Peoria Standard

In response to Gov. J.B. Pritzker's State of the State Address, Sen. Sally Turner (R-Lincoln) lauded the governor's goals for childcare, but wished she'd heard more about energy assistance for Ameren customers. 

"I guess I was happy (about) the information that I heard about the childcare deserts. It’s very important to my district," Turner said in a video posted on Facebook. "My district has a great area of home daycare and a lot of them are having a hard time getting by and I appreciate that part and also that with childcare – I'm on the new early childcare committee – and I'm looking forward to seeing the things that we'll be able to do, how we can expand that, and make it better."

She said she was hoping for some kind of relief for Amaren customers.

"Ameren is going to be having an increase and those of us in the 44th district are in the Ameren area," she said. "We wanted to see the governor mention something about money to be appropriated ... to have some kind of relief and we didn't see that."

In the State of the State address, Pritzker spoke about Smart Start Illinois, a program that has four elements: pre-K, childcare, early intervention, and home visiting, according to WQAD8 News. He said the four-year program will increase the state's funding for the Early Childhood Block Grant Program by $75 million.

CBS Chicago reported that Pritzker said that he wanted to see that every 3 and 4 year old in Illinois have access to pre-kindergarten services by 2027, and that there would be a $400 million investment to bring 5,000 children into the program this year.

Turner was first appointed to the Illinois Senate in 2021 and resides in Beason. Her legislative experience includes serving on the Ethics Committee and Senate Higher Education Committee.