ELGIN – Care providers for Illinois residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities will see specific funding go to their wages thanks to a new law sponsored by State Senator Cristina Castro (D-Elgin).

“Ensuring people who care for our state’s most vulnerable residents are properly compensated will help address high turnaround in this workforce,” Castro said. “I am proud to have worked on this legislation to hold employers accountable when it comes to passing along funding increases to their workers.”

Developmental service providers are vital in community residential settings, where they help residents with daily personal care like eating and hygiene as well as teaching life skills and attending to complex medical needs. While funding for these services has increased over recent years, starting wages remain barely above minimum wage, and vacancies remain high. This disparity is because the state does not always require agencies to pass wage increases through to the workers.

The law, formerly known as House Bill 4647, will require developmental services that are licensed through the Illinois Department of Human Services to certify that all legislatively or administratively mandated wage increases are passed on to the employees.

“Care providers are the backbone of our intellectual and developmental disability community. This law will help ensure hard workers are directly receiving funding that is meant for them,” Castro said.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed the law Friday. It goes into effect Jan. 1, 2023.