SPRINGFIELD – To increase public safety, State Senator Doris Turner is sponsoring a measure that would suspend EMS professionals who have been charged with a crime while performing their duties.

“We have to ensure people’s safety is our number one priority,” said Turner (D-Springfield). “When there’s an emergency, we need to be able to trust the professionals who respond and take care of us.”

Senate Bill 3134 would allow the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, or their designee, to determine if the suspension of an EMS professional should extend statewide. This would apply in situations when an EMS professional has been charged with a crime while performing their official duties and continuing to practice poses the possibility of harm to the public.

The current suspension system has the potential to put the public at risk while an EMS professional's investigation regarding their suspension is conducted — the individual can continue to work within other EMS systems outside of the one they are suspended from.

“Through this legislation, EMS professionals who may cause harm to the public will not be able to continue working across the state,” said Turner. “Bad actors have no home here in Illinois.”

Senate Bill 3134 passed the Senate Public Health Committee and heads to the full Senate.