What's AFC up to in Springfield? 2013 Legislative Session Update

AFC works hard in Springfield to enact sound HIV/AIDS policies. This year, with the help of advocates like you, we  passed all three of our target bills! Read more about these bills below.

Current Issues (more information after the jump):

• SB 26 - Medicaid for Low-Income, Uninsured Illinoisans - Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago)
  Allows 342,000 uninsured Illinoisans access life-saving medications and medical care through Medicaid.

• HB 61 - Repeal Principal Notification of HIV Positive Students - Representative La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) and Senator Iris Martinez (D-Chicago)
  Repeals a law that requires state health departments to notify school principals of HIV-positive students.

• HB 2675 - Comprehensive Sexual Health Education for Illinois Students - Representative Camille Lilly (D-Chicago) and Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago)
  Requires public schools to provide medically-accurate, age-appropriate, and comprehensive sexual health education

• Other Legislative Matters - Marriage Equality, Medical Marijuana, State-Run Health Insurance Marketplaces, and Affordable Care Act Navigator Regulations

Want to get updates on these issues and more? Sign up for our Online Action Bulletin to receive email updates, lobbying opportunities, and more!

The AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) recently made the difficult decision to oppose legislation that creates a state-federal partnership for operating Illinois’ health insurance marketplace. We base this decision on the poor consumer protections in the bill.

House Bill 3227 (Senate Amendment 2) is backed by our partners, including Campaign for Better Health Care (CBHC), and is sponsored by Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria), a long-time friend of AFC and champion for helping people without insurance access health care. Still, we cannot support it.

ACLU-IL, AFC, and Planned Parenthood Support Landmark Measure

Media contact for ACLU-IL: Edwin Yohnka (312-201-9740, ext. 305 / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Media contact for AFC: Ramon Gardenhire (301-379-3024 / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Media contact for Planned Parenthood: Lara Philipps (312-592-6820 / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

The Illinois House of Representatives passed a comprehensive sexual health education bill (HB 2675) today in a vote of 66 to 52.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ACLU-IL), Planned Parenthood of Illinois, and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) played a major role in moving this legislation forward, which was sponsored by Rep. Camille Lilly (D-Chicago).

“This is a good day for young people in the state,” said Khadine Bennett, legislative counsel for ACLU-IL. “Thanks to Rep. Lilly’s leadership, public school students in grades six to 12 are one step closer to receiving age-appropriate sexual health education.”

The AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) applauds President Barack Obama’s 2014 fiscal year budget proposal, which preserves federal funding for essential AIDS-related care, prevention and housing services and dismantles the harmful discretionary funding cuts known as “sequestration.”

“Under sequestration, low-income Americans will experience devastating cuts in health and safety-net services needed for basic survival,” said David Ernesto Munar, AFC President/CEO. 

“We applaud the President’s plan to repeal and replace sequestration with manageable budget control provisions,” Munar continued.  “If allowed to move forward, sequestration will pit essential AIDS programs against other vital programs and services for a significantly smaller amount of federal funds.  The impact on the nation’s overall budget would be marginal – but have no doubt, the consequences for low-income Americans would be exceedingly harsh.”

A bill for comprehensive sexual health education in Illinois (HB 2675) moved out of House Human Services committee on March 13 by a vote of 9-6 and awaits a full House vote.

The AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) is part of a statewide partnership that has been advocating heavily for this legislation for four years.

“We’ve lobbied on it, engaged lawmakers, written articles, held town-hall meetings, and published op-ed articles to gain support for this important piece of legislation,” said Ramon Gardenhire, Director of Government Relations at AFC.