Sen. John F. Curran
Filed: 4/4/2025
 
 

 
 

 
10400SB1121sam001LRB104 05457 AAS 24991 a

1
AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 1121

2    AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 1121 by replacing 
3everything after the enacting clause with the following:
 
4    "Section 5. The Child Care Act of 1969 is amended by adding 
5Section 7.11 as follows:
 
6    (225 ILCS 10/7.11 new)
7    Sec. 7.11. Emergency licensing.
8    (a) The General Assembly finds the following:
9        (1) Early childhood education and care programs 
10    provide child care, so parents can maintain stable 
11    employment, provide for themselves and their families, and 
12    advance their career or educational goals.
13        (2) Countless children and families have benefited 
14    from child care services and have had the opportunity to 
15    enter school ready to learn and succeed.
16        (3) Child care providers across the State are 
 
 
10400SB1121sam001- 2 -LRB104 05457 AAS 24991 a

1    struggling to find qualified child care workers, reducing 
2    the facilities' ability to offer quality child care 
3    services.
4        (4) Shortages of child care services are particularly 
5    acute in child care deserts.
6        (5) Child care deserts, as defined by the Center for 
7    American Progress, are census tracts with more than 50 
8    children under the age of 5 that contain either no child 
9    care providers or so few options that there are more than 3 
10    times as many children as licensed care slots.
11        (6) Child care deserts exist throughout the State, 
12    particularly in rural communities, where working parents 
13    struggle to find fully-licensed child care facilities.
14        (7) Adopting more flexible licensing requirements, 
15    which put the health and well-being of children at the 
16    forefront, would assist working parents to find quality 
17    child care services for their families and address the 
18    ongoing child care shortages across the State.
19    (b) The Department of Children and Family Services shall 
20adopt and implement rules to adjust licensing requirements, 
21including, but not limited to, worker qualifications for child 
22care providers within child care deserts that reflect local 
23labor market conditions in order to grant local child care 
24providers enhanced hiring flexibility and expand child care 
25into currently underserved areas.
26    (c) As used in this Section:
 
 
10400SB1121sam001- 3 -LRB104 05457 AAS 24991 a

1    "Child care deserts" means census tracts with more than 50 
2children under the age of 5 that contain either no child care 
3providers or so few options that there are more than 3 times as 
4many children as licensed care slots.
5    "Child care provider" means "day care center" and "part 
6day child care facility" as defined in Sections 2.09 and 2.10. 
7    (d) The Department of Children and Family Services shall 
8submit proposed rules to implement this Section to the Joint 
9Committee on Administrative Rules no later than December 31, 
102025.
 
11    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 
12becoming law.".