A Democrat Grundy County lawmaker is supporting a measure to ensure that Direct Support Personnel are fairly compensated for the assistance they provide to individuals with developmental disabilities. 

State Senator Patrick Joyce, who represents a small portion of Grundy County, said these professionals are vital in community residential settings, where they help residents with daily personal care like eating and hygiene as well as teaching life skills and attending to complex medical needs.

While funding for these services has increased over recent years, starting wages remain barely above minimum wage, and vacancies remain high. This disparity is because the state does not always require community agencies to pass wage increases through to the workers.

Senate Bill 3607 would raise the reimbursement rate for DSPs by $3.50 an hour to ensure these employees are the ones seeing a wage increase.