DES PLAINES – Students will be allowed to self-administer prescribed medication while at school under legislation sponsored by Des Plaines Democrat State Senator Laura Murphy that became law this week.

Murphy’s measure will require schools to allow students with an action plan to self-administer prescribed medication with permission from their parent or guardian.

“Giving children permission to self-administer their medicine while at school allows them to focus on their school work and offers parents reassurance,” Murphy said. “I am happy my bill was signed into law because no parent wants to worry that their child might not be safe at school simply because they don’t have access to their medication.”

Gwynne Ryan, a teacher at Maine West High School brought this idea for legislation forward after fighting the school her child attends on allowing her child to self-administer

"Helping kids to manage all aspects of their lives and medical needs, in and out of school, is essential for lifelong good health and a sense of individual responsibility.  This is what I want to teach my child and what Senator Murphy has helped make possible for many more parents,” said Ryan. “Senator Murphy’s action on issues that directly impact her constituents shows her dedication to public service."

Senate Bill 1250 goes into effect Jan. 1, 2020.

DES PLAINES – A bill sponsored by State Senator Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) that would make partisan appointments to the Task Force on Human Services Contracting equal was signed into law earlier this month.

House Bill 2487 requires appointments to the task force to have the same number of Democrats and Republicans. Previously, the majority party was allowed to appoint one more member than the minority party.

“Human services should not be a partisan issue,” said Murphy. “We need to bring all sides together to ensure that the challenges faced by human service agencies are adequately addressed.”

The task force was implemented to study State contracting with private, nonprofit human service providers and the challenges they face. The new law extends the task force’s study by one year, and at that time the task force will make recommendations to the General Assembly on how to improve contracting relationships so that human services needs are addressed efficiently.

“In order to understand the issues that these vital service providers are facing, the task force should be given more time to study the full range of challenges,” said Murphy. “I am confident that when the task force makes their recommendations from the balanced, bipartisan study group that we will begin to see positive changes to the way we contract with human service providers.”

House Bill 2487 is effective immediately.

CHICAGO – A bill sponsored by State Senator Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) that creates a database of mental health resources for students was signed into law earlier this month.

House Bill 907 directs the Illinois Department of Human Services to create and maintain a database on their website with mental health resources. The resources will be geared toward addressing bullying and school shootings, and will be available for students, school staff and parents. All web traffic on the database will remain anonymous and will not be tracked.

“Students face a variety of challenges that can create mental health crises,” said Murphy. “I want to make sure that teachers, parents and the students themselves have access to information that can help them navigate those challenges.”

The new law is effective immediately and the Department of Human Services is already developing the database.

Join me on Tuesday, July 16, 2019 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Des Plaines Public Library for my Silver Beat Seminar. The event is free to seniors and the Attorney General's Office will be there to answer any questions regardinfinancial exploitation and to help you learn about the Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP)Project and health care fraud.