Dan Petrella Times Bureau SPRINGFIELD — Despite a bill on Gov. Bruce Rauner’s desk that would block its plans, the Illinois Department on Aging is moving forward with proposed changes to a program that provides care to elderly Illinoisans so they can remain in their homes. The department’s community care program is designed to keep people […]
New Springfield guns plan gets Rifle Association backing
June 23, 2016 By
Mike Riopell State-level gun legislation in response to the Orlando attacks has emerged in Illinois, led by a Chicago Democrat and more than one suburban Republican. The new proposal in Springfield would let the Illinois State Police notify the FBI if someone on a terrorist watch list applies to get a Firearm Owners Identification card […]
Illinois women hit ‘disproportionally hard’ by record state budget impasse
June 20, 2016 By
by Monique Garcia and Kim GeigerContact Reporter Chicago Tribune As Illinois government has lurched along for nearly a year without a formal budget, women who rely on state services have been among those suffering the most. Frozen out of the haphazard funding system that’s emerged during the impasse are social service providers, many of them not-for-profit organizations […]
Proposed legislation a $700 million ‘stop-gap’ for various human service agencies
May 12, 2016 By
By Doug Finke GateHouse Media Illinois SPRINGFIELD — An Illinois House committee has given preliminary approval to legislation to spend $700 million to help out financially strapped human services. The House Human Services Appropriations Committee OK’d the measure on a unanimous vote Wednesday. However, Rep. Patti Bellock, R-Hinsdale, cautioned that Republicans were given late notice […]
House panel backs social services funds, but Rauner noncommittal
May 12, 2016 By
Monique Garcia and Celeste Bott House lawmakers advanced legislation Wednesday that would pump roughly $700 million into the state’s network of social service providers, a stopgap plan aimed at curbing layoffs and closures as agencies that care for the vulnerable struggle to keep the lights on after going nearly a year without funding. While the […]
Providers back plan to block changes to home care program
April 11, 2016 By
Dan Petrella Lee Springfield Bureau Chief SPRINGFIELD – A big part of Diane Drew’s job is helping make sure hundreds of elderly Macon County residents receive the services they need to be able to stay in their homes. Drew is executive director of the Community Home Environmental Learning Project, a Decatur-based nonprofit organization that serves […]
AARP, Advocates and Legislators Team Up to Protect Thousands of Illinois Seniors
April 8, 2016 By
SPRINGFIELD, Ill, April 7, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Illinois’ ongoing budgetary and partisan differences are threatening the life and well-being of thousands of the state’s most vulnerable citizens who may be left without critical services should Governor Rauner’s proposed cuts to the Community Care Program (CCP) go through. Taking swift action, AARP, SEIU, the Alzheimer’s Association, […]
Trans birth certificate bill to go to IL House floor
April 5, 2016 By
by Matt Simonette 2016-04-05 The House Human Services Committee, on April 5, passed a bill 8-6 that would allow transgender Illinoisans to more easily change the gender marker on their birth certificates. The bill now moves to the House floor. HB 6073, introduced in February by openly gay state Rep. Greg Harris, allows a […]
State Bill Would Modernize Process To Change Gender On Illinois Birth Certificates
February 17, 2016 By
By Ellyn Fortino from Progress Illinois Legislation aimed at easing the process for transgender people in Illinois to change the gender marker on their birth certificate was introduced in the state House last week. State Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) is sponsoring the bill, HB 6073. It would eliminate the state’s current requirement that transgender people in […]
Home Care Funding Discussion
January 22, 2016 By
New legislation may bring back last year’s battle between Democratic legislators and Gov. Bruce Rauner over requirements to receive state-funded home care assistance. Rauner had proposed raising what’s called the Determination of Need, or DON score, in his first budget address. The score decides how much state aid a person with disabilities or a senior […]