Reimagining Justice: Our 2023 Illinois Legislative Agenda

The Shriver Center on Poverty Law champions progressive policies that address long-standing inequities, strengthen families, and fuel opportunity in marginalized communities. Our 2023 Illinois legislative agenda supports and protects workers with low wages, expands access to health care, protects tenants and promotes inclusive housing, and keeps families strong and stable.

Everyone should be paid decently and have basic workplace protections so that they can sustain themselves financially, be healthy, and be able to take care of their family.

We are advocating for bills that would:

• Mandate paid family and medical leave. Only 13% of workers have access to paid maternity leave, and only 9% have access to paid paternity leave. This legislation would create a state-operated program to provide all workers with paid, job-guaranteed leave.
• End the subminimum wage for tipped workers. Tipped workers in Illinois lose millions of dollars every year because tips do not make up the difference between their $7.80 hourly wage and the minimum wage. This legislation would gradually eliminate the tipped subminimum wage and allow workers to earn a full minimum wage with tips on top.
• Provide a child tax credit. Child tax credits dramatically lower child poverty; temporary expansion of the federal child tax credit in 2021 lifted 2.1 million children out of poverty. This legislation would create a refundable per child credit in Illinois that is tied to tax filers’ income.

Everyone deserves access to affordable, comprehensive, culturally appropriate health care, no matter their income, race, gender, or where they are from.

We are working to pass legislation that would:

• Extend coverage to all low-income immigrant adults. Immigrants who are undocumented have few options for affordable health coverage. This legislation would extend Medicaid look-alike coverage to Illinois residents aged 19-41 with household income up to 138% of the federal poverty level, regardless of their immigration status.
• Ensure that health insurance costs are equitable and affordable. Over half (58%) of Illinois adults have struggled to afford health insurance. This bill will protect consumers from excessive premium increases by requiring the state to review and approve health insurance rates, as well as ensuring the process is transparent, accessible, and equitable.

All people should have the right to safe, stable homes to build better futures for themselves and their families.

We are advocating to:

• Improve access to safe, affordable housing by sealing past eviction records. Eviction screening policies deprive families of housing and perpetuate discrimination against people of color, in particular Black women. This legislation would ensure individuals and families have equitable access to housing through increased sealing of eviction records.

Strong families make strong communities.

We working to ensure that families have what they need to remain strong and stable:

• Promote racial equity and justice in the child welfare system. Black children are represented in Illinois’s child welfare system at about three times the percentage of the statewide child population that is Black. The Shriver Center leads the Racial Disproportionality in Child Welfare Task Force, which is exploring resources, policies, and practices to prevent system entry for families and reduce racial disproportionality within the system.

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