Illinois bill would give a three-dollar-an-hour raise to “direct service providers”

Posted on April 4, 2024
State Sen. Karina Villa (D-West Chicago) is the sponsor of a bill to give a three-dollar-an-hour raise to “direct service providers” who care for the developmentally disabled. (WJBC file photo)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – People who care for the developmentally disabled say they are due for a raise of three bucks an hour.
Senators Wednesday heard about the bill, as committee chair Ann Gillespie (D-Arlington Heights) questioned Kim Zoeller of the Ray Graham Association, a service provider.

“You can rearrange things in order to provide additional funding if you need to,” said the senator. “I just want to clarify that there is nothing in law that requires you to wait a full eighteen months before you can do another wage increase.”

“You’re correct, there’s nothing in law,” Zoeller responded. “However, when – I think all community organizations are very similar in nature to ours – when about 80-85 percent of your budget relies on the General Assembly, while it’s not prohibited, it’s impossible.”

A state-commissioned study’s guideline is that the workers be paid 150 percent of the minimum wage. The sponsor, State Sen. Karina Villa (D-West Chicago), said with the next increase in the minimum wage in January, the pay would be 130 percent.

No vote has been taken on Villa’s bill.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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