August 18, 2017

To the Honorable Members of

The Illinois House of Representatives,

100th General Assembly:

Today I veto House Bill 3376 from the 100th General Assembly, which restricts the state’s ability to place a limit on the number of weekly hours a provider may work in the taxpayer-funded Home Service Program that serves many of the state’s physically disabled residents. 

The bill requires that the Illinois Department of Human Services allow in-home care providers to work at least 15 hours of overtime per week. Last year, similar legislation passed by the 99th General Assembly that would have required the Department to allow home care providers to work unlimited overtime was also vetoed.  While this legislation is an improvement, it still places unreasonable restrictions on the state’s ability to manage the Home Services Program, both to ensure the safety of our residents and to control the program’s rising costs.

Since last year, the Department has proceeded through the legislatively-sanctioned process overseen by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, which is made up of both Democratic and Republican members of the General Assembly.  Through that process, the Department has crafted a reasonable overtime policy that incorporates many of the recommendations provided by legislators and stakeholders across the home services community.  Importantly, the policy allows for up to five hours of overtime without the need for approval and also provides a clear and practical process for obtaining authorization to work additional overtime in the appropriate circumstances. 

This overtime policy safeguards individual providers from being unnecessarily overworked and ensures that residents requiring long hours of care will have more than one person who understands their needs and who is capable of caring for them.  In addition, the policy allows the state to limit overtime, and its costly impact, to only those situations when it is truly necessary—just as nearly every other employer in the country does.

As stewards of the Home Services Program, the state must protect the safety of our residents, as well as the long-term sustainability of the program.  Unfortunately, this bill leaves our residents less safe and impairs the Department’s ability to control costs of the program. 

Therefore, pursuant to Section 9(b) of Article IV of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return House Bill 3376, entitled “AN ACT concerning State Government”, with the foregoing objections, vetoed in its entirety.

Sincerely,

Bruce Rauner

GOVERNOR