SPRINGFIELD –Cosigners to private student loans may find themselves in a difficult financial position if they are unaware the student they signed for is behind on his or her payments.  These cosigners will be better protected under legislation sponsored by State Senator Laura Fine. Under this bill, they will be alerted if student borrowers are not paying off their loan and will have more options before incurring the borrower’s debt.

“Cosigning a student loan may seem like a formality, but can quickly become a massive financial responsibility,” said Fine (D-Glenview). “By requiring more transparency between the primary borrower and cosigner on the borrower’s ability to pay throughout the life of the loan, cosigners will have more options if the student falls behind on payments.”

Before this initiative, private education loan lenders were not required to update the cosigners on the borrower’s progress repaying the loan. This led many cosigners to be blindsided by the sudden financial responsibility of paying off the borrower’s debt, as well as the negative impact of the loan on their own credit score and limited refinancing options.

To address these issues, this measure would ensure cosigners receive loan statements at least every 3 months during the time the borrower is enrolled at an institution of higher education, keeping them informed of the borrower’s progress repaying their loan. The cosigner will also have access to all records available to the borrower, information on refinancing plans, and established eligibility requirements if they want to be released from their obligations as cosigner. These requirements will clear up confusion between cosigners and borrowers, and ideally result in less financial strain on all parties involved with transparent communication. 

Senate Bill 86 passed the Senate on Friday. It now goes to the Senate floor for debate.

SPRINGFIELD –To ensure state operations are prioritizing environmental sustainability and not contributing to degradation, State Senator Laura Fine is leading an initiative to limit the consumption of single-use plastic foodware by state agencies over the next year.

“We need to be more conscious of how we use and dispose of single-use plastics and the impact they have on our environment,” said Fine (D-Glenview). “Illinois state agencies should be the role model of transitioning to sustainable, environmentally-friendly foodware.”

Single-use plastics, disposable packaging and other items are designed to be used only once and then discarded. Unlike refillable and reusable foodware, single-use plastics consume a significant amount of energy, water and natural resources to serve a customer for just a few minutes. While some of these products are recyclable, many are not disposed of properly and are processed as trash, resulting in them being burned or left as litter. They then end up polluting lakes, rivers and waterways, and harming our ecosystem.

Senate Bill 58 would require state agencies to track their own purchases of single-use plastic foodware for one year and establish goals to reduce their use. Agencies must then submit a report of their findings to the governor and the General Assembly. This report will inform lawmakers about the current status of single-use plastic foodware consumption from state agencies, how effective their efforts to reduce consumption were, and the best plans moving forward to reduce their consumption.

Senate Bill 58 passed the Senate on Friday, March 24. It now goes to the House for further discussion. 

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Laura Fine’s proposed pilot program to provide first responders with 8-milligram naloxone kits to prevent overdose from opioids passed the Senate on March 23 —making it one step closer to becoming law.

“Increasing the dosage of naloxone will allow medical professionals more time to save lives,” said Fine (D-Glenview). “This is the best next step to preventing more devastation and loss of life due to opioid and drug addiction in our communities.”

In 2021, more than 3,000 people in Illinois died from an opioid overdose. Although emergency medical providers have access to 4-milligram naloxone nasal spray kits, that isn’t always strong enough to reverse an overdose.

To increase access to this essential treatment, Senate Bill 1402 would start a two-year pilot program through the Department of Human Services to provide FDA-approved 8-milligram naloxone nasal spray kits to licensed community substance use providers and public health departments in Cook, DuPage, Winnebago, Sangamon and St. Clair counties.

As part of the pilot program, data will be collected to determine the benefits of the 8-milligram nasal spray on saving lives. This information will include the number of spray kits administered by the emergency medical services providers per overdose incident, as well as the number of individuals who survived opioid overdoses after receiving naloxone nasal spray. The data would then be used to inform future harm reduction programs.

“Harm reduction is an essential and life-saving strategy to address the opioid epidemic. This initiative targets the ultimate harm — the loss of one’s life to an opioid overdose,” said Fine. “Throughout the state, so many families and friends are grieving for loved ones who have been lost to overdose. With increased access to this treatment, fewer people will experience this devastating harm.” 

Senate Bill 1402 passed the Senate on Thursday, March 23. It now goes to the House of Representatives for further discussion.

###

SPRINGFIELD – To make the transition to higher education smoother for students with disabilities, State Senator Laura Fine is sponsoring The Removing Barriers to Higher Education Act. This legislation will make it more convenient for students to provide documentation to the school to demonstrate that they have a disability.

“Under current law, students may have to undergo costly assessments to prove they qualify for disability services in college,” said Fine (D-Glenview). “This initiative will allow students to save time and money by allowing them to submit documentation of accommodations that they received during their K-12 years.”

 Senate Bill 99 would establish a process for students with disabilities to receive reasonable accommodations from public universities and colleges.  This measure defines the types of documents that state universities must accept as proof of a disability, including previous diagnostic testing or other recent documents. From this information, colleges and universities could provide reasonable accommodations that they deem to be appropriate for the student requesting the services. This will ensure that students will receive the support they need to thrive in higher education.

“Every student should have the tools they need to succeed,” said Fine. “Prioritizing accommodations and accessibility programs for our college and university students is an important step to fight systemic barriers people with disabilities face in higher education.”

Senate Bill 99 passed the Higher Education committee on March 7^th. It now goes to the Senate floor for further discussion.