By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Some advocates for disabled Illinoisans employed in workshops oppose a bill to bring them up to minimum wage.

“House Bill 793 would end the (federal) 14-C program by 2027,” said State Rep. Charlie Meier (R-Okawville), who led a Capitol news conference during the first week of the legislature’s fall veto session. “All these clients and workers would be paid minimum wage by that time.”

Meier says since many of the workshops cannot afford to do so, many of those workers would lose their jobs.

People who want the bill to pass, says Access Living’s Nick Boyle, are numerous. He says the bill “has been supported by Centers for Independent Living across the state of Illinois, by the Illinois Network of Centers for Independent Living, the ARC of Illinois, the Illinois Association of the Deaf, as well as many other disability-led organizations.”

One workshop director from southern Illinois says there is a financial infrastructure supporting the disabled, who – he says – are happy just to get a paycheck, no matter the size.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].