Senator says disability service workers’ raise falls short

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – An Illinois state senator says wages for direct support professionals who provide services for people with developmental disabilities and serious mental illnesses lag behind where they were when Gov. J.B. Pritzker took office.

Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, asked Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, if anything was added to the governor’s budget proposal for workers who provide disability services.

“The proposal for the 60 cents an hour increase in wages is included. It gets us on the path towards addressing and dealing with the Guidehouse recommendations,” Sims said during a hearing on May 31.

The Guidehouse issues developmental disability services rate studies for the Illinois Department of Human Services.

Before the General Assembly passed a record-high $55.9 billion budget on June 1 for fiscal year 2027, Rose said another $24 million would return DSP workers to 150% of minimum wage, where they were in 2019.

“Not one time in eight years will our most vulnerable population get back to where he started when he took over as governor. We’ve been below 150% every year of his two terms,” Rose said.

The Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities said the budget reflects a recognition that stability and investment in community-based services remain essential.

“We are particularly grateful that lawmakers included both a 60-cent-per-hour wage increase for Direct Support Professionals and the zero-hour staffing model that IARF supported in the governor’s introduced budget,” IARF president and CEO Josh Evans said in a statement.

Evans said Illinois providers continue to navigate staffing challenges, rising costs and increasing demand for services.

“While important work remains to fully address the growing needs of the disability services system, this budget represents meaningful progress and provides a strong foundation for the future,” Evans said.

Rose thanked Sims and other Senate Democrats for their work but said every one of the governor’s budgets failed to get DSP workers back to where they were before Pritzker took office.

“I just find it abhorrent that the governor would have such a lack of care. In eight years, he can’t fix that.”

Pritzker has indicated he would sign the budget that would take effect July 1, 2026.