Illinois advocates concerned about proposed cuts to care hours for developmentally disabled
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (NEXSTAR) — If you just look at the line item for the Illinois Department of Human Services in Governor Pritzker's proposed budget, you will see an increase for services for the developmentally disabled. However, advocates are now drawing attention to a specific cut that could result in less care hours for people who need care in group homes.
The They Deserve More Coalition, which is made up of different organizations that support the developmentally disabled, came to the Illinois State Capitol to share their concerns.
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The Governor's proposed budget would include a $32 million dollar decrease in funded hours for care of developmentally disabled living in group homes. The funded hours specifically pay for direct support professionals to staff these group homes.
The Illinois Association for Rehabilitation Facilities said the decrease would result in 900,000 hours being cut from the current total, which could mean over an hour less of care per day.
'If we cut 900,000 hours out of the service system from those people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, then they're going to be in danger of not being able to live effectively in their community,' Lore Baker, President of the Association for Individual Development said.
People with developmental disabilities are assessed and prescribed a certain number of hours of care. In these group home settings, hours are typically pooled together to make sure the people have the proper care.
A spokesperson for Governor JB Pritzker's office said the rollback is more about efficiently using the hours allotted.
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'The discussion of the 'funded hours' obscures a basic fact: IDHS and Governor Pritzker are committing more to DD services than ever before,' Spokesman for the Governor Alex Gough said in a statement. 'Providers will never be told 'you've reached your hours limit' or be forced to lay off support workers. The global hours total is part of a funding model with multiple parts, designed to fairly and equitably distribute limited resources.'
The administration pointed to the other investments being made to services for the developmentally disabled. Those include a 50-cent per hour wage increase for direct support professionals. It's also another year of increases for the overall budget for that division. That overall increase is why advocates and organizations were so caught off guard by the proposed cut, especially since they thought they were past this discussion.
This cut was proposed after the state already backed off a much bigger proposed cut last year. Starting in 2023, the state was prepared to cut 2.3 million hours to the same area. At the time, the state said that was just a step in implementing the findings from the state-commissioned Guide House Rate study, but the state backtracked on that plan after pressure from advocates and lawmakers.
While this proposal will impact significantly less hours, advocates still say it will result in a loss of care.
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'I think it might be possible if the hours didn't disappear,' Baker said. 'But what happened, instead of moving around two hours to go have more hours for someone who has a higher service need and less hours for someone who needs less support, the total amount of hours in the system totally shrunk.'
The governor's proposed budget is just that — a proposal. Lawmakers will spend the next month and a half hammering out the details of the budget. Advocates voiced their concerns about these proposed cuts to the appropriations committee in the House of Representatives.
'Every legislator that we've spoken to has been shocked that this was in the governor's proposed budget,' Baker said. 'They keep saying, didn't we fix this last year? And we're like, We thought so, but not so much.'
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Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Gov. JB Pritzker set to testify before congressional committee about sanctuary states amid immigration turmoil
WASHINGTON — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has said he plans to use a U.S. House committee hearing Thursday to educate Republican lawmakers on how the state's so-called sanctuary policies have helped create safer communities. But spiraling events triggered by the Trump administration's recent forceful immigration enforcement tactics, including in Los Angeles and Chicago, could turn a politically contentious debate far more combative. Beginning at 9 a.m. Chicago time Thursday, Pritzker will appear alongside fellow Democratic governors Kathy Hochul of New York and Tim Walz of Minnesota, who was last year's unsuccessful vice presidential nominee, in a long-planned hearing before the Republican-controlled House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Underscoring a key Trump talking point, the GOP lawmakers repeatedly have tried to link immigration to violent crime and have faulted Democratic officials for limiting the ways state and local police can carry out immigration enforcement. The same Oversight Committee held a March hearing with big-city mayors, including Brandon Johnson of Chicago, to argue the same point. But after much hype, the Republicans failed to make a splash with the mayors' hearing, as city officials largely avoided efforts to be drawn into partisan fights. The mayors insisted that sanctuary laws improved public safety, not jeopardized it. Pritzker seems to be following the mayors' example in trying to sidestep major controversies while also blaming Congress for its inability over decades to pass an overhaul of the country's immigration laws that would allow longtime immigrants without documentation to gain legal status and to help businesses find workers they need. 'Certainly, I'm not there to lecture to (Republican lawmakers),' Pritzker told reporters last week. 'I'm there to take questions from them and respond to them.' 'There may be members on that committee who are simply there for a dog-and-pony show, who simply want to grandstand in front of the cameras. I hope not. That's inappropriate,' he said. 'I'm going there on a serious matter to give them my views about how we're managing through a problem that's been created for the states by the federal government.' Pritzker's comments came before Trump ordered National Guard troops and Marines to Southern California in recent days — over the objection of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, which has sued the Trump administration over the moves. The military forces are tasked with supporting federal agents in immigration enforcement. Closer to home for Pritzker, immigrants and advocates have rallied against the Chicago Police Department, denouncing officers' alleged cooperation with federal agents who detained at least 20 immigrants last week on the Near South Side. The governor said he thinks Chicago police 'followed the law.' But several Latino members of the Chicago City Council have called for an investigation. Sanctuary policies allow police to cooperate in criminal investigations of immigrants but not in immigration enforcement actions, which are civil violations. 'Thursday's hearing is a high-stakes moment to defend our values and push back on the Trump administration's war on immigrants,' U.S. Rep. Jesús 'Chuy' Garcia, a Chicago Democrat, said in an emailed statement. 'I trust Governor Pritzker will stand firm, asserting that sanctuary policies keep families safe, build trust, and reflect who we are.' 'With L.A. still reeling from military-style raids and subsequent military deployments, this hearing is a chance to show the country that Illinois won't be bullied into abandoning its immigrant communities,' Garcia added. Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University who studies civil rights and constitutional law, said Trump's deployment of the National Guard in California and comments suggesting Newsom should be arrested likely means Pritzker and the other Democratic governors will face a far different dynamic on Capitol Hill than the big-city mayors did a few months ago. 'The sea change in the political dynamics over (the weekend) puts this on a very different footing,' he said. 'We're just in a wildly different place now, especially once the National Guard starts getting called and lawsuits begin, and arrests are made at a very wide scale.' 'The inclination to be more aggressive in that environment and to be a little more adamant in taking positions might be part of the political calculus for some of the governors in a way that it wasn't for the mayors,' Kreis added. All the governors slated to appear Thursday face political pressure to stake out bold positions, he noted, as Pritzker publicly toys with the idea of a 2028 presidential run and Walz already has a national profile because of his vice presidential candidacy. As Trump took control of National Guard troops against the wishes of Newsom, Pritzker and other Democratic governors blasted the move as an 'alarming abuse of power.' Trump's National Guard order isn't limited to California, although that's the only place where it's been used so far. Newsom has said the guard isn't needed. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, Illinois' senior senator, added his voice Monday to the growing chorus of outraged Democrats. 'What is clear is that President Trump manipulated these protests as an excuse to politicize the military and divert resources from pressing national security and disaster relief responsibilities,' Durbin said. Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned why the Trump administration responded so forcefully to protests in Southern California, just months after Trump pardoned nearly 1,500 people who took part in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol that sought to overturn Trump's 2020 presidential election loss. Many of those protesters assaulted police officers. 'It appears FBI Director (Kash) Patel's comment (that) if you, 'hit a cop, you're going to jail,' only applies to people who President Trump doesn't agree with,' Durbin said in a speech on the Senate floor. Pritzker arrived in Washington on Monday to prepare for his Oversight Committee testimony. It will be a constraining format for the billionaire governor because congressional hearings are designed to maximize attention for members of Congress, not their witnesses. The Oversight Committee, in particular, is a contentious forum with partisan firebrands from both sides of the aisle competing for attention. There is no specific piece of legislation being considered by the lawmakers at the hearing. Pritzker spokesman Matt Hill said in a statement that the two-term Democratic governor will 'discuss his track record on public safety and the implementation of bipartisan state laws.' 'Despite the rhetoric of Republicans in Congress, Gov. Pritzker will share facts about how this bipartisan public safety law is fully compliant with federal law and ensures law enforcement can focus on doing their jobs well,' Hill said. One point Pritzker is expected to highlight to committee Republicans is that Illinois' Trust Act — which bans state law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities who lack a judicially issued criminal warrant — was signed into law by a Republican, Pritzker's predecessor, Gov. Bruce Rauner. Pritzker retained and is personally paying the Washington, D.C., law firm Covington & Burling to help prepare him for the hearing. It is one of the firms Trump has sought to sanction for its involvement in previous legal cases against him. Dana Remus, who conducted the vetting of Pritzker as a potential vice presidential candidate to unsuccessful Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, is among the legal team assisting Pritzker, according to people close to Pritzker. Republicans plan to paint the prominent governors as weak on public safety. 'The Trump administration is taking decisive action to deport criminal illegal aliens from our nation but reckless sanctuary states like Illinois, Minnesota and New York are actively seeking to obstruct federal immigration enforcement,' U.S. Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement last week. 'The governors of these states must explain why they are prioritizing the protection of criminal illegal aliens over the safety of U.S. citizens, and they must be held accountable,' he added. Congressional Republicans have joined the Trump administration in trying to put pressure on sanctuary cities and states in recent months, often by withholding federal support for other services. Last week, House Republicans passed a bill to remove Small Business Administration offices from sanctuary cities, including Chicago, Boston, Denver and New York. The proposal would support an initiative by SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler in March to relocate the regional offices in six cities, including Chicago. In April, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a memo implying grant money to Illinois and other sanctuary jurisdictions — or those that, like Illinois, allow unauthorized immigrants to drive legally — could be at risk. Maria Castaneda, a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Transportation, said the state wasn't changing its policies in response to the memo. And in February, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi attempted to block federal law enforcement grants for Chicago and other sanctuary jurisdictions, although a federal judge in California ruled those actions unconstitutional in April. 'They are absolutely trying to bully (states and cities),' said Debu Gandhi, senior director of immigration policy for the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington. 'This overreach will override local control. Withholding community funding from Americans is not an effective way to improve public safety.' Laurence Benenson, vice president of policy and advocacy for the National Immigration Forum, said there are legal limits to the repercussions the federal government can impose on states for not falling into line with the administration's priorities. The Supreme Court, for example, has said financial penalties can't be so severe that they are akin to a 'gun to the head' of states for not complying, Benenson explained. And it's Congress — not the executive branch — that has to set the priorities. 'If they're retroactively saying, 'We're adding all these conditions to this funding you're already receiving,' that's another thing they're going to be challenged on legally,' Benenson said. Since returning to office, Trump has prioritized immigration enforcement with provocative actions, some of which judges have ruled illegal. That includes deporting people to a prison in El Salvador without first holding legal hearings, detaining pro-Palestinian protesters and threatening to block all foreign students from Harvard University. The administration has used plainclothes officers using unmarked vehicles and not wearing badges or agency identification to detain people suspected of immigration violations. Agents have taken people into custody after court hearings and at check-ins with caseworkers. Gandhi said such actions undermine efforts to provide for public safety. 'What we've seen is recklessness and cruelty, not the promised actions that make Americans safer,' he said. 'Immigrants are being targeted for their speech. International students who have not violated the law are having their legal status placed in jeopardy. People are being deported to a notorious foreign prison in a third country with no due process.' Kreis, the law professor from Georgia State, said the Trump administration's tactics have intensified the protests. But once federal agents are in danger, he said, local police are likely to move to protect them. 'As a liberal who is very much against a lot of what the Trump administration is doing with immigration policy, I can also see a very different scenario where the federal government was trying to enforce some civil rights policy that liberals would love,' he said. Garcia, the Chicago congressman, said Thursday's hearing comes as a response to difficulties Trump has faced in pushing key parts of his agenda through Congress and the jolts he has caused in the economy through tariffs and trade policy. 'Trump desperately needs to distract us from his failures,' Garcia said in his statement. 'The economy is on the brink of a recession because the world is calling his bluff. We must stand strong against this cruel, authoritarian war that seeks to scapegoat immigrants to cover up the incompetence and corruption of the President and his administration.' .


Chicago Tribune
12 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Sen. Jason Plummer: Gov. JB Pritzker has taken Illinois sanctuary city policies to the extreme
As pressure mounts over his sanctuary state policies, Gov. JB Pritzker is headed to Washington this week to testify in front of the U.S. House oversight committee. While you can expect him to point fingers and dodge accountability, the facts are clear: Under his watch, Illinois has become a national outlier, defying federal law, tying the hands of law enforcement and pouring taxpayer money into programs for those people living in the country illegally. Before the cameras start rolling, here's what you need to know, the facts without the political spin. Since taking office, Pritzker hasn't just supported sanctuary policies; he has gone to extremes. He's fond of pointing to the TRUST Act, but it's important to understand that the sweeping sanctuary state agenda on the books today looks nothing like what was passed in 2017. To be clear, this isn't a defense of the original TRUST Act, which marked the beginning of Illinois stepping back from cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. I was not in the Senate at the time. If I had been, I'd have voted against it. But since Pritzker likes to point out that it was signed by a Republican, as if that justifies everything he's done since, it's worth setting the record straight. The 2017 law set basic limits on how local law enforcement could respond to immigration detainers, requiring a judicial warrant to hold someone in custody. It still specifically allowed police to coordinate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport dangerous criminals and was narrowly focused on specific procedures. What Pritzker has done since bears little resemblance to the original law, and using it as cover for his broader immigration policies is disingenuous at best. Under Pritzker, that limited framework has been expanded. What was a targeted policy has been transformed into a sweeping sanctuary state agenda. He has pushed laws that ban local jails from working with ICE, prevent law enforcement from sharing information with federal agents and give state officials new powers to go after departments that try to cooperate with federal authorities. In 2021, Pritzker signed the Illinois Way Forward Act. It bans state and local governments from working with ICE to detain people who are living in the country illegally. Sheriffs and jailers are now prohibited from notifying ICE when someone in custody is wanted for deportation. Even asking about someone's immigration status is restricted unless there's a federal criminal warrant in hand. Why? Who benefits from tying the hands of law enforcement and shielding criminals from deportation? It doesn't stop there. Pritzker gave the Illinois attorney general sweeping powers to investigate, sue law enforcement agencies and discipline officers who try to cooperate with federal immigration officials. He created an entire state bureaucracy, the 'Welcoming Illinois' office, dedicated to expanding benefits and protections for immigrants. Until recently, he pushed programs such as free taxpayer-funded health care and housing for people living in the country illegally, spending billions with little oversight, transparency or accountability. And he has raised taxes on Illinois families multiple times. Illinoisans deserve to know where their money is going and who it benefits. While Illinois families struggle with rising costs, high taxes, the highest unemployment rate in the Midwest and crime, their governor is pouring billions into sanctuary-style programs and signing laws that punish police departments that try to uphold federal law. This isn't just bad policy — it's also dangerous. As Pritzker prepares to testify, Illinoisans should pay close attention, because his talking points won't tell the whole story. For years, he's used the 2017 TRUST Act as political cover while quietly expanding it. He's used their tax dollars to incentivize noncitizens to come to Illinois while blocking cooperation with ICE and making it harder for law enforcement to do their jobs. Now, with Congress and the nation watching, he'll have to defend it all. Illinoisans don't need more spin; they need straight talk and a governor who finally puts the truth and their safety first.
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker preps to defend sanctuary laws in front of Congress
The Brief Gov. JB Pritzker is preparing for his appearance in front of Congress to defend Illinois' sanctuary laws. GOP members are expected to grill Pritzker over the TRUST Act, which bans local police from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. Pritzker hired a high-power D.C. law firm, including counsel to former President Biden, to prepare for the hearings on Thursday. WASHINGTON, D.C. - IllinoisGov. JB Pritzker is in Washington, D.C. this week preparing for his big testimony Thursday in front of Congress. The governor will be defending Illinois' laws protecting undocumented residents amid the Trump administration's standoff with California over the ICE raids. What we know Sources close to Pritzker confirmed he's preparing for his grilling with a White House counsel to former President Joe Biden. Republican members of Congress are expected to hit Pritzker, along with Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York. Pritzker has so far turned down requests for interviews, but issued a statement: "Despite the rhetoric of Republicans in Congress, Governor Pritzker will share facts about how this bipartisan public safety law is fully compliant with federal law and ensures law enforcement can focus on doing their jobs well. The bipartisan Illinois TRUST Act was signed into law by a Republican governor [Bruce Rauner] and focuses on enabling people, regardless of immigration status, to report crime, call emergency services, and keep their communities safe. As allowed by the law, the State of Illinois cooperates with federal immigration enforcement when there is a federal criminal warrant or required by federal law." The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing will get underway at 9 a.m. Chicago time on Thursday. The hearing will feature some of the most firebrand members of Congress, including Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Nancy Mace, as well as Democratic members like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jasmine Crockett. Pritzker will defend the Illinois TRUST Act, which, in short, prohibits local police from cooperating with federal immigration agents unless they present a criminal warrant. It also prohibits the sharing of immigration information with the feds or the cooperation of local jail authorities. The other side But not everyone in Illinois is a fan. DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick said he believes the law violates federal immigration law. He argued the TRUST Act hamstrings police officers who he thinks should cooperate and said the U.S. Department should investigate Pritzker. "I truly believe that in Illinois, the governor is violating federal law," Mendrick said. "I truly believe that. It's right there that you cannot shield them from detection. Giving them housing and putting $44 million of budgeting into housing for illegal immigrants that you're currently summoning here, sounds like shielding to me, sounds like harboring, sounds like participating, doesn't it?" Mendrick has also announced a run for Illinois governor on the Republican ticket. What's next Fox 32 Political Editor Paris Schutz will be in Washington, D.C., starting on Wednesday, with complete coverage of Thursday's hearing, which starts at 9 a.m. Chicago time.