SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Senate passed the Fiscal Year 2025 budget including support for mental health care services to facilitate access to quality care in a variety of areas. State Senator Laura Fine, chair of the Senate Behavioral and Mental Health Committee, released the following statement in response:

“As Illinois continues to make progress in reducing barriers to mental health care services, we must be sure to address access for our most vulnerable residents.

“Over the course of this legislative session, I have worked closely with mental health care experts and my colleagues to establish a budget that strengthens health care protections and improves policies. I am pleased to see investments in mental health services on college campuses and our local nonprofits like NAMI. Mental health care is an indispensable resource for everyone, and the budget demonstrates the importance of mental health in every community."

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Laura Fine is leading a measure to ensure reproductive health decisions are protected against discrimination.

“Advancing access to reproductive health care services includes safeguarding an individual’s ability to receive such care without fear of discriminatory obstacles,” said Fine (D-Glenview). “Making reproductive decisions is an autonomous act and should be given the respect and dignity expected of any other personal health care decision.”

While current law protects individuals from discrimination based on pregnancy – there are no existing protections against unlawful discrimination for individuals who exercise their reproductive health rights.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Laura Fine championed a measure to mitigate the ongoing opioid crisis by expanding access to lifesaving resources at state agencies.

“Ensuring employees have necessary health care protections is important to prevent unanticipated risks and workplace liabilities,” said Fine (D-Glenview). “By making resources like opioid antagonists available to trained workers, we are not only supporting opioid mitigation efforts, we are also saving lives.”

House Bill 5028 would make opioid antagonists available at state agencies upon successfully training the agency’s employees on how to properly administer the medication. The measure also protects employees from civil liability should they administer the overdose reversal medication in compliance with the required training.

SPRINGFIELD — State Senators Laura Fine, Terri Bryant and Dale Fowler responded Thursday to a news investigation that uncovered abuse caught on camera at Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in Anna, Illinois.  

“What has continued to happen at this facility is unacceptable,” said Senator Laura Fine (D-Glenview), chair of the Senate Behavioral and Mental Health Committee. “Stronger oversight must be incorporated into the Choate transition plan to hold bad actors like this individual accountable so the state’s most vulnerable residents are kept safe.”  

Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center serves patients struggling with mental and behavioral health issues and people with developmental disabilities. Some employees of Choate have been charged with and found guilty of abusing patients, obstructing official probes and lying to investigators about wrongdoing.