Illinois lawmakers approve state-specific vaccine guidelines, punt on
gambling bill
[November 06, 2025]
By Brenden Moore
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers passed two-dozen bills during their
annual fall veto session that ended Friday, Oct. 31, including a measure
that will empower the state’s Department of Public Health to issue
vaccine guidelines amid federal uncertainty.
House Bill 767 would allow IDPH Director Sameer Vohra to issue
state-specific guidelines while granting more authority to the
Immunization Advisory Committee — a group of doctors, nurses and public
health professionals who offer guidance to the director.
“This bill makes important changes that both codify the role of trusted
experts in our vaccine recommendation process and ensure science-based
vaccine access through Illinois-regulated insurance plans,” Vohra said
in a news release.
The bill builds on an executive order Gov. JB Pritzker issued in
September directing IDPH to develop vaccine guidelines. That directive
came amid federal vaccine guideline changes initiated by Health and
Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime skeptic of
vaccine safety and efficacy.
Among those were the Food and Drug Administration’s decision in August
to rescind emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines. That
meant removing approval of the vaccine for children and adults ages 6
months to 64 years who have no underlying risk conditions. Kennedy also
fired the agency’s director, Susan Monarez, and dismissed the entire
board of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
“With this new authority for the Department of Public Health, Illinois
is choosing to stand with decades of sound science, not RFK’s latest
conspiracy theory,” said state Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, the bill’s
chief sponsor.
The legislation still allows IDPH to take guidance from the federal
government, but it also allows it to consider World Health Organization
recommendations, the Immunization Advisory Committee, the IDPH medical
director and “medical and scientific experts in the field of disease
prevention.”
It passed on a party-line vote, with Republicans opposing it largely due
to its political undertones. State Rep. Bill Hauter, R-Morton, a medical
doctor, characterized it as “a Trump derangement syndrome bill.”
“We are pro-vaccination, but this bill makes sure that we can’t vote for
it because we have a bill that’s signaling to their base how much
they’re battling the ‘evil’ Trump administration,” Hauter said.
The legislation would also require state-regulated insurance plans to
continue to cover vaccines that are recommended by IDPH guidelines at no
cost to patients regardless of federal guidance.
It would allow the advisory committee to override an IDPH director’s
recommendations with a two-thirds vote. It also requires the agency to
publish any guidance from the group on its website.
The bill to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk for consideration.
Lawmakers approve protections for public officials
State lawmakers also approved legislation aimed at protecting public
officials from threats and harassment by allowing them to shield certain
information, like phone numbers and home addresses, from public
disclosure.
House Bill 576, sponsored by state Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville,
would allow state lawmakers, constitutional officers, state’s attorneys,
public defenders, county clerks and other elected officials to request
that government agencies, businesses and individuals redact or refrain
from posting their personal information on public websites.
It would also allow a public official to use their campaign fund to pay
for personal security and security upgrades to their home, including
security systems, cameras, walls, fences and other physical
improvements.
It comes amid a startling rise in violence and threats aimed at public
officials.
Larger elections bill stalls
Meanwhile, a broader elections bill did not make it across the finish
line for a second time.
House Bill 575, sponsored by state Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, among
other provisions, would have mandated election authorities allow
curbside voting for disabled people, universities to provide on-campus
early voting and Election Day polling locations, and high schools to
hold annual voter registration drives for seniors before graduation.
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Bill Hauter, a medical doctor and Republican state representative,
speaks against a plan to allow the state’s department of public
health to issue state-specific vaccine guidelines. (Capitol News
Illinois photo by Jerry Nowicki)
The bill would also have established a pilot program for universal vote
centers, which are locations where people within an election authority
can vote regardless of the precinct in which they are registered.
But the measure stalled due to concerns over language that would loosen
fundraising restrictions on state legislators and statewide elected
officials running for federal office.
State lawmakers presently can’t hold fundraisers on legislative session
days or the day immediately prior. Under the proposed language, this
would not apply for a federal fundraising event if it’s held outside of
Sangamon County.
The change would have directly benefited a half-dozen state lawmakers
running for Congress along with Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who is
running for retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s seat. The primary election
is March 17.
The bill was held up earlier this year due to pushback among House
Democrats over a provision that would have allowed Senate President Don
Harmon, D-Oak Park, to get out of a potential $10 million fine for
accepting millions of dollars over campaign contribution limits during
the 2024 election. The language was struck from the bill.
Gambling bill inches closer
A bill aiming to revive the state’s moribund horse racing industry
passed the Illinois Senate but did not receive a vote in the Illinois
House.
House Bill 2724, sponsored by state Sen. Patrick Joyce, D-Essex, would
sunset the extraordinary power state lawmakers granted to Hawthorne Race
Course in a 2019 gaming expansion law to veto any harness racetrack
development within 35 miles of its existing track in Stickney.
This is intended to put pressure on Hawthorne to develop a harness
racetrack and casino in southwestern Cook County or allow another
developer to do it.
“They have yet to build a casino at their location in Stickney, and yet
still have veto power over a racino in the south suburbs,” Joyce said,
arguing that the veto power was given for good reason but not intended
to last in perpetuity. “This bill is intended to help move the needle.”
The bill would also sanction a harness racetrack and casino in downstate
Macon County.
The state’s horse racing handle slid from $514 million in 2022 to $490
million in 2023 to $478 million in 2024, the lowest in 40 years,
according to data from the Illinois Racing Board. And the number of
foals being bred in Illinois has declined precipitously over the past
few decades.
FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing in Collinsville, previously known as
Fairmount Park, and Hawthorne are the only two tracks still operating in
Illinois, with the latter the only one offering dates for harness
racing. Famed Arlington Park closed in 2023 and has been demolished. The
Chicago Bears have plans to build a new stadium there.
Advocates say new racinos could help revive the industry, with revenues
from gambling partially going to increased purses at the tracks.
But gambling industry bills are never simple in Illinois due to many
players often with competing interests. Hawthorne opposes the
legislation and is seeking to maintain its veto power. Video gambling
terminal operators in Decatur also oppose the racino, worrying it could
cut into their margins.
The bill passed the Senate 49-8. It can be immediately voted on in the
House when lawmakers return in January.
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