SPRINGFIELD, IL…. Representative Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) had a successful week on the House Floor, seeing two of his sponsored bills pass with unanimous support before the 3rd Reading deadline.
During the lengthy session on Thursday, Rep. Meier spoke on House Bill 4179; legislation intended to help rural areas achieve adequate funding for their ambulance services.
“House Bill 4179 was brought to me because of all the problems we’re starting to have in rural Illinois,” said Rep. Meier. “The federal government, when they make their payments back from Medicare and Medicaid ambulance trips, is only paying a maximum of 40% of that money. The for-profit ambulances are leaving rural southern Illinois. Our fire departments are not allowed to transport people to the hospitals from wrecks or calls that they go on. The EMTs can go there, but they can’t transport them.”
Rep. Meier noted that HB4179 is intended to help support the emergency service districts that could be created thanks to HB1470, passed during last year’s session.
“We’ve had to find a way to go out there and make something happen,” he said. “So this bill is a companion bill to the one we passed last year. That one allowed towns, counties, townships to go across their lines and other lines to make a district be possible.”
HB4179 would let taxpayers decide if they would like to increase the maximum levy for ambulance services from 0.4% to 0.8% EAV through a voter referendum.
“This gives the voters the right to say: hey, we need more service, we are willing to pay for it,” said Rep. Meier.
Representative Meier’s legislation received bipartisan support; passing the House unopposed with a vote of 105-0.
The House also showed strong support for HB5138; a bill that simplifies the process of acquiring information from the Illinois Department of Transportation.
“This bill was brought to me by a lot of city managers in our area,” said Rep. Meier. “They’ve been asked to go and pay for studies that have already been done by IDOT. I would think that, in Illinois, we would want to keep our costs down to our taxpayers. Why should another study have to be performed if we already have it?”
IDOT often requires local road districts to conduct costly road surveys, even if the department has already conducted its own. If enacted, HB5138 would require IDOT to make available all studies and surveys regarding road construction projects’ traffic or environmental impact, so long as they are not confidential.
HB5138 passed the House of Representatives unanimously, garnering a vote of 109-0.
Both bills are now slated to make their way through the Senate. You can track these bills at ilga.gov.
###
State Representative Charlie Meier represents the 109th District which includes portions of Bond, Clinton, Madison, St. Clair, and Washington counties. For more information, please visit CharlieMeier.net or contact Rep. Meier’s district office at 618-651-0405