John, it's Sen. Robert Peters, and I'm proud to represent the 13th District in the Illinois State Senate.
You know me as a staunch advocate for cash bail reform and always standing with the people of Illinois. But this session, I worked on a lot of issues in the Senate to protect the people in our community
We may not have finished the session "on time" – but the delay was worth it. I helped send dozens of bills to the Governor's desk, but here are the big highlights that put our communities first in Springfield:
First: I sponsored Senate Bill 3646 to keep young people in our workforce safe. We already have child labor laws, but we're expanding them to all minors, not just those in conventional public or private educational institutions. Additionally, we're adding to the list of prohibited jobs for minors and jobs requiring adult supervision, and we're proposing increased penalties for violations.
Then: I introduced Senate Bill 3649 to ban captive audience meetings. Banning employer-led political, anti-union, and religious meetings helps to protect employee rights and promote healthy workplace environments in Illinois.
Next: I advanced the Healthcare Protection Act to curb predatory insurance practices. In the bill, we specifically targeted "ghost networks" – instances where insurance companies list providers who are not taking new patients, do not accept the patient’s insurance or are retired – and we extended the ban on unjustifiable insurance rate increases to large group plans in Illinois. This bill will ultimately improve healthcare accessibility and eliminate unnecessary barriers by banning prior authorization for mental health treatment and mandating the public disclosure of treatments requiring prior authorization.
Now it's the End of Session for Senators like me – just in time for my May End of Month Fundraising Deadline tomorrow.
This month definitely didn't go as planned, but I'm definitely still planning to remain in the State Senate so I can continue sending powerhouse legislation like this to the Governor's desk for years to come. John, can you pitch in today to help me start June strong and sail through the General Election this fall?