SPRINGFIELD – At a Capitol press conference in Springfield Tuesday afternoon, State Representative Charlie Meier, a Republican from Okawville, said that he has been a state rep since 2013, and during that time has become passionate about doing everything in his power to help the states most vulnerable, people with disabilities, who are under the care of the state of Illinois.
Meier held up results of an audit from the Audit Commission that he had ordered. As a member of the Audit Commission he reviewed the audit and found it to be one of the worst in state history.
The representative said he has drafted multiple bills to help solve some of the most pressing failures at the Department of Human Services, and he has urged the Democrat supermajority to move forward some of these for the sake of our most vulnerable.
Meier brought with him other advocates and people who know firsthand the effects these failures have on real people, real loved ones. One of those was Danita Dorsey, a southern Illinois mother who was put in an impossible scenario. In order to receive care for her son, she needed to release guardianship to the state of Illinois within two days.
Dorsey mentioned support for Meier’s House Bill 5458 which amends the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Administrative Act.
The bill provides that “a State-operated developmental center funded, certified, or licensed by the Department of Human Services shall readmit, upon request, any former resident who transferred to and currently receives services at a licensed community-integrated living arrangement, if the former resident consents or if the former resident has a guardian with placement authority and that guardian consents based on a determination that the former resident’s medical needs cannot be met by the program of services administered by the community-integrated living arrangement.”
The bill recently was approved in the Human Services Committee, gaining bipartisan support on a vote of 12 – 0. It now heads to the full House for consideration.