AGENDA and MINUTES Pillar 1 subcommittee meeting, October 31, 2024

Subcommittee on Pillar 1: Ensure IL is Best in Nation for Raising Families

AGENDA and MINUTES

Thursday, October 31, 2024, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Recording

Subcommittee members in attendance:

  1. Rep. Jeff Keicher - Commission member
  2. Annie Hewitt - Commission member
  3. Audra Wilson - Commission member
  4. Kimberly Tate - representing Senator Kimberly Lightford (Commission member)
  5. Jennifer Saba - IWGP member
  6. Jeff Peddycoart - IDHS-SME (representing Stephanie Bess)

Administrator: Priya Khatkhate, IDHS-Chief Policy Officer

Facilitators/Guests:

  1. Nancy Toure - Institute of Research on Race and Public Policy (IRRPP)
  2. Erion Malasi - Director of Policy & Advocacy, Economic Security for Illinois
  3. Jeremy Rosen - Director of Economic Justice, Shriver Center on Poverty Law

Agenda:

  1. Welcome/Roll Call
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance
  3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: August 14, 2024
  4. Child Tax Credit update - Erion Malasi, Economic Security for Illinois/Jeremy Rosen, Shriver Center on Poverty Law
  5. Development/Review of FY25 Goals
  6. stablishing a regular cadence of meetings
  7. Next Steps
  8. Adjournment

Minutes:

  1. Welcome/Roll Call
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance; none received.
  3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: August 14, 2024. Ms. Audra Wilson moved to approved the August 14th minutes, seconded by Rep. Jeff Keicher. The group unanimously approved the August 14th meeting minutes.
  4. Child Tax Credit update - Erion Malasi, Economic Security Projects/Jeremy Rosen, Shriver Center on Poverty Law
    1. Economic Security Projects led the work on child tax credit in partnership with Shriver Center on poverty Law and 50 other organizations.
    2. The Child Tax Credit (CTC) was passed which provides a 20% match or boost to the state's earned income tax credit to parents who have at least one child under the age of 12.
    3. From DOR's data, there are about 375,000 tax filers with an average of 2.8 dependents who are eligible to claim the CTC which will be kicking online in January for the first time. This equates to about 1 million individuals in the state who will be impacted by the new CTC. The CTC will go from a total of $50 million this coming tax year to a $100 million in the next tax year.
    4. Coalition members will be providing inputs to identify specific priorities/policy buckets that can make the CTC more impactful and accessible in the coming years.
      1. Parents who stop working to go back to school and pursue higher education and will have very little or no income should be eligible to receive the CTC.
      2. Include households with more than 3 or 4 dependents (current threshold is up to 3 maximum dependents).
    5. Parents with no income will have to file their tax returns in order to receive the CTC. In relation, the Coalition partners in Illinois and at the federal government put together a letter encouraging Illinois to join the IRS direct file tool which is a simple way for people to file their taxes through the IRS. The Department of Revenue is working on implementing the program which might kick in the next tax cycle or so. Some federal partners shared that the program is expected to deliver an additional $81 million to taxpayers in Illinois thru federal tax returns for folks who would likely not file their tax returns.
    6. The Coalition will also be thinking of how to make sure that other families who are raising kids but are still working or doing family work will be able to claim the CTC.
    7. Anybody who wants to receive updates on CTC can send an email to Erion.
  5. Establishing a regular cadence of meetings - to make meetings easier to attend, more efficient and effective, meeting schedules will be set up earlier in the year so everyone can have them in their calendars early. The meetings will be done quarterly. Any comments or suggestions can be emailed to Priya or Len.
  6. Adjournment - Rep. Keicher moved to adjourn the meeting seconded by Erion. The group unanimously agreed to adjourn the meeting at 11:59 AM.