Kane County Reporter

Karina Villa introduced SB0119 in the Illinois Senate on Jan. 17, 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 Prenatal Syphilis Act. Provides that every appropriate health care professional (rather than physician or other person) attending in a professional capacity a pregnant woman in Illinois shall test every pregnant person (rather than take or cause to be taken a sample of blood of such woman) at the time of the first examination and shall perform a second test (rather than shall take or cause to be taken a second sample of blood) during the third trimester of pregnancy, between 27 through 32 weeks of gestation. Deletes certain references to serological tests. Provides that reports of births and still births shall be made by appropriate health care professionals (rather than by physicians or other persons)."

The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.

In essence, this bill amends the Prenatal Syphilis Act in Illinois by mandating that health care professionals test pregnant women for syphilis during their first examination and again in the third trimester, between 27 and 32 weeks of gestation. Specimens must be submitted to an approved laboratory for testing. If initial test results are positive or doubtful, additional tests are required and can be conducted free of charge by the State Department of Public Health or local health departments upon request. The bill allows exemptions for women who object to the tests on religious grounds. It also requires health professionals to report on the birth or stillbirth certificate whether a syphilis test was performed, including the date and laboratory's name, but not the test results.

Karina Villa has proposed another two bills since the beginning of the 104th session.

Karina Villa is currently serving in the Illinois State Senate, representing the state's 25th Senate District. She replaced previous state senator Jim Oberweis in 2021.

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
SB0119	01/17/2025	Amends the Prenatal Syphilis Act. Provides that every appropriate health care professional (rather than physician or other person) attending in a professional capacity a pregnant woman in Illinois shall test every pregnant person (rather than take or cause to be taken a sample of blood of such woman) at the time of the first examination and shall perform a second test (rather than shall take or cause to be taken a second sample of blood) during the third trimester of pregnancy, between 27 through 32 weeks of gestation. Deletes certain references to serological tests. Provides that reports of births and still births shall be made by appropriate health care professionals (rather than by physicians or other persons).
SB0092	01/17/2025	Amends the Illinois Pesticide Act. Provides that, notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall produce ethanol using seeds that have been treated with a pesticide.
SB0142	01/17/2025	Amends the Prenatal Syphilis Act. Deletes provisions requiring certain serological tests to be made free of charge by the Department of Public Health or the health departments of municipalities maintaining laboratories for the testing of blood specimens of any woman who resides in the municipality.
SB0055	01/13/2025	Amends the Illinois Insurance Code. Establishes reimbursement rates for mental health and substance use disorder treatment services for all group or individual policies of accident and health insurance or managed care plans that are amended, delivered, issued, or renewed on or after January 1, 2027 or for any contracted third party administering the behavioral health benefits for the insurer. Requires a group or individual policy of accident and health insurance or managed care plan that is amended, delivered, issued, or renewed on or after January 1, 2026 or any contracted third party administering the behavioral health benefits for the insurer to cover certain medically necessary mental health and substance use disorder treatment services. Provides that, if the Department of Insurance determines that an insurer or a contracted third party administering the behavioral health benefits for the insurer has violated a provision concerning mental health and substance use parity, the Department shall by order assess a civil penalty of $1,000 for each violation. Excludes certain health care plans serving Medicaid populations who are enrolled under the Illinois Public Aid Code or under the Children's Health Insurance Program Act from provisions concerning mental health and substance use parity. Requires the Department to review the impact of the proposed mental health and substance abuse mandate on network adequacy for mental health and substance use disorder treatment and access to affordable mental health and substance use care. Permits the Department to examine out-of-network utilization and out-of-pocket costs for insureds for mental health and substance use treatment and services for all plans to compare with in-network utilization. Amends the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971, the Counties Code, the Illinois Municipal Code, and the School Code to require coverage under those provisions. Effective immediately.