* 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.

Beware whenever you see a story that doesn’t include enough numbers to provide real-world context.

* For example, the state’s minimum wage was $8.25 an hour in 2019. It is now $15 an hour. That’s an 82 percent increase. Kinda explains the state funding lag, although it doesn’t excuse it because those same legislators voted to increase the minimum wage and the same governor who signed that bill into law is responsible for the budget.

* This is from a group called “They Deserve More,” which is comprised of providers…

The final FY2027 budget includes:

A $.60/hour Direct Support Professional (DSP) wage increase,raising the state reimbursement for wages to $21.90/hour (146% of Illinois’ minimum wage)

So, pay will stand at 146 percent of a minimum wage that is now almost $7 an hour higher than it was seven years ago.

The 60 cents per hour raise will cost the state $24 million, according to the governor’s budget proposal.

* More from They Deserve More…

Additionally, the IDHS Division of Developmental Disabilities (IDHS-DDD) committed to proposing another $0.60/hour increase in next year’s FY2028 budget—which will finally achieve the Guidehouse Rate Study’s #1 recommendation: raising the state’s DSP wage reimbursement to 150% of the minimum wage statewide. This is the first time state leaders have made this kind of commitment in advance for DSP wages.

Not saying that bringing wages in compliance with the Guidehouse Rate Study isn’t important. It is very important. These folks work jobs that most people wouldn’t take. We desperately need them. If it were up to me, I’d go even higher.

But being four percentage points short of 150 percent is an important and unmentioned context.