SPRINGFIELD – Illinois citizens will begin 2018 with more than 200 new laws taking effect.
From legislation to help veterans and reduce government waste, to a controversial law expanding taxpayer funding for abortions, to a measure to combat fraudulent opioid prescriptions by targeting “doctor-shopping,” 215 bills covering a wide variety of issues will become law on Jan. 1.
Fighting opioid crisis
Beginning Jan. 1, a new law will help deter the practice known as “doctor shopping” for prescription drugs, by requiring prescribers to check a patient’s prescription history before writing a prescription.
Often individuals abusing opioids and other drugs obtain prescriptions from multiple doctors to support their addiction. Senate Bill 772 requires prescribers to check with the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program, a database that records patients’ prescription histories, before prescribing opioids.
Signed on Dec. 13, the new law will allow doctors to make more informed decisions about care for high-risk patients to ensure physicians aren’t overprescribing—and that the patient isn’t doctor shopping.
Pharmacists Joe Smulkatis, Rochelle Pharmacy, thinks the law will help combat opioid use locally and throughout the state.
“There are many clinics where all they do is treat pain and keep feeding them pills every month and after a few months they are addicted. This is not just a problem here but is a problem in a lot of towns,” stated Smulkatis. “The pharmacy management program shows everything a patient has received from Illinois and neighboring states.”
Several measures that take effect Jan. 1 seek to provide veterans with the tools they need to be successful when returning to civilian life.
Senate Bill 1238 allows for the expansion of the number of veterans’ courts in the state, which are able to focus directly on the special needs of former and current members of the Armed Services. In some instances, veterans who qualify and successfully comply with court orders are able to receive the treatment they need and have their charges dismissed.
Senate Bill 866 requires the state’s Department of Veterans’ Affairs to give informational resources on service animals to veterans returning from deployment. The legislation was introduced in response to information gathered by the 2015 Veterans’ Suicide Task Force, which found that many veterans do not know about all the services and programs offered to them, especially those pertaining to service animals.
Senate Bill 838 seeks to educate veterans about the importance of early cancer screening, while House Bill 3701 seeks to help current and former members of the military advance their higher education, by requiring public universities and community colleges to form a policy to award appropriate academic credit for the education and training gained during military service.

 One of the most controversial laws taking effect Jan. 1, will be House Bill 40, which expands taxpayer funding for abortions. Senate Republican lawmakers voted against the measure, which would dedicate state funds to purely elective procedures, by mandating state insurance and Medicaid coverage of abortion, induced miscarriage or induced premature birth. The provisions of House Bill 40 move Illinois beyond the position of 47 other states by expanding taxpayer funding for purely elective procedures.
Other laws
Also beginning in 2018, 16-year-olds will have the opportunity to have their names included in the First Person Consent organ and tissue donor registry. House Bill 1805 reduces the age of consent from 18 to 16, to give younger residents the option to become a donor, which will increase the numbers of organ and tissue donors in the database.
Illinois will become the first state to ban the use of African elephants and Asian elephants in circuses and traveling exhibits with Senate Bill 1342. The law does not ban elephants from zoos and other non-traveling institution.  
Women may soon be paying the same price as men when it comes to certain services. Hair salons, barbers, dry cleaners and tailors will be required to provide a customer with a price lists for services upon request.
Melinda Bush who spearheaded the bill stated, “women have been unfairly charged more than men for the same services for far too long. Transparent pricing among service providers will help women know whether they are getting a fair deal for services.”
Early childhood programs will be prohibited from kicking children who exhibit difficult behaviors out of the program. State-funded preschool education and early childhood programs will be required to the program to provide steps and resources for planned transitions for children.
Staring in 2018, Aug. 4 is designated as Barack Obama Day in Illinois and corn is the official grain of Illinois.
Senator Bivins
Senator Tim Bivins spearheaded bills that focus on local municipalities.
Senate Bill 1668 authorizes the Department of Transportation to make certain real estate conveyances in Ogle County, subject to specified conditions.
To accommodate the size of modern semi-trucks, House Bill 683 increases to 65 feet, currently 55 feet, the maximum length of a truck tractor in combination with a semitrailer allowed on all roadways in Illinois.
Jeremy A. Ciesiel, Ogle County Engineer for the Highway Department, explained the increase in trailer length will have an impact on the county.
“Not all intersections are designed for a 65 foot long truck,” stated Ciesiel. “There is the potential of damage to intersections if trucks are not able to stay on the pavement. There were ways around the 55 foot law before and this is something we have been battling for quite a while.”
Ciesiel added, “there are certain intersections we know will see an increase in 65 foot trucks and we will have to monitor them and might need to modify if damage occurs.”
House Bill 2725 states that money received by the state from the federal government under the Recreational Trails Program shall not be considered for use as aid in the construction of highways and shall not be placed in the Road Fund in the State Treasury.
House Bill 3120 provides that if Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) ascertains the prevailing wage for a public body, then the public body can satisfy the newspaper publishing requirement by posting the IDOL hyperlink detailing the prevailing wages on their website.
Senate Bill 607 remedies an archaic law that had made automatic knives, like those sold at big box and sporting goods stores, illegal because they could be regarded as “switchblades.” Automatic knives had been considered ‘illegal’ under the way the law had been written, because the knives contain a spring in the handle. But they are not ‘switchblades.’ Automatic knives have been used by people in all walks of life for more than 20 years. Senate Bill 607 allows for the sale, manufacture, purchase, possession or carry of a spring-action knife by a person with a valid FOID card, or by a person or entity engaged in the business of selling or manufacturing spring-action knives.
Senate Bill 1319 provides that the Supreme Court and circuit courts may adopt rules permitting the use of video conferencing equipment in any adult guardianship hearing. It states that in order to use such equipment, all parties (respondent, attorneys, guardians, etc.) must agree to the terms of the video conferencing.
House Bill 1895 adds to the police training curriculum requirements, training in effective recognition and responses to stress, trauma, and post-traumatic stress experienced by police officers.
Rochelle Police Chief Eric Higby explained, “The new laws that affect our training are HB-0375 (mental health) and HB-1895. The first requires training for probationary officers and in-service training that includes mental health awareness and responses.  The stress training is for probationary police officers that ‘shall be offered by all certified schools.’ There isn’t an in-service component to this one as of yet, but the probationary officers will be trained on recognizing and responding to stress, trauma, and post-traumatic stress experienced by police officers.”
Annually the local officers are required to have training in firearms, use of force and legal updates, hazmat and specialty areas. Officers are also required training in civil rights, constitutional and proper use of law enforcement authority, cultural competency, human rights, and trauma informed response and investigation of sexual assault and abuse. Domestic violence training is also required every five years.