16 missed chances for state lawmakers to help out Illinoisans

Out of almost 7,000 bills filed, the Illinois General Assembly passed a little over 400. Some were good. Some were bad. Here are 16 bills that would have improved life in the state had they passed.

Despite passing 416 bills, Illinois lawmakers let 16 good pieces of legislation die as they churned through almost 7,000 bills during this past legislative session.

Of the bills sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk from the 2025 regular session, there are those that will raise taxes, increase public-sector union power and make it harder to do business in Illinois. Others curbed government interference, such as easing restrictions on licensed professions, expanding telehealth options, and increasing the transparency and convenience of dealing with state and local governments.

But there were missed opportunities. Here are the 16 solid bills the Illinois General Assembly overlooked this past session that would have made life better.

Curbing spending

Illinois just budgeted a record $55.2 billion in spending for the 2026 fiscal year, including $237 million in pork projects handed only to Democratic lawmakers and $6,000 per lawmaker raises.

House Bill 3014 and Senate Bill 1546 would rein in spending by capping the growth of the state budget. The bills would have limited the growth of spending to the average growth of the state’s gross domestic product during the past 10 years.

Housing affordability

Illinois has some of the least affordable housing in the Midwest, almost entirely because of a lack of new units. Legislation filed this year would have made it easier to build new housing. While these bills passed out of the Illinois House, they did not make it out of the state Senate.

House Bill 1813 would have eased the problem by legalizing accessory dwelling units such as granny flats and basement units in residential-zoned areas for municipalities across the state. House Bill 1814 would have done the same for duplexes in municipalities with more than 10,000 people.

Occupational licensing

Illinois has the eighth-worst occupational licensing burden of any state in the country, according to a study by the Archbridge Institute. That means licensed professionals need to go through more hoops to obtain and keep their licenses in Illinois, and more professions require a license to practice their trade. There are also greater costs for people struggling to rise up, such as $38,000 in tuition and lost wages to get an Illinois barber or cosmetology license.

While there were incremental improvements to licensing passed this year, some of the more far-reaching legislation was set aside.

House Bill 1706 would have added Illinois to the 38 other states in the Nursing Licensure Compact, meaning one nursing license would be recognized by all member states. Joining would have helped Illinois fill the estimated 15,000-nurse shortage projected by the end of this year. Despite bipartisan support, this bill was sunk by unions seeking to preserve their power over the profession.

House Bill 3533, the Licensure Apprenticeship Act, would have opened apprenticeship as a pathway for all licensed occupations, allowing for paid, on-the-job training as an alternative to costly education requirements. The bill was never even assigned to a substantive committee.

Ethics reform

Even though Illinois’ corrupt former House Speaker Mike Madigan will finally see prison time, the state’s ethics issues remain. Between 1983 and 2023 Illinois saw more than 2,300 federal corruption convictions. Several bills would have addressed ethics issues in the state, but none of them even made it to a committee hearing.

House Bill 1382 would have no longer required the approval of the Executive and Legislative Ethics Commissions to publish the inspector general’s investigative reports, instead mandating the reports be published within 60 days.

House Bill 1385 would have ended the revolving door from elected leader to lobbyist by requiring a three-year cooling off period before executive branch leaders and members of the Illinois General Assembly could engage in lobbying at the state level.

House Bill 2413 would have closed the loophole that currently allows sitting state lawmakers to be employed lobbying local Illinois governments.

House Bill 3121 would have prohibited sitting lawmakers from being paid to testify or represent clients against the state or local governments. The bill would also require lawmakers to publicly disclose a conflict of interest for any legislation that involved the financial interest of their immediate family and to recuse themselves from voting.

House Bill 1748 would have forced lawmakers to follow the Illinois Constitution. It would have required any bill introduced to remain in the Illinois House of Representatives or Senate for at least five calendar days before it could be passed out of the chamber. It would require an additional five calendar days after the bill was amended, preventing the practice of gut-and-replace that blatantly violates the state constitution’s three-day reading requirement.

Education transparency

Several bills would have provided more transparency to parents and the public about Illinois’ struggling schools.

House Bill 3009 and Senate Bill 1915 would require schools to notify parents of any reading deficiency in their children and to disclose the plan for addressing the deficiency.

House Bill 2981 would require the Illinois State Board of Education to keep track of school capacity data to learn what schools were operating near capacity, which were underpopulated and the reasons for students leaving one school for another.

House Bill 3806 and Senate Bill 2080 would have made learning materials available and easily accessible to parents of Illinois public school students. These bills would have allowed parents to review comprehensive lesson plans, learning materials used in the classroom and teacher training materials.

These bills would have made significant improvements in the lives of those who want to live, work and study in the state. Some would have targeted shortages in housing and health care. Some would have stemmed the state’s out-of-control spending. Others would have taken meaningful steps towards curbing Illinois’ longstanding culture of corruption.

Few of them were even given a chance.

The good news is although the practice is to focus on budget-related items in even-numbered years, lawmakers technically have another chance to pass these same bills in the 2026 regular session. They should take it, for the sake of the people who sent them to Springfield.