This Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m., the House Child Care Accessibility & Early Childhood Committee plans to call for a vote on amended versions of HB3439 and HB3327. 

Join us in supporting these bills by filing proponent witness slips today! If you've never filed a witness slip before, don't worry! We have a video tutorial to walk you through the process.

Learn more about the bills below:

​​​​​​HB3439, House Committee Amendment 1 (Representative Joyce Mason) – Child care providers have, for years, raised concerns about the DCFS’s licensing functions, including delays in the processing of background checks and a general lack of transparency. HB3439, if approved, will improve day care licensing in Illinois in the short-term while the state plans for broader changes to the licensing system with the creation of the Department of Early Childhood.

The bill, as amended: 

• Requires staff background check delays by requiring staff renewals take place every five years, instead of every three years, per federal guidance; and 

• Codifies into law existing DCFS guidance regarding provisional hiring 

File a witness slip in support of HB3439 (HCA1).

HB3327, House Committee Amendment 1 (Representative Janet Yang Rohr) – Many infants become automatically eligible for Early Intervention (EI) services because they’re born with a medical diagnosis known to have a high chance of causing a developmental delay, including extremely low birth weight, Down syndrome, and cerebral palsy, among others. Most of these eligible infants are not getting Early Intervention services, though; in fact, Illinois infants under one year of age represent just 1.2% of children served in the EI program. This failure to connect eligible children born into NICUs is particularly striking; in a recent study, some 77% of study participants were unsuccessful in connecting with the EI system by their three-month NICU follow-up visit despite being automatically eligible for services based on a clear medical condition/diagnosis. HB3327, if approved, will improve the EI referral process for babies born into a NICU. 

The bill, as amended: 

• Requires NICU staff to share information about the EI program to all families. 

• Requires hospital staff to initiate a written referral to the EI program for families whose children are currently eligible for the program. 

File a witness slip in support of HB3327 (HCA1).