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Hi everyone!

Happy Women’s History month! Legislation is moving along at the state level, as we are about halfway through this legislative session. Friday, March 21st is the deadline to pass substantive legislation out of committee in both chambers. More detailed updates about state legislative initiatives are below, including some decisions to pivot from passing legislation now to prioritizing implementing programmatic changes to achieve our goals for survivors.

The Advocacy, Funding and Accountability (AFA) committee voted to approve ICADV’s sign-on to the coerced debt comments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), advocating to expand the definition of “identity theft,” and “identity theft report,” and amend other provisions in the Fair Credit Reporting Act to address survivors’ experiences with coerced debt. ICADV member agencies also completed the Center for Survivor Agency and Justice’s national survey about coerced debt, and the data collected from Illinois was included in the final comments to the CFPB. More background information is available here.

As a reminder, the AFA Committee is asking for a representative from each ICADV member agency to please complete the Crime-Free Nuisance Ordinances (CFNO) survey by Monday, March 17th, if you haven’t already. The survey is available here. The data and survivor stories collected through this survey will help us inform legislators about the effect of CFNO’s on survivors, in support of SB 2264, the Crime-Free Public Nuisance Ordinances bill.

ICADV campaign materials relating to VAWA funding, H.R. 909 – Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act, and state funding, will be going out to ICADV members soon with calls to action and scripts for contacting your legislators. Individual letters are already going out to each legislator in Illinois asking for support in maintaining the general revenue fund line-item in the state budget for domestic violence services.

Please continue to keep an eye out for these advocacy materials, calls to action and requests to sign on, etc. As always, thank you for all the incredible work you are doing for survivors!

STATE POLICY UPDATES

HB 1278: Victims’ Safety – Electronics Amendment to VESSA



This amendment to the Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA), led by Representative Didech, would:

• prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who use employer-issued devices to document incidents relating to domestic violence, sexual violence, gender-based violence or any other crime of violence.

The Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) proposed a gut and replace amendment to the original bill filed, and ICADV, along with collaborative partners from the Shriver Center, the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault (ICASA), Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE), and The Network, proposed changes to make the bill more survivor-centered. 

Katie Gaughan-Palombi, Wendy Pollack (Shriver Center) and Rep. Didech met with members of CMS and the Illinois Department of Labor last week to discuss the bill language. Rep. Didech filed a new amendment this week, House Amendment 001, incorporating much of our proposed language. CMS responded that the new language will move them to neutral on the bill and they will not oppose it – which gets us much closer to the finish line. Rep. Didech plans to call the bill in committee next week. 

SB 1286: Domestic Violence Healthcare Bill

This bill would:

• create the Domestic Violence Survivor Health Care Billing Act.

AFA co-chairs Jennifer Vancil (Quanada) and Melanie Skach (Crisis Center for South Suburbia), along with Megan Duesterhaus (Quanada) and Katie Gaughan-Palombi, had a very productive meeting with Sen. Tracy, co-sponsor of the bill, to discuss ICADV’s questions and concerns relating to the bill. Sen. Tracy shared that the purpose of the bill was to create a law similar to the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Treatment Act (SASETA) for survivors of domestic violence. Overall, Sen. Tracy agreed to our proposed revisions to the bill to make it more trauma-informed and survivor-centered. We discussed the idea of first creating a multi-disciplinary task force and then filing a more comprehensive bill next session that incorporates funding for implementation.

The next step is for ICADV to work with Sen. Tracy to file a new bill that would create the task force. 

SB 2323: Illinois Statewide Trauma-Informed Response to Human Trafficking Act Bill

ICADV is continuing its supportive advocacy efforts relating to SB 2323, the Illinois Statewide Trauma-Informed Response to Human Trafficking Act bill. This comprehensive bill will:

• develop curriculum standards and training for human trafficking and other service providers;
• create standards of care for human trafficking service providers;
• develop a strategic plan to improve victim-centered, trauma-informed responses by law enforcement; and
• create multidisciplinary human trafficking task forces, among many other important changes. 

The bill now has 19 co-sponsors in the Senate. On March 12th, the bill with Senate Amendment 001 was referred from Assignments to the Criminal Law Committee.  

CALL TO ACTION

SB 2323 will be considered by the IL Senate Criminal Law Committee on Tuesday, March 18, at 2 pm in Room 409 of the State Capitol. 

We urge you to voice your support for this legislation, the Illinois Statewide Trauma-Informed Response to Human Trafficking Act, by submitting an electronic witness slip on the Illinois General Assembly dashboard. 

• Click on this link to complete a Witness Slip in support of SB 2323.

• Section I – Complete Name, Address, Agency or Business Affiliation and Title (If you are affiliated with one), email and phone. Your address, email and phone will not be publicly disclosed.

• Section II – If you are completing a witness slip on behalf of an organization, enter the organization(s) in this section.

• Section III – Check the circle as a “Proponent” to indicate support for the legislation.

• Section IV – Unless you plan to speak at the hearing or submit a written statement, check “Record of Appearance Only.”

• Click the box next to “I Agree to the ILGA Terms of Agreement.”

• Finally, in the lower right-hand corner, click “Create Slip.”

H.R. 909: Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act 

ICADV is strongly advocating for passage of the Crime Victims Stabilization Act, which would redirect funds collected through the False Claims Act into the Crime Victims Fund through FY2029. These additional resources would help stabilize the Crime Victims Fund and give victim assistance programs throughout the nation, including ICADV member agencies, the support necessary to continue providing life-saving services for survivors. 

ICADV has created advocacy campaign materials, including: talking points; a script for phone calls to legislators; and letters addressed to each member of Congress from Illinois that list Coalition member agencies in their district. These materials will be shared with ICADV members soon and agencies will be asked to sign on to the letters. Please keep an eye out for these calls to action. 

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