Roundup of State Legislation Impacting Young Children

Erikson Institute’s Policy and Leadership department annually monitors state legislation that impacts the wellbeing of young children, their families, and communities. Here is a roundup of legislation passed by the Illinois General Assembly that is awaiting Governor Pritzker’s signature to become law. If you have questions or want to learn more about any of these bills, please contact Policy and Leadership. To learn more about the work of our Policy and Leadership team, visit Policy and Leadership.

• • HB2878 – requires the Illinois Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College board to create the Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity to serve the needs of the incumbent early childhood workforce and the employers of early childhood educators and to advance streamlining, coordinating, and improving accessibility to degree completion pathways at institutions of higher education.
  • HB0158 – (already signed into law) among other provisions, expands the Medicaid program to cover home visiting and doula services.
  • HB3308 – preserves the use of telehealth services and authorizes full payment parity for services covered by private insurance, including Early Intervention services.
  • HB3620 – codified in state law the (current) income eligibility threshold of 200% of the federal poverty level for the Child Care Assistance Program.
  • SB0267 – improves data collection so that public colleges and universities can better understand student parents and how to best support them.
  • HB3821 – creates the Racial Disproportionality in Child Welfare Task Force which will examine the foster system’s disproportionate impact on Black Families and communities.
  • SB2017 – reduces the matching requirements for qualifying Early Childhood Construction Grant applicants so they do not have to pay as much for their projects.

The state budget this year saw some level funding, cuts, and increases to education spending for K-12.  Because of the federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan and lower levels of participation due to the pandemic, this should not bar families from receiving services, according to Erikson Associate Director of Policy Verónica Cortez. “However, we must continue to advocate for more early childhood funding in the coming years so that we can continue to expand programs,” she says.

The state budget can be found here and a good analysis of its impact on early childhood has been done by our partners at Illinois Action for Children.