July 22, 2016

To the Honorable Members of

The Illinois House of Representatives,

99th General Assembly:

Today I return House Bill 5764, which amends the Illinois Act on Aging to establish statutory wage increases for employees providing homemaker services.

This bill provides for successive rate increases in the Illinois Department on Aging’s Community Care Program (CCP) over the next four years and requires an enhanced rate for in-home service provider agencies that offer health insurance coverage for employees. The total projected cost to the Department on Aging of the rate increase over the four year period would be an estimated $1.1 billion. The enhanced rate adjustment for providers that offer health insurance coverage would cost an additional $50 million over four years. In total, this bill would more than double the costs of the entire Community Care Program over the next four years.

The monetary impact of this bill extends to the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS), as DHS contracts with a number of vendors that employ individuals providing homemaker services. The costs to DHS would be $66.5 million over the first four years and then $23.9 million annually thereafter.

Importantly, there is no funding in House Bill 5764 to cover the more than $1 billion in additional funding that will be needed pay for this bill. At a time of unprecedented financial difficulty in the State of Illinois, this is unaffordable piece of legislation that will create an even greater financial hole for the State and will ultimately result in cuts to—and eliminations of—other important State programs. I share your desire to support the workers and programs serving our elderly and physically disabled residents. But we must do so in a responsible way that recognizes our current fiscal reality and does not jeopardize the long term sustainability of the very programs that this legislation is intended to support.

Therefore, pursuant to Section 9(b) of Article IV of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return House Bill 5764, entitled “AN ACT concerning State government”, with the foregoing objections, vetoed in its entirety.

Sincerely,

Bruce Rauner

GOVERNOR