AARP Illinois Statement on 2024 Spring Regular Legislative Session

The following statement was issued by AARP Illinois State Director Philippe Largent following the closing of the 2024 Spring Legislative Session:

“Throughout the 2024 spring legislative session, AARP Illinois volunteers and staff were consistently in the Capitol fighting hard on issues important to our 1.7 million members, as well as all Illinoisans 50-plus and their families. As a result, major legislative wins were secured helping Illinois’ 1.3 million family caregivers, protecting home and community-based services, expanding access to retirement savings, and making property tax relief programs more widely known. AARP Illinois encourages Governor Pritzker to sign these important pieces of legislation into law.

CAREGIVING/HOME AND COMMUNITY- BASED SERVICES 

Illinois Caregiver Portal: Included within HB 4959, the Illinois Caregiver Portal was proposed by AARP Illinois after a yearlong Pathways to Care study of family caregivers across the state (https://www.aarp.org/pri/topics/ltss/family-caregiving/experiences-with-long-term-care.html) that underlined the crisis-level support they need during their caregiving journey. This study highlighted the necessity for a centralized and trustworthy hub of caregiving resources. In response, AARP Illinois worked in collaboration with legislative leaders in the General Assembly to pass this one-stop shop for caregivers offering access to federal, state, and local caregiving resources, long-term care information, home and community-based services, veterans’ resources and more.

Caregiving/Home and Community-Based Services Funding: The approved FY25 Illinois state budget (SB 251) fully funds the state’s Community Care Program, home-delivered meals and additional critical programming by the Illinois Department on Aging. These programs serve over 100,000 Illinois seniors keeping them at home and preventing premature nursing home placement. The budget also included $5.25 million to fund the family caregiver support program.

House Resolution Supporting Family Caregivers: Unanimously adopted HR 506 urges the passage of policies that support family caregivers by increasing funding for Illinois' caregiving programs, improving caregiver inclusion and education, enhancing access to home care options, attracting and retaining direct care workers and providing financial relief for family caregivers through initiatives like a caregiver income tax credit.

NURSING HOMES/LONG-TERM CARE

Nursing Home Rate Reform Protection Act: AARP Illinois fought for this legislative language, included within SB 3268, that preserves and builds upon the advancements in nursing home care by ensuring continued incentive payments to ensure staffing improvements continue and resident care is protected.

FINANCIAL/RETIREMENT SECURITY 

Saving for Retirement:  HB 4719 strengthens the Illinois Secure Choice Program operationally, ensuring millions of Illinois workers will have access to employment-based retirement savings whether through this program or their employer, and gives workers the freedom to choose the private savings option that works best for them. Significantly, the legislation allows continuous enrollment allowing more flexibility for eligible workers to save for their retirement. This program has become critical to workers of all ages across Illinois who want to save for retirement.  Currently, Illinois Secure Choice has nearly 149,000 participants who together have saved more than $173 million for retirement and has over 25,000 employers registered for the program. 

Property Tax Relief: AARP Illinois proposed (HB 4750, final passage in HB 4951) and worked in collaboration with Illinois legislative leaders to pass legislation that requires property tax statements to include information notifying taxpayers of each property tax relief program that is available to them. We championed this effort because the vast majority of our 1.7 million members, no matter where they live in Illinois, have told us that the high cost of property taxes in Illinois is a significant threat to their financial and retirement security, their ability to remain in their own homes and their ability to provide unpaid care for their loved ones.

Electric Utility Rate Assistance: AARP supported HB 4471 which removes the repeal date of the Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund (LIHEAP). These dollars help keep low-income seniors safe during certain hot and cold weather events.

OLDER DRIVERS 

Rights of Older Drivers:  AARP Illinois is disappointed that the General Assembly, despite significant bipartisan support, failed to act on HB 4431/SB 1217 that would have removed the requirement that mandates older drivers to take a physical driving test to keep their license. Despite a 2023 report that showed older drivers as the safest in the state, Illinois remains the ONLY STATE that, by statute, requires older drivers (age 75 by statute, age 79 by rule) to take a physical driving test. AARP policy supports effective, evidence-based assessment models to identify at-risk drivers of all ages. AARP Illinois will continue the fight to end this age-discriminatory policy and until the state’s older drivers are fairly assessed.

For more information on legislation of interest to AARP Illinois’ 1.7 million members and those 50 and over during the current 2-year General Assembly cycle, visit AARP Illinois’ 2023 Legislative Voting Record: https://states.aarp.org/illinois/aarp-illinois-introduces-the-2023-legislative-voting-record."