Illinois home care and child care providers are facing staffing shortages due to low wages and increased costs.
In response, two Quad Cities state lawmakers are backing legislation that would raise the workers’ wages by two dollars to $20.75. Rep. Gregg Johnson (D-East Moline) and Sen. Mike Halpin (D-Rock Island) both agree the legislation is needed to help address what Service Employees International Union Healthcare (SEIU) Illinois describes as a growing crisis in home care and child care services.
“Essentially, what the bill does is to increase the amount of money that we put into our agencies to pass along through the care programs to the frontline workers doing the job. It makes sure that a dedicated portion of the increase goes to those workers to make sure they can more easily make ends meet,” said Halpin in a phone interview with WVIK.
Sen. Halpin and Rep. Johnson participated in a roundtable discussion hosted by SEIU Healthcare Illinois in Rock Island on April 2 to raise awareness and hear directly from home and child care workers.
“A lot of our providers for child care services, right across the board, all of the organizations and groups that are really, really in peril right now with everything that's going on, not only with the state budget, but with actions the Trump administration is taking.” said Rep. Johnson in an interview later with WVIK News.
According to the Illinois Department of Aging, the state’s Community Care Program (CCP), which assists older residents to stay in their homes, has served 70,000 older adults so far in FY 2026, compared with 150,000 in a typical year. SEIU Healthcare claims over 20,000 seniors needing home care are going without it due to staffing shortages. The FY 2027 budget proposes a $166.8 million increase to the CCP budget. However, it may not be enough to offset the federal cuts to Medicaid and Medicare over the next decade.
The Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) helps low-income families pay for child care while they work or attend school. The Trump administration tried to block the $1 billion in child care funding for Illinois, which would impact CCAP. A judge blocked that move; however, the administration is continuing its goal of reducing child care funding after releasing its FY 2027 budget proposal, which dramatically reduces funding for social service programs. In a private Easter event on Wednesday, April 1st, President Donald Trump remarked, “It’s not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things. They can do it on a state basis. You can’t do it on a federal [level]. We have to take care of one thing: military protection. We have to guard the country.”
Essi Amouzou, a child care provider, takes care of kids during the day and overnight, providing meals, attention, and homework assistance while parents and guardians work. She said families are struggling to afford child care, and that the proposed cuts will only further the high provider turnover rate. She said the proposed bills in the state legislature would help the situation.
“I have the kids here, they are using my water, electricity, and all those [things], Amouzou said in a phone interview. “You have to pay them. But since the so low [wages], it's like you are working, but you are not gaining nothing. So yeah, I think it's going to help a lot. A lot, A lot, a lot.”
SEIU suggests the funding deficit could be made up by closing corporate tax loopholes, requiring tax haven reporting, implementing a billionaire wealth tax, and imposing a digital ad tax.
Both Quad City area representatives agree that the ultrawealthy in the state should pay their fair share.
“I'm open to a variety of ideas to see how we can accomplish that goal,” Sen. Halpin said. What I don't want to do is raise taxes on everyday working people here in the state. We really need to focus our efforts on ways to broaden that revenue base among the folks who are benefiting most from the state that we have.”
Representative Johnson agrees but is concerned about the digital ad tax.
“I believe in at least three states, if not more, where they have passed legislation with putting in part of a digital ad tax, but none of that revenue has been seen,” Rep. Johnson said. “And having worked in state government for 30-plus years, in particular back in the late 2000s when we had a 15-month bill backlog, nobody would do business with us. We had a $15 billion deficit. As someone who works in a facility where we couldn't even access toilet paper at times, I'm not going to spend money that we don't have. So until I see that revenue that would come from a digital ad tax, I'm not willing to spend that revenue or account for that revenue.”
The bills raising the minimum wage for home care workers and child care providers are currently awaiting consideration, with the House version sitting in the Rules Committee and the Senate version awaiting debate in the Appropriations- Health and Human Services Committee.
“We see the cost of living is certainly not coming down. And every year, we have a big focus on trying to increase the wages of people who are taking care of our most vulnerable. I mean, this is really the work of angels,” Rep. Johnson said. “This is the work that not everybody can do and everybody does. And you know, you should be paid a wage that allows you to at least be able to afford to get back to work the next day or to take care of your own household. And right now we're losing ground with that.”
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