Welcome to Senator Celina Villanueva's Legislative Website

Villanueva law to strengthen identity protections for youth in state’s care

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Celina Villanueva led a new law to close gaps in Illinois’ child welfare laws and strengthen non-discrimination protections for youth in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

“Regardless of where Illinois youth are placed, they deserve to feel respected and that their identities are being protected and affirmed by those assigned to care for them,” said Villanueva (D-Chicago). “By implementing stronger protections for youth in DCFS’ care, we’re ensuring every case is met with a trauma-informed, comprehensive approach that prioritizes the dignity and well-being of our state’s youth.”

House Bill 4966, also known as the SECURE Act, enshrines enforceable standards of conduct for DCFS staff and caregivers of youth in care and ensures children, especially LGBTQ+ youth, receive the same services if placed out of state as they would in Illinois. Under the SECURE Act, the department is required to protect youth in care from unnecessary and unapproved disclosure of their sensitive identity information, including personal data that is linked or reasonably linkable to a youth and identifies the youth’s sexual orientation. It also creates a process for DCFS to abide by if it discloses sensitive identity information and requires the department to provide notice to the youth.

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Villanueva law to protect divested property owners from equity theft

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois residents will soon see a new tax sale process that helps prevent financial windfalls for property owners facing foreclosure, thanks to a law State Senator Celina Villanueva championed that prioritizes returning surplus equity to divested property owners.

“It’s pertinent we recognize this previous property tax process for what it was: exploitative to the hardworking Illinoisans who pay their back taxes with hard-earned money,” said Villanueva (D-Chicago). “It’s outright unfair to residents who have a property worth tens of thousands of dollars to have that property foreclosed on and be left with no recourse, no equity and, often times, no chance to rebuild their lives on a new property.”

Under the state’s previous process, if a property owner fell behind on taxes, the county could sell the debt to a tax buyer and give the original owner a set amount of time to pay off their debt, as well as any interest or penalties acquired. If the original property owner could not pay the debt and other associated costs in the allotted period, the buyer could petition a court to receive the full deed to the property. In practice, this meant buyers were obtaining property for the cost of back taxes, regardless of the property’s market value, and the original property owner did not receive any compensation for the property’s remaining equity.

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Villanueva law to expand in-state tuition at public institutions

SPRINGFIELD – Graduating high school students will soon see more opportunities to attend Illinois’ public colleges and universities, thanks to a law led by State Senator Celina Villanueva that expands in-state tuition rates to any individual who attended an Illinois high school for three years.

“Expanding in-state tuition at public colleges and universities will offer an otherwise unreachable lifeline to so many students, especially those coming from vulnerable situations,” said Villanueva (D-Chicago). “This is about ensuring our higher education system prioritizes equity and opportunity for all.”

For the past several years, Illinois lawmakers have voiced concerns with college costs, specifically citing rising in-state tuition that has led to many students taking on more in education-related debt or seeking higher education across state lines. Villanueva recognizes that the continued rising cost of living disproportionately affects low-income families and students participating in Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – groups that often have to temporarily relocate due to unforeseen circumstances.

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Villanueva law to protect patients’ reproductive health records

SPRINGFIELD – Recognizing the importance of reproductive health data privacy for Illinois residents, State Senator Celina Villanueva championed a law to directly combat continued attacks on bodily autonomy and keep reproductive data out of the wrong hands.

“This is about making sure women across our state don’t have to live in fear for seeking critical health care, especially abortion care, or face persecution if their private health records fall into a bad actor’s hands,” said Villanueva (D-Chicago). “By requiring health information exchanges to implement new policies that protect sensitive health data, we’re taking a direct approach to protecting women and mitigating the harm of the 2022 Roe v. Wade overturning.”

A health information exchange is used to electronically transfer patient medical data, for the use of maintaining medical records or to share among providers, to improve diagnostic efficiency and the overall quality of patient care. To keep abortion records safe, Villanueva’s law, the Reproductive Health Records Privacy Act, will require health information exchanges to:

• Limit user access to systems containing abortion-related medical information
• Refrain from sharing data across state lines, unless the reason for the disclosure is for technical support, quality assurance or billing purposes, or the patient consents to sharing their data
• Technically segregate information related to abortion services from the rest of a patient’s record
• Disable access to segregated information for out-of-state entities.

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