In the early morning of Monday, June 1, the 104th General Assembly adjourned its spring legislative session. Lawmakers passed the final budget and implementation plan for Fiscal Year (FY) 2027, including just over $80 million in new investments aligned to Raising Illinois’ comprehensive priorities for expecting families, infants and toddlers. Read our full response to the FY 2027 budget.

Legislators also approved several other bills that advance Raising Illinois’ prenatal-to-age-three policy goals during this session. The following measures, organized by our coalition’s focus areas, now either await the Governor’s signature or have recently been signed into law:

Healthy Parents & Babies

• HB 4606, authorizing the Illinois Department of Human Services to design, implement and maintain the infrastructure to support the expansion of short-term universal newborn home visiting services, also known as Universal Newborn Support Systems.
• HB 4702, the Diaper Labeling Act, setting requirements for listing the ingredients in all diapers sold in Illinois.

High-Quality Early Learning

• HB 1783, the Language Equality Acquisition for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, or DeafBlind Children Act, establishing a language needs and monitoring program to support the development and modification of individualized family service plans in Early Intervention, among other provisions.
• HB 3595, changing terminology from “day care” to “early care and education,” modernizing child care licensing exemptions and tying employee background checks to the individual rather than the provider.
• HB 4587, creating qualifications for interim conditional child care directors who can work for a 12-month period under supervision by a fully credentialed child care director.
• HB 5099, transferring administration of child care background checks from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to the Illinois Department of Early Childhood (IDEC).
• HB 5204, transferring the administration of the Early Learning Council to IDEC and expanding representation to include parents, caregivers and Head Start, as well as granting IDEC appointment authority for the Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity advisory committee.
• HB 5225, authorizing trained speech-language pathologists to diagnose autism spectrum disorders in children who receive Early Intervention services and who have no known co-occurring medical conditions.

Stable Workforce & Thriving Families

• HB 2949, the FY 2027 Budget Implementation Act, establishing the Families Receiving Emergency Support for Hunger (FRESH) Program to provide one-time assistance of $400 to individuals who have had their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits terminated due to expanded federal work requirements, among other provisions.
• SB 3365, allowing the Illinois Department of Human Services to administer locally or privately funded guaranteed income pilot programs using current or future distribution methods like Electronic Benefit Transfer, among other provisions.

Coming up next, the General Assembly reconvenes briefly this fall to hold its veto session from November 17-19 and December 1-3. Be sure to follow @raisingillinois on Facebook to learn more all year long!