DES PLAINES – A bill sponsored by State Senator Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) that would make partisan appointments to the Task Force on Human Services Contracting equal was signed into law earlier this month.

House Bill 2487 requires appointments to the task force to have the same number of Democrats and Republicans. Previously, the majority party was allowed to appoint one more member than the minority party.

“Human services should not be a partisan issue,” said Murphy. “We need to bring all sides together to ensure that the challenges faced by human service agencies are adequately addressed.”

The task force was implemented to study State contracting with private, nonprofit human service providers and the challenges they face. The new law extends the task force’s study by one year, and at that time the task force will make recommendations to the General Assembly on how to improve contracting relationships so that human services needs are addressed efficiently.

“In order to understand the issues that these vital service providers are facing, the task force should be given more time to study the full range of challenges,” said Murphy. “I am confident that when the task force makes their recommendations from the balanced, bipartisan study group that we will begin to see positive changes to the way we contract with human service providers.”

House Bill 2487 is effective immediately.