Happy Monday! This is the start of committee deadline week in Springfield. For those who are not familiar, especially this year, committee deadline week involves many crammed in hearings occurring with short notice. Legislators will be running around and bills will be flying by. In order for a bill to stay alive to be voted on by the full chamber and move to the other chamber, it must get out of committee this week unless it receives an extension, which is less frequent.
This means we need YOUR help to ensure that a couple of important bills move forward! You can do this by submitting a witness slip in support of the following bills:
SB2424 – Diversion Homes – CLICK HERE to submit a witness slip in support of this bill by April 10, 3 pm
This creates a model of 6 homes in communities across Illinois developed specifically to support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who have significant behavioral health needs and are at risk of going into an institution. The homes will have staff who are trained to support people with a dual diagnosis and services will be allowed to be more robust and targeted unlike the general CILA home. CLICK HERE to submit a witness slip in support of this bill by April 10, 3 pm when the Senate Human Services Committee meets.
HB5163 – Community Care for Persons with Disabilities Act – CLICK HERE to submit a witness slip in support of this bill by April 11 at 3 pm.
This bill allow for local counties, municipalities, townships to create community development boards that can give money away to support I/DD. This already occurs with mental health boards. This change would means that local communities could create an additional funding stream to support I/DD services – either to address unmet needs like people waiting on the PUNS waiting list or allow for innovative programs not funded by Medicaid to be supported. CLICK HERE to submit a witness slip in support of this bill by April 11 at 3 pm. It will be heard in the Property Tax Subcommittee of the House Revenue Committee.
SB3508 (& HB5622) – DSP Wage Increase – CLICK HERE to support a witness slip in support of this bill by April 10, 3 pm
This bill would increase the wages for DSPs to $15 per hour over two years in order to try to help address the staffing crisis people with disabilities are experiencing. CLICK HERE to support a witness slip in support of this bill by April 10, 3 pm when the Senate Human Services Committee meets.
Please note, we are asking you to do one witness slip for each of these bills. When you click on each of the above links, you can fill out your contact information, if you are a proponent (yes you are!) and under testimony click “record of appearance only”. Witness slips take less than 2 minutes to fill out.
We need YOUR Voice!
Any questions – email me at meg@thearcofil.org.
Thanks, Meg
Meg Cooch
Executive Director
The Arc of Illinois
20901 S. LaGrange Rd. Suite 209
Frankfort, IL 60423
815-464-1832 (OFFICE)
Meg@thearcofil.org