Bill Text: IL HB5290 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Creates the Medical Debt Relief Act. Requires the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to establish by January 1, 2025, subject to appropriation, a Medical Debt Relief Pilot Program to discharge the medical debt of eligible Illinois residents. Provides that under the pilot program the Department shall provide grant funding to a nonprofit medical debt relief coordinator to use the grant funds and any other private funds available to negotiate and settle, to the extent possible, the medical debt of eligible residents owed to hospitals and other health care providers and entities. Provides that hospitals and other health care providers and entities may be located outside of the State of Illinois, so long as the negotiation and settlement of medical debt is on behalf of an eligible resident. Requires the Department to administer the pilot program consistent with the requirements of the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act to determine which nonprofit medical debt relief coordinator to use, unless the Department and the State's Grant Accountability and Transparency Unit determine that only a single nonprofit medical debt relief coordinator has the capacity and willingness to carry out the duties specified in the Medical Debt Relief Act. Sets forth certain actions the selected nonprofit medical debt relief coordinator shall perform to effectuate the purposes of the pilot program. Requires the Department to provide annual reports to the Governor and the General Assembly on the amount of medical debt purchased and discharged under the pilot program, the number of eligible residents who received medical debt relief under the pilot program, the demographic characteristics of the eligible residents, and other matters. Requires the Department to adopt rules. Provides that the Act is repealed on July 1, 2029. Amends the State Finance Act. Creates the Medical Debt Relief Pilot Program Fund as a special fund in the State treasury. Provides that all moneys in the Fund shall be appropriated to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services and expended exclusively for the Medical Debt Relief Pilot Program to provide grant funding to a nonprofit medical debt relief coordinator to be used to discharge the medical debt of eligible residents as defined in the Medical Debt Relief Act. Provides that based on a budget approved by the Department, the grant funding may also be used for any administrative services provided by the nonprofit medical debt relief coordinator to discharge the medical debt of eligible residents. Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act. Includes in the list of modifications of a taxpayer's adjusted gross income for the taxable year, if the taxpayer is an eligible resident as defined in the Medical Debt Relief Act, an amount equal to the amount included in the taxpayer's federal adjusted gross income that is attributable to medical debt relief received by the taxpayer during the taxable year from a nonprofit medical debt relief coordinator under the provisions of the Medical Debt Relief Act. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Passed) 2024-07-02 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 103-0647 [HB5290 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB5290-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 HB5290 Introduced , by Rep. Jenn Ladisch Douglass SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
410 ILCS 525/3 from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 6703
410 ILCS 525/4 from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 6704
410 ILCS 525/6 from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 6706
410 ILCS 525/9 from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 6709
410 ILCS 525/13 from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 6713
410 ILCS 525/5 rep.
Amends the Illinois Health and Hazardous Substances Registry Act. Repeals the provision establishing the Health and Hazardous Substances Coordinating Council. Repeals provisions which set forth the Council's duties. Makes conforming changes throughout. Effective immediately.
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A BILL FOR
HB5290 LRB103 39138 CES 69280 b
AN ACT concerning health.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Illinois Health and Hazardous Substances
Registry Act is amended by changing Sections 3, 4, 6, 9, and 13
as follows:
(410 ILCS 525/3) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 6703)
Sec. 3. For the purposes of this Act, unless the context
requires otherwise:
(a) "Department" means the Illinois Department of Public
Health.
(b) "Director" means the Director of the Illinois
Department of Public Health.
(c) (Blank). "Council" means the Health and Hazardous
Substances Coordinating Council created by this Act.
(d) "Registry" means the Illinois Health and Hazardous
Substances Registry established by the Department of Public
Health under Section 6 of this Act.
(e) "Cancer" means all malignant neoplasms, regardless of
the tissue of origin, including malignant lymphoma and
leukemia.
(f) "Cancer incidence" means a medical diagnosis of
cancer, consisting of a record of cases of cancer and

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specified cases of tumorous or precancerous diseases which
occur in Illinois, and such other information concerning these
cases as the Department deems necessary or appropriate in
order to conduct thorough and complete epidemiological surveys
of cancer and cancer-related diseases in Illinois.
(g) "Occupational disease" includes but is not limited to
all occupational diseases covered by the Workers' Occupational
Diseases Act.
(h) "Hazardous substances" means a hazardous substance as
defined in the Environmental Protection Act.
(i) "Hazardous substances incident" includes but is not
limited to a spill, fire, or accident involving hazardous
substances, illegal disposal, transportation, or use of
hazardous substances, and complaints or permit violations
involving hazardous substances.
(j) "Company profile" includes but is not limited to the
name of any company operating in the State of Illinois which
generates, uses, disposes of or transports hazardous
substances, identification of the types of permits issued in
such company's name relating to transactions involving
hazardous substances, inventory of hazardous substances
handled by such company, and the manner in which such
hazardous substances are used, disposed of, or transported by
the company.
(k) "Hazardous nuclear material" means (1) any source or
special nuclear material intended for use or used as an energy

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source in a production or utilization facility as defined in
Sec. 11.v. or 11.cc. of the federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954
as amended; (2) any fuel which has been discharged from such a
facility following irradiation, the constituent elements of
which have not been separated by reprocessing; or (3) any
by-product material resulting from operation of such a
facility.
(l) "Adverse pregnancy outcome" includes but is not
limited to birth defects, fetal loss, infant mortality, low
birth weight, selected life-threatening conditions, and other
developmental disabilities as defined by the Department.
(m) "News medium" means any newspaper or other periodical
issued at regular intervals, whether in print or electronic
format, and having a general circulation; a news service,
whether in print or electronic format; a radio station, a
television station; a television network; a community antenna
television service; and any person or corporation engaged in
the making of news reels or other motion picture news for
public showing.
(n) "Researcher" means an individual who is affiliated
with or supported by universities, academic centers, research
institutions, hospitals, and governmental entities who conduct
scientific research or investigation on human diseases.
(Source: P.A. 95-941, eff. 8-29-08.)
(410 ILCS 525/4) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 6704)

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Sec. 4. (a) (Blank). There is created the Health and
Hazardous Substances Coordinating Council, to be comprised of
the following persons ex officio or their designees: Dean of
the School of Public Health of the University of Illinois,
Director of Natural Resources, Director of Public Health,
Director of Labor, Director of Agriculture, Director of the
Environmental Protection Agency and the Director of Nuclear
Safety.
The University of Illinois School of Public Health shall
advise the Department in the design, function and utilization
of the Registry.
(b) To facilitate the collection of cancer incidence
information, the Department, in consultation with the Advisory
Board of Cancer Control, shall have the authority to require
hospitals, laboratories or other facilities to report
incidences of cancer and other specified tumorous and
precancerous diseases to the Department, and to require the
submission of such other information pertaining to or in
connection with such reported cases as the Department deems
necessary or appropriate for the purposes of this Act. The
Department may promulgate rules or regulations specifying the
hospitals, laboratories or other facilities which are required
to submit information pursuant to this Section, the types of
information required to be submitted, methods of submitting
such information and any other detail deemed by the Department
to be necessary or appropriate for administration of this Act.

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Nothing in this Act shall be construed to compel any
individual to submit to a medical examination or supervision.
(c) The Director shall by rule or regulation establish
standards or guidelines for ensuring the protection of
information made confidential or privileged under law.
(d) The identity, or any group of facts that tends to lead
to the identity, of any person whose condition or treatment is
submitted to the Illinois Health and Hazardous Substances
Registry is confidential and shall not be open to public
inspection or dissemination and is exempt from disclosure
under Section 7 of the Freedom of Information Act. The
following data elements, alone or in combination, are
confidential, shall not be open to public inspection or
dissemination, and are exempt from disclosure under Section 7
of the Freedom of Information Act: name, social security
number, street address, email address, telephone number, fax
number, medical record number, certificate/license number,
reporting source (unless permitted by the reporting facility),
age (unless aggregated for 5 or more years, ZIP code (unless
aggregated for 5 or more years), and diagnosis date (unless
aggregated for one or more years for the entire State or for 3
or more years for a single county). The identity of any person
or persons claimed to be derived from cancer registry data is
not admissible in evidence, and no court shall require
information to be produced in discovery if it determines that
the information tends to lead to the identity of any person.

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Information for specific research purposes may be released in
accordance with procedures established by the Department.
Except as provided by rule, and as part of an epidemiologic
investigation, an officer or employee of the Department may
interview a patient named in a report made under this Act, or
relatives of any such patient, only with the express written
consent of the patient.
(e) Hospitals, laboratories, other facilities or
physicians shall not be held liable for the release of
information or confidential data to the Department in
accordance with this Act. The Department shall protect any
information made confidential or privileged under law.
(Source: P.A. 95-941, eff. 8-29-08.)
(410 ILCS 525/6) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 6706)
Sec. 6. (a) No later than January 1, 1985, the Department
shall commence the work necessary to compile the information
which will constitute the Health and Hazardous Substances
Registry. The Registry shall consist of the compilation of
information in the following categories:
(i) adverse pregnancy outcomes;
(ii) cancer incidences;
(iii) occupational diseases;
(iv) location, transportation, and exposure to hazardous
nuclear materials;
(v) company profiles; and

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(vi) hazardous substances incidents.
The Department, pursuant to any guidelines established by
the Council, shall promulgate rules or regulations specifying
the types of information in each category which will be
compiled for the Registry. Such information shall be compiled
in the Registry in such a manner as to allow for geographical
correlation of the data on public health and the data on
hazardous substances and hazardous nuclear materials. To the
extent feasible, the Registry shall be compatible with other
national models of such type so as to facilitate the
coordination of information with other data bases.
(Source: P.A. 83-1361.)
(410 ILCS 525/9) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 6709)
Sec. 9. The Department shall utilize the Registry to
conduct research on the relationships between hazardous
substances, hazardous nuclear materials, and public health
issues. The In consultation with the Council, the Director
shall establish guidelines for determining the specific
questions and areas to be researched. The guidelines shall
specifically include the question of the potential public
health significance of an increase in cancer incidence. The
Upon the approval of the Council, the information contained in
the Registry shall be available to other State agencies
wishing to conduct research on these issues. Upon review and
approval of an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB) or

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its equivalent on protection of human subjects in research,
the Department shall release data to researchers for purposes
of medical and scientific research consistent with the
fundamental purposes of the Registry.
(Source: P.A. 95-941, eff. 8-29-08.)
(410 ILCS 525/13) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 6713)
Sec. 13. (a) Violation of this Act is a Class A
misdemeanor.
(b) Any person who violates this Act shall be liable for a
civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 for each violation.
(c) The Department Council may request the Attorney
General or the State's Attorney of the county in which the
violation occurred to proceed in a court of competent
jurisdiction to secure such relief as provided in this
Section, as well as injunctive relief to restrain violations
of this Act.
(Source: P.A. 83-1361.)
(410 ILCS 525/5 rep.)
Section 10. The Illinois Health and Hazardous Substances
Registry Act is amended by repealing Section 5.