a grammatical correction to the title of the Illinois African-American Family Commission Act and to other provisions of the Act, and makes conforming changes in the Violence Prevention Task Force Act, the Commission on Children and Youth Act, the Commission to Study Disproportionate Justice Impact Act, the Advisory Commission on Reducing the Disproportionate Representation of African-American Children in Foster Care Act, the Commission to End Hunger Act, the Racial and Ethnic Impact Research Task Force Act, and the Commission on Equity and Inclusion Act. Provides that each Commission shall advocate for policies, programs, and services that promote greater equity and inclusion in State government. Provides that the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Minority Leader of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives shall each appoint 3 members to each commission (with the term of a member of any of the Commissions serving on the effective date of the amendatory Act ending on the effective date of the amendatory Act), and each Commission membership shall appoint the chairperson or chairpersons. Provides that the organizational meeting of each Commission shall take place after all members are appointed but no later than 60 days after 50% or more of the members on the Commission have been appointed. Provides that the Lieutenant Governor's Office shall provide administrative support for the Commissions (rather than the Commission on Equity and Inclusion providing general oversight of the operations of the Commissions). Provides that the Lieutenant Governor's Office may receive funding through appropriations made available for use on behalf of the commissions. Provides that the Office shall expend funds set aside for the Commissions at the direction of the Commissions. Effective immediately.
SB2478	02/07/2025	Creates the Utility Data Access Act. Requires the Illinois Commerce Commission to enact the following procedures: (1) a utility shall retain all consumption data for a period of not less than 2 years; (2) a qualified utility shall retain monthly consumption data used for billing for a period of not less than 15 years; (3) a utility shall honor an account holder's request to transmit the account holder's covered usage data held by the utility to any entity designated by the account holder; (4) a qualified data recipient with respect to a qualified building or qualified property may request that a qualified utility provide aggregated usage data for the qualified building or qualified property; (5) a utility shall deliver requested data on a schedule set by the Commission; and (6) the account holder request process and utility delivery of requested data shall be convenient and secure. Establishes requirements for: the Commission's participation in a stakeholder process; the form and timeline in which covered usage data is provided to the data recipient; entry of data into the benchmarking tool; and the provision of covered usage data to recipients upon account holder authorization. Provides that, except in cases where the utility has not followed processes established by the Act or the utility is grossly negligent, the utility shall be held harmless for third-party misuse of data shared under the Act and no cause of action may be initiated against the utility for such subsequent misuse. Provides that prior to filing for cost recovery, a qualified utility must first demonstrate good faith efforts to secure federal, State, or other relevant funding options. Sets forth provisions regarding funding for the Commission to carry out its responsibilities under the Act and the Commission selecting and engaging outside consultants with experience in benchmarking and utility data access. States findings. Defines terms.
SB2479	02/07/2025	Amends the Consumer Installment Loan Act. Provides that the certified database provider shall indemnify the licensee against all claims and actions arising from illegal or willful or wanton acts on the part of the certified database provider. The certified database provider may charge a fee not to exceed the lesser of $1 or 0.1% of the loan principal for each loan entered into the certified database. Prohibits the database provider from charging any additional fees or charges to the licensee. Effective immediately.
SB2480	02/07/2025	Creates the Illinois African American Commission Act, the Illinois Asian American Commission Act, and the Illinois Latino Commission Act. Establishes a new Illinois African American Commission, Illinois Latino Commission, and Illinois Asian American Commission. Provides that the purpose of these Commissions is to be an independent voice for their communities, represent community priorities, and advocate for policies, programs, and services that promote greater equity and inclusion in State government. Repeals the African American Family Commission Act, the Latino Family Commission Act, and the Asian American Family Commission Act.
SB1911	02/06/2025	Amends the Property Tax Code. Provides that a county opting out of the special assessment programs to reduce the assessed value of certain residential real property shall not disqualify or shorten the maximum eligibility periods for any property approved to receive a reduced valuation prior to the county opting out. Requires that the special assessment programs be available to all qualifying residential real property regardless of whether or not the property has or is currently receiving any other public financing or subsidies or subject to any regulatory agreements with any public entity, or both. If an owner is approved for the reduced valuation prior to December 31, 2037 and the provisions are not subsequently extended, this shall not disqualify or shorten the maximum eligibility periods for any property approved to receive a reduced valuation. Provides that, if the chief county assessment officer has not created application forms, the chief county assessment officer shall make publicly available and accept applications forms that shall be available to local governments from the Illinois Department of Revenue. If a county Internet website exists, the application materials, as well as any other program requirements used by the county (such as application deadlines, fees, and other procedures required by the application) must be published on that website, otherwise it must be available to the public upon request at the office of the chief county assessment officer. On an annual basis, requires the Illinois Housing Development Authority to calculate and make available on its website the minimum per square foot expenditure requirements to be applicable statewide to be eligible for the reduced valuation, which shall include the historical annual expenditure requirements starting with calendar year 2021. Changes reference to improvements to existing residential real property to substantially rehabilitated residential real property. Makes other changes.
SB1912	02/06/2025	Amends the Underserved Health Care Provider Workforce Act. Changes the definition of "designated shortage area" to mean an area designated as a medically underserved area or a health professional shortage area (rather than a physician shortage area, a medically underserved area, or a critical health manpower shortage area). Changes the term "eligible medical student" to "eligible student", and includes in the definition of that term a person who is studying optometry in an optometry college or institution located in Illinois and that a person may agree to practice full-time in a designated shortage area as an optometrist or anesthesiologist one year for each year he or she is a scholarship recipient. Includes a rural health center, a federally qualified health center, a federally qualified health center look alike, and an optometric office in the definition of "medical facility". Includes an optometrist in the definition of "eligible health care provider". Includes an obstetrician or gynecologist in the definition of "primary care physician". Includes loan repayment recipients in a provision regarding scholarship recipients who fail to fulfill specified obligations, and provides that the amounts paid by these scholarship or loan repayment recipients shall be deposited into the fund where the payment originated from (rather than the Community Health Center Care Fund). Repeals a different provision defining "primary care physician". Effective January 1, 2026.
SB1913	02/06/2025	Amends the Child Care Act of 1969. Provides that an entity that contracts with the Department of Children and Family Services, the Department of Early Childhood, a child care facility, or a non-licensed service provider to provide a service that places the entity's employees in a child care facility shall require each employee who is placed or will be placed in such a facility to undergo a criminal background investigation. Provides that each entity shall submit an applicable employee's fingerprints to the Illinois State Police in the form and manner prescribed by the Illinois State Police. Sets forth provisions concerning the processing of an employee's fingerprints and actions that the Illinois State Police shall take regarding the criminal background investigation. Provides that information concerning the convictions of an entity's employee who is placed or will be placed in a child care facility and who is investigated, including the source of the information and any conclusions or recommendations derived from the information, shall be provided, upon request, to such entity and the entity's employee prior to final action by the Department of Children and Family Services or the Department of Early Childhood under the agencies' respective authority on the application. Sets forth provisions concerning the transmission of information about an employee's criminal charges and the protection of confidential information. Provides that any employee of the Department of Children and Family Services, the Department of Early Childhood, the Illinois State Police, or a child care facility receiving confidential information who gives or causes to be given any confidential information concerning any criminal convictions of an applicant, employee, or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider or an employee who is placed in a child care facility by a contracted entity, shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor unless release of such information is authorized by the provisions concerning criminal background investigations.
SB1301	01/28/2025	Amends the Deposit of State Moneys Act and the Public Funds Investment Act. Provides that the State Treasurer or any public agency may consider the current and historical ratings that a financial institution has received under the Illinois Community Reinvestment Act when deciding whether to deposit State or public funds in that financial institution. Provides that, effective January 1, 2026, no State or public funds may be deposited in a financial institution subject to the Illinois Community Reinvestment Act unless either (i) the institution has a current rating of satisfactory or outstanding under the Illinois Community Reinvestment Act or (ii) the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has not yet completed its initial examination of the institution pursuant to the Illinois Community Reinvestment Act. Makes conforming changes. Effective January 1, 2026.
SB1302	01/28/2025	Repeals the Senior Citizens and Persons with Disabilities Property Tax Relief Act and removes all cross-references to the Act in various statutes. Amends the Illinois Act on the Aging. Requires the Department on Aging to implement and administer the Benefits Access Program and to establish the eligibility criteria under the program for: (1) the Secretary of State with respect to reduced fees paid by qualified vehicle owners under the Illinois Vehicle Code; (2) special districts that offer free fixed route public transportation services for qualified older adults under the Local Mass Transit District Act, the Metropolitan Transit Authority Act, and the Regional Transportation Authority Act; and (3) special districts that offer transit services for qualified individuals with disabilities under the Local Mass Transit District Act, the Metropolitan Transit Authority Act, and the Regional Transportation Authority Act. Sets forth household income eligibility limits and other eligibility requirements under the program. Authorizes the Department to adopt rules concerning automatic renewals and appeal rights under the program. Makes corresponding changes concerning the program to the Metropolitan Transit Authority Act, the Local Mass Transit District Act, the Regional Transportation Authority Act, the Illinois Public Aid Code, the Older Adult Services Act, and the Illinois Vehicle Code. Further amends the Illinois Act on the Aging by removing a requirement that the Department: (i) study the feasibility of implementing an affirmative action employment plan for the recruitment, hiring, and training of persons 60 years of age or older; and (ii) develop a multilingual pamphlet to assist physicians, pharmacists, and patients in monitoring prescriptions provided by various physicians and to aid persons 65 years of age or older in complying with directions for proper use of pharmaceutical prescriptions. Adds a requirement that the Department implement the Older Americans Act. Removes provisions requiring a Community Care Program Medicaid Initiative and a Community Care Program Medicaid Enrollment Oversight Subcommittee. Makes other changes.