ELGIN, Ill. – A new state law led by State Rep. Anna Moeller and State Sen. Mary Edly-Allen from a west suburban resident aims to help prevent more unnecessary deaths tied to suspected fentanyl usage, by giving law enforcement more tools for investigations.
Cort Stevens of Elgin learned in March 2022 of a loophole in state law when his close friend suffered an unexplained fentanyl-related death. Cort was dismayed to learn that while the law requires hospitals to inform county coroners about deaths, hospitals and coroners are not required to notify law enforcement about the circumstances involved in those deaths.
“To me, this is a situation of a mismatch between words and actions. We keep hearing how bad of a problem fentanyl is, but then we don’t require police to be alerted to allow timely investigations,” Cort said. He believes had the requirement been law two years ago, the person that delivered fentanyl-laced drugs to his friend might have been caught and that could have led to important progress aimed at stopping the distribution of fentanyl-laced drugs in the area and across Illinois.
Cort took his concerns to the Kane County Coroner, the Elgin Police Department and ultimately to Rep. Moeller, who responded by filing House Bill 4942. The legislation, which has now been signed into law, requires coroners to promptly inform law enforcement in cases where fentanyl is suspected to be involved in a person’s death. The bill cleared the Illinois House 110-0 and the Illinois Senate 58-0 in May.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reports 3,261 opioid overdose deaths statewide in 2022, up 8.2 percent from 2021.
Elgin Police Chief Ana Lalley thanked Cort Stevens for raising the issue and working with the department and the two legislators on the new law.
Rep. Moeller called House Bill 4942 a good example of teamwork where a constituent identifies a weakness in our policies and local officials work together to address it.
“We know fentanyl and other opioid abuse is costing people their lives needlessly, and our law enforcement teams need more tools to root out the flow of these dangerous drugs in our communities,” Rep. Moeller said. “I want to thank Cort Stevens and the Elgin Police Department for bringing us all together on this commonsense legislation that will hopefully spare more families the pain of losing loved ones, and I appreciate Sen. Edly-Allen’s work to help us make this smart policy Illinois law.”
Sen. Edly-Allen echoed Rep. Moeller’s comments on the benefits of the new law.
“Our country is dealing with one of the deadliest drug crises in history. We need to ensure that fentanyl is a part of a coroner’s report to keep track of its reach in our communities,” said Sen. Edly-Allen (D-Libertyville). “By requiring coroners to report whether fentanyl was a contributing factor, we can ensure that these reports are accurate and update our data on this epidemic.”