Bill Text: IL SB2044 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Creates the Tickborne Disease Prevention and Protection Act. Presents legislative findings. Requires the Department of Public Health, in conjunction with the medical entomology lab of the Prairie Research Institute's Illinois Natural History Survey and a statewide association representing physicians, to develop protocols and best practices for identifying, diagnosing, and treating tickborne diseases in Illinois and a mandatory accredited continuing medical education course that describes those protocols and best practices. Provides that the Department shall require health care professionals and laboratories to report cases of tickborne disease to each other and the Department. Directs the Department to train local health departments to respond to tickborne disease-related inquiries. Requires the Department to prepare a report of all efforts undertaken by the Department under the Act.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-5)

Status: (Failed) 2025-01-07 - Session Sine Die [SB2044 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-SB2044-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 SB2044 Introduced 2/9/2023, by Sen. Sally J. Turner SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
New Act
Creates the Tickborne Disease Prevention and Protection Act. Presents legislative findings. Requires the Department of Public Health, in conjunction with the medical entomology lab of the Prairie Research Institute's Illinois Natural History Survey and a statewide association representing physicians, to develop protocols and best practices for identifying, diagnosing, and treating tickborne diseases in Illinois and a mandatory accredited continuing medical education course that describes those protocols and best practices. Provides that the Department shall require health care professionals and laboratories to report cases of tickborne disease to each other and the Department. Directs the Department to train local health departments to respond to tickborne disease-related inquiries. Requires the Department to prepare a report of all efforts undertaken by the Department under the Act.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning health.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title.
(a) This Act may be cited as the Tickborne Disease
Prevention and Protection Act.
(b) This Act may be referred to as the Gabby Galbo
Tickborne Disease Prevention and Protection Law.
Section 5. Legislative findings. The General Assembly
finds that:
(1) Tickborne diseases, including, but not limited to,
Lyme disease, Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis,
Ehrlichiosis, and anaplasmosis, afflict humans and other
animals and are caused by infectious agents transmitted by
tick bites.
(2) In the past decade, tickborne diseases have been
reported more frequently in Illinois.
(3) Anyone participating in an outdoor activity,
especially in an area with tall grasses, shrubs,
low-hanging branches, or leaf mold, has a higher chance of
contracting tick bites, but it is possible to encounter a
tick bite anywhere.
(4) Tick bites can occur throughout the year,

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including during winter months.
(5) In 2018, the American Academy of Pediatrics'
Committee on Infectious Diseases determined that a course
of treatment with doxycycline is safe to prescribe to
young children with any infection responsive to it,
specifically including early tickborne diseases.
Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
"Tickborne disease" means any disease carried or caused by
a tick.
"Department" means the Department of Public Health.
Section 15. Tickborne disease; protocols and best
practices.
(a) The Department, in conjunction with the National
Institutes of Health, the medical entomology lab of the
Prairie Research Institute's Illinois Natural History Survey,
and a statewide association representing physicians, shall
develop mandatory protocols and best practices for
identifying, diagnosing, and treating tickborne diseases in
Illinois. The Department shall study the diseases carried by
ticks in Illinois and the number of people infected by ticks in
Illinois to provide data to the public on the incidence of
tickborne disease and locations of exposure in Illinois, by
county. The Department shall require local health departments,
health care professionals, and laboratories to report to each

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other and the Department, within the period specified in the
Control of Communicable Diseases Code for reporting to local
health departments, each case of a tickborne disease in the
local health department in whose jurisdiction the case is
reported. The Department shall also train local health
departments to respond to tickborne disease-related inquiries
from the public.
(b) To raise awareness about and promote the prevention of
tickborne disease, the protocols and best practices developed
by the Department under subsection (a):
(1) shall be published on a designated and publicly
accessible webpage, shall include up-to-date information
about the prevention, detection, and treatment of all
tickborne disease, and shall illustrate the prevalence of
tickborne disease using historical mapping;
(2) shall reference peer-reviewed scientific research
articles;
(3) shall incorporate guidance and recommendations
from the federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, the Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality's National Guideline Clearinghouse, and any other
persons or entities determined by the Department to have
particular expertise in tickborne disease; and
(4) shall be distributed to physicians, other health
care professionals and providers, and persons subject to
an increased risk of contracting tickborne disease.

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(c) The Department shall prepare a report of all efforts
undertaken by the Department under this Act. The report shall
be posted on the Department's website and distributed to local
health departments and to any other facilities as determined
by the Department.
Section 20. Mandatory continuing medical education
training; tickborne disease. The Department, in conjunction
with the medical entomology lab of the Prairie Research
Institute's Illinois Natural History Survey and a statewide
association representing physicians, shall develop a mandatory
accredited continuing medical education course that describes
the protocols and best practices for identifying, diagnosing,
and treating tickborne diseases in Illinois.