A health care overhaul that represents the fourth and final piece of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus’ social justice agenda is headed to Gov. J.B. Pritzker after being approved Thursday in the state Senate.
The bill, approved last week in the Illinois House, follows Black Caucus-backed measures addressing criminal justice, education and the economy that were approved during the General Assembly’s January lame-duck session and signed into law by Pritzker.
Separate legislation that would allow for permanent use of ballot drop boxes — introduced for the November election due to health concerns during the coronavirus pandemic — also received final approval in the Senate on Thursday after being approved in the House last week.
The health care legislation, approved along party lines in the House and with a lone Republican yes vote in the Senate, is designed to address racial disparities in the state’s health and human services systems, problems that have been highlighted by COVID-19, said state Sen. Mattie Hunter, a Chicago Democrat who sponsored the bill.
“It is imperative that the General Assembly and the people of Illinois recognize racism as a core fault of the current health and human services system so that we can begin to repair it,” Hunter said.
The legislation would permit workers to use their sick days to care for a parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandparent or stepparent; require Medicaid to cover doula services for pregnant women; and make implicit bias training a continuing education requirement for health care professionals, among a host of other changes.
Watch now: Washington distributing $11.5 billion in pandemic aid to farmers
Farmers are getting some help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.It will distribute $11.5 billion to support smaller farmers affected by the pandemic.The department also increased payments being made to cattle producers and farmers who grow crops, like corn and soybeans.
The measure also would create an anti-racism commission “to identify and propose statewide policies to eliminate systemic racism and advance equitable solutions for Black and Brown people in Illinois.”
Of more immediate impact, the legislation would extend a moratorium on hospital closures through the remainder of the coronavirus public health emergency.
Republicans said that while the legislation highlights many important issues, the cost to the state — which they pegged at $12 billion, based on an estimate from the Department of Healthcare and Family Services — is too high.
“We just can’t afford it, and that’s what it really comes down to,” said GOP Sen. Steve McClure of Springfield.
With the exception of a dementia training program for adult protective services workers, the programs created in the bill would have to be funded by the legislature through the normal budget process, Hunter said.
Pritzker’s office did not respond immediately Thursday to a request for comment on the legislation, but the Democratic governor has been a strong supporter of the Black Caucus agenda.
Most recently, he signed four bills Monday that make up the group’s economic platform, which included job protections for people with past convictions and a cap on interest rates on payday loans.
Pritzker previously signed and toured the state to support a criminal justice overhaul that includes an end to cash bail and an education bill that contains provisions to try to recruit more Black teachers.
Separately, a measure from Democratic Sen. Julie Morrison of Deerfield that would make secure ballot drop boxes and curbside voting permanent fixtures of Illinois elections received a handful of Republican votes as it passed 48-7 in the Senate on Thursday. That followed a party-line vote last week in the House.
The legislature approved the changes to make voting easier and safer during the pandemic but set them to expire after the November election.
Proponents of drop boxes say they are a convenient option for voters who have concerns about trusting their ballots to the Postal Service. Curbside voting, meanwhile, makes it easier for people with disabilities or health issues to cast ballots, supporters say.
It would be up to each of the state’s 108 election jurisdictions to decide whether to permit those forms of voting.
About half of local jurisdictions used drop boxes in November, said Matt Dietrich, a spokesman for the State Board of Elections, which was neutral on the bill.
After the previous law expired, the state election code became silent on whether drop boxes could be used in future elections, Dietrich said.
“They weren’t prohibited per se, but they also weren’t explicitly allowed,” he said.
The bill also makes permanent the requirement that election authorities accept mail-in ballots regardless of whether they are returned with sufficient postage.
If Pritzker signs the bill in time, the changes would be in effect for the upcoming April 6 municipal elections.
What to know about the coronavirus relief funding coming your way
What to know about the coronavirus relief funding coming your way
LIMITED SPENDING
Much of $1,200 checks issued in the first round, as part of the CARES Act, did not generate spending sprees. The National Bureau of Economic Research found that almost 60% of the money went to pay down debt or into savings.
Researchers at the University of Chicago found that households on average spent 40% of the first check, mostly for food, beauty items and other products that people hoarded in the early days of the pandemic. Little went to purchases like cars or appliances.
Economists reasoned that with lockdowns in place last spring, there were far fewer options for spending the money.
One other factor to watch this time, given the size of the checks: Economists say that the greater the check, the less likely people are to spend it.
BILL PAYING
A survey in early January by Bankrate.com found that 71% of people said the second-round $600 checks they expected to receive for every adult and dependent child in a household would only sustain their financial well-being for less than a month. Four in 10 people surveyed said they would put the funds toward monthly bills such as rent or mortgage payments and utility bills.
ERASING DEBT
Almost 5 million people in Illinois age 18 and older said someone in their house received a relief payment in the previous seven days, according to data collected by the Census Bureau between Feb. 17 and March 1. Of those who detailed their plans, almost 2.4 million said it would be mostly be used to pay off debt.
BUYING STOCKS
Some recipients have their eye on the stock market. A survey of 430 retail investors by Deutsche Bank last month found that half of those surveyed between the ages of 25 and 34 plan to buy stocks with half of their checks.
SAVING
With the third round of relief payments, Bank of America anticipates more of the funds will be saved in one way or another, not spent. In its survey of 3,000 people in late February, only 36% of respondents said they planned to spend the money. The rest had other plans: 9% planned to invest it, 25% would save it and 30% would use it to pay off debts.
It’s not good news for sellers of food, clothing and other necessities. Planned use of the money in those categories is anticipated to be down almost 5% from what people planned to do with the payments last year. One bright spot is vacation and travel, which saw big gains compared with earlier surveys but it was still a small part of overall picture.
Bank of America found that every household income group planned to save much more than normal. Among high earners, people with household incomes of more than $120,000, 79% said they either planned to save it, pay off debts or invest it. That same sentiment was echoed by 53% of people surveyed who had household incomes of less than $30,000. The lower-income group also reported the highest intentions of spending it on food, clothing and other needed purchasers.
