Legislation
I believe strongly in centering the voices of stakeholders in crafting policy and often use the phrase “nothing for us without us” to reflect my belief that the best policies are crafted by those most directly impacted. My areas of legislative focus include criminal justice, reproductive justice and health care protections, and ensuring our laws secure equality for those too often neglected and ignored by our government.
"Nothing for us without us."
~Representative Kelly Cassidy
102nd General Assembly
House Bill 4165 - Lake Michigan Rescue Equipment Act
Requires that the owner of a pier or drop-off on Lake Michigan install public rescue equipment, including, at a minimum, ring life buoys, on each of the owner's piers and drop-offs along the Lake Michigan coast. Illinois is now the first state to require such water safety equipment along Lake Michigan.
House Bill 4430 - PrEP and PEP Bill
This historic bill will allow pharmacists to dispense HIV prevention drugs — including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to people at risk and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for people who may have been recently exposed to HIV — without a prescription. These lifesaving drugs are readily available but many communities face barriers to access from physicians. Now with the passage of this bill PrEP and PEP medications can be obtained from a local pharmacy.
House Bill 3988 - Missing & Murdered Chicago Women Task Force
Creates the Task Force on Missing and Murdered Chicago Women. This task force would analyze rates of violence, underlying societal factors, and current institutional responses to create effective policy solutions to better address violence against women and girls in Chicago. This bill is personal to me. The recent death of Elise Malary and countless others highlight that we are in need of a new approach to truly take these cases seriously.
House Bill 5441 - Sexual Consent
This bill strengthens consent laws of survivors of sexual assault. It clarifies the existing definition of “unable to give knowing consent” by adding that the survivor remains unable to consent if they voluntarily consumed an intoxicating substance. Under the current interpretation, the offender must have provided the intoxicating substance to the survivor to be held responsible for a sexual assault.
House Bill 4392 - Expungement Drug Test Reform
This bill allows for a petitioner to still be able to petition for expungement or sealing of criminal records in cases where the petitioner tested positive for cannabis from a drug test taken within 30 days. We have legalized cannabis in our state and should not continue to penalize in cases of expungement.
House Bill 1464 - Protecting License of Abortion Providers
This bill provides that medical professionals licensed in the state of Illinois who also practice in other states can not be penalized by the licensing authority here for adverse actions taken by another state over their provision of abortion care in that state solely as a result of that state’s prohibitions on abortion.
House Bill 4797 - Social Worker Telehealth Law Exception
This bill creates a highly limited exception that allows nonresidents visiting Illinois or nonresident students of an Illinois university/college to continue to see their existing social work therapist licensed in the state they are a resident of. Current telehealth law requires you to be licensed where your client is physically present (not where they normally live), this bill just guarantees continuity of care for people visiting or attending school in Illinois.
Senate Bill 3023 - Sexual Assualt Survivors Emergency Treatment Act
This bill represents the work of the SASETA (Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Treatment Act) Task Force to adopt recommendations to improve care for survivors. Notably, the bill will extend the amount of time a survivor can seek follow up care and reimbursement after reporting an assault from 90 days to 180 days.
Senate Bill 2942 - Protecting Victim Testimony
This bill clarifies the court’s ability to remove individuals from the courtroom during sensitive testimony or evidence presented in cases of sexual assault or abuse when the survivor was a minor at the time of the offense, regardless of the survivor’s current age.
House Bill 3265 - Confidentiality of Statements Made to Rape Crisis Personnel
This bill amends the Evidence Article of the Code of Civil Procedure. The amendment expands the definition of “rape crisis organization” to further protect victims of rape from public disclosure of statements they make in confidence to counselors or organizations established to help them. Protections like these are crucial, given crimes involving rape often result in fear and stigma that can prevent victims from seeking help where it is available at no cost to them.