The Illinois Legislature often found itself in the national spotlight in 2023, including when the state became the nation’s first to eliminate cash bail, instead granting judges the authority to choose who is detained before trial – a decision that depends on the charges the accused are facing and the threat they pose to others.

Meanwhile, federal courts upheld the state’s 2022 assault weapons ban. Illinois residents can no longer purchase assault weapons like the AR-15, and those who already owned one now have to register it with the state.

Evanston’s state Rep. Robyn Gabel – the house majority leader in Springfield – and Sen. Laura Fine played key roles in a number of other initiatives, as well, including new investments in public education, climate action and mental health care. Gabel chairs the Rules Committee, while Fine leads the Behavioral and Mental Health Committee.

The RoundTable spoke to both lawmakers in December about what the Legislature accomplished in 2023, and what they hope their constituents take away from their work downstate.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

What were you proud of accomplishing in 2023?

Robyn Gabel: One of the most important things we’ve done in the Legislature the past few years is balance the budget. I really do want people to understand that we were left after the [former Gov. Bruce] Rauner years terribly in debt and with an almost nonfunctional budget. It was a true crisis. Since that time, we have been able to pay down our debts. We’ve also been able to establish a rainy day fund. But we didn’t build up a better budget on the backs of the poor. We’ve also been able to provide compassionate funding for our social programs to provide for the social needs of our citizens, so it’s great that we can do that in a better way.

Laura Fine: I passed a lot of mental health legislation that people might be interested in. We passed the 988 [Suicide and Crisis Lifeline] Task Force, and our report is going to be coming out, and it’s a map showing the direction we want the 988 Lifeline to go in over the next 10 years. It’s really neat to see the progress when we are addressing mental health and treating mental health as an illness, and not as a crime. We made permanent telehealth when it comes to Medicaid, so people who receive Medicaid insurance can see their providers through telehealth, just like they can for private providers. And we passed legislation that says, if you have a state-based plan, you have one free mental health visit every year.

Both of you have worked closely on environmental laws in the past. What should people know about recent state efforts in that area?

RG: One of my top policy initiatives has been reducing carbon in our environment. Electrifying the transportation sector is something I talk about a lot. This year, we worked on that through expanding electric vehicle charging stations at home, because most people want to charge at home. But in apartment buildings and condos, having charging stations is a new concept, so we wanted to build out guidelines for that.

LF: The environmental community was very happy with some of the bills we passed, including the polystyrene bill, which says that all government agencies have to stop using polystyrene, or styrofoam. That’s a step in the right direction. That includes universities, too.

Creating more access to affordable health care has also been a focus for each of you. How did you advance that goal in 2023?

RG: Many years ago, I had a bill to create an Illinois state-based exchange at the time Obama had put out the Affordable Care Act. Within that, states could either have their own health exchange, or they could go with the federal exchange. We were trying to have our own health exchange because it gives us more flexibility, and allows us to initiate unique programs that will really help offer health coverage to all the people in the state.

At the time, I just didn’t have the votes to pass it. But this year, I worked with the governor’s office on a new bill, and we had many, many negotiations with insurance industry, with the doctors and other providers, and we came up with a good bill that established the Illinois Health Benefits Exchange, with $10 million attached to it to create it and get it functioning.

LF: One of the major bills I passed this year, working with Representative Gabel, was the rate review and the state-based marketplace, which is really going to change the way insurance is in Illinois. It begins in 2026, when our marketplace is going to be run by the state, versus the federal government. So things will be more localized on people’s insurance plans. And by putting rate review in place, we’re hoping that we’re going to see a reduction in the price of premiums moving forward, when this is all implemented.

Where does Illinois’ work on assisting migrants bused here from the southern border now stand, and what should we expect?

RG: On the state level, the governor has stepped up. The last thing he wants is people dying on the streets in the cold in Chicago, so he’s moved some money around, and came up with some funds to put into that, which I’m very pleased about.

I talked to our local mayor, my friend Daniel Biss, and he said he and the mayor of Chicago have spoken. The Chicago mayor said we need to find a place that can hold 250 people, and Daniel looked and looked. But we don’t have empty schools. We don’t have huge spaces. We almost had Northwestern dorms, and then they decided they needed to use them for their own students. Daniel said he event went to Harley Clarke, and that wasn’t going to work out. So we’re still working on it, and we’re hoping that they will be more amenable to work with us in more limited spaces that we do have, rather than a space to hold 250 people.

LF: Just recently, the governor allocated $160 million to the city of Chicago for housing, food, clothing, but in working with the city government, the state wants a role in how that money will be spent. The state is also working with the federal government to make sure that we can get people work permits, because people came here to find a better life, not to stay in a shelter.

The state and the city are working together for these changes. Now that it’s winter, it’s a very scary time, and it has to be a partnership. When people come to Illinois, they’re residents of our state and of the city, and we have to work together to help them have a better life.

How would you evaluate the elimination of cash bail so far?

RG: There’s been a lot of education around the Capitol, around the House and the Senate, to really inform our decision on this. It just really makes a lot of sense. The law gives judges more power to hold dangerous offenders in jail, because they’ll be able to make decisions based on public safety assessment – is this person a danger to society or not? – not simply on the defendant’s access to cash. Sometimes, really bad people have access to cash and could get out on bail. It just feels like this is a much safer strategy, than to keep people who commit petty crimes held in jail because they don’t have the cash to bail out.

LF: When you make a major change like this, we’ve got to look at implementation, and learn from what’s going on right now. Do we need to make tweaks to the law? Or is everything going as it should? The police departments, the court systems, the lawyers are adjusting to it. But before it went into effect, there was a lot of noise around what the new law was going to do, and now we’re not really hearing that much. As a Legislature, once it’s been in effect for a certain amount of time, we’re really going to have to talk with the boots on the ground to say: Is it working the way it should be working? Are there any changes you feel need to be made?

Courts upheld the 2022 state assault weapons ban multiple times in 2023, so how do you feel about the implementation of that law and overall gun safety in Illinois?

RG: Gun safety laws have been front and center for us for a number of years. We passed the Red Flag Law, which says that if a family member sees that someone is a danger to themself or to others, they can petition the court to have the person’s guns taken away. It helps with suicide. It helps with mass killing.

It was agreed upon that banning assault weapons in the state was a good idea, so we were thrilled it was upheld, and we hope that this will encourage other states to pass a similar bill. Automatic assault weapons are just not needed in this country.

LF: I think a lot of states were looking to see what happened in Illinois, whether or not our ban would hold up in court. It looks like it’s doing great. The [state] Supreme Court said they’re not going to look at it, and the lower court upheld the law. Now that other states have seen the success, I’m hoping they follow suit, because it’s one thing for Illinois to do it. But if you can go across state lines and still buy an assault rifle, that doesn’t help us achieve our goal.

What are your priorities for 2024?

RG: I really want to focus on addressing the high and really disparate rates of maternal and infant mortality in the state. For many years, I ran the Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition. During that time, our maternal and infant rates had been dropping, dropping, dropping. In the last couple years, they’ve suddenly started to increase again. Why are maternal death rates increasing? Why are infant death rates increasing? I’ve passed a few things to help with this – one is expanding Medicaid for pregnant women to an entire year postpartum. Some of the other research around maternal and infant mortality is showing that it’s related to substance abuse and mental health issues, so those are two areas we need to make sure we fund.

LF: For me, because I chair mental health, we’re always looking at how we make mental health accessible and affordable, and working very closely on the mental health workforce and what we can do legislatively to help build that workforce. This past year, I was very happy that we finally started putting more money into mental health and substance use disorder. That’s going to help us maintain the workforce, as well, because reimbursement rates went up. So people who trained to be in these jobs will want to stay in these jobs because we’re going to be able to pay them a living wage.