GOP senators hope to advance child-care bills to address 'crisis'
[April 12, 2025]
By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – Republican Illinois state senators have requested
extensions on legislation that they say would address Illinois’ child
care shortage.
Sen. Darby Hills, R-Barrington Hills, said Senate Bills 2277 and 2382
tackle the biggest challenge working families face, which Hills said is
access to child care.
“This is not just a local issue. This is a statewide crisis,” Hills
said.
SB 2277 would increase tax credits to businesses that offer child care
to their employees. SB 2382 would create a new tax credit for businesses
that donate an onsite space for working parents to have child care.
Sen. John Curran, R-Downers Grove, said Republicans have talked with
Democrats about the bills, which remained in committee after last
Friday’s deadline to move them to the Senate floor.
“Some of this has a cost, and certainly that’s going to be part of the
budget process. We want to prioritize child care access and service for
families,” Curran said.
Curran proposed SB 1121 to reduce staffing shortages and red tape.
Curran said the legislation would offer loan forgiveness for college
students who promise to work in a child care desert, free online
training options for child care providers and an extension of child care
licenses from three years to four years. Another provision would
increase the state’s income cap to qualify for child care assistance
from 225% of poverty level to 250%, or, Curran said, from around $74,000
per year to $80,000 in annual household income.
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State Sen. Erica Harriss, R-Glen Carbon, joined Hills and Curran at
a news conference in Springfield on Friday. Harriss said nearly
three of five families in Illinois live in a child care desert. She
said the shortage is worse in rural areas, where 70% of the
residents have limited or no access to child care.
“This shortage is forcing parents to make impossible choices,
driving long distances, relying on unlicensed care or leaving the
work force altogether,” Harriss said.
“On the other side, child care providers are battling a mountain of
red tape,” Harriss added.
Hills said the statewide shortage of child care access has financial
ramifications.
“This is also not just a personal issue. This is an economic one.
Businesses across this country are losing over $23 billion a year,
because workers can’t find child care so they can go to work. This
is a workforce problem and it deserves a workforce solution,” Hills
said.
Hills said Illinois has nearly 3.9 million suburban residents in a
child-care desert.
“This is extending out to the cities. It’s extending out to the
suburbs. It’s not just a rural problem. It’s an Illinois problem,”
Hills said.
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