Bill Text: IL HB5415 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Illinois Public Aid Code. In a provision concerning the child care assistance program, expands the categories of families eligible for assistance to include, beginning January 1, 2025, all child care workers with incomes at or below 325% of the federal poverty level for each family size.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-31 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB5415 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB5415-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 HB5415 Introduced , by Rep. Charles Meier SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
305 ILCS 5/9A-11 from Ch. 23, par. 9A-11
Amends the Illinois Public Aid Code. In a provision concerning the child care assistance program, expands the categories of families eligible for assistance to include, beginning January 1, 2025, all child care workers with incomes at or below 325% of the federal poverty level for each family size.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning public aid.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Illinois Public Aid Code is amended by
changing Section 9A-11 as follows:
(305 ILCS 5/9A-11) (from Ch. 23, par. 9A-11)
Sec. 9A-11. Child care.
(a) The General Assembly recognizes that families with
children need child care in order to work. Child care is
expensive and families with limited access to economic
resources, including those who are transitioning from welfare
to work, often struggle to pay the costs of day care. The
General Assembly understands the importance of helping working
families with limited access to economic resources become and
remain self-sufficient. The General Assembly also believes
that it is the responsibility of families to share in the costs
of child care. It is also the preference of the General
Assembly that all working families with limited access to
economic resources should be treated equally, regardless of
their welfare status.
(b) To the extent resources permit, the Illinois
Department shall provide child care services to parents or
other relatives as defined by rule who are working or

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participating in employment or Department approved education
or training programs. At a minimum, the Illinois Department
shall cover the following categories of families:
(1) recipients of TANF under Article IV participating
in work and training activities as specified in the
personal plan for employment and self-sufficiency;
(2) families transitioning from TANF to work;
(3) families at risk of becoming recipients of TANF;
(4) families with special needs as defined by rule;
(5) working families with very low incomes as defined
by rule;
(6) families that are not recipients of TANF and that
need child care assistance to participate in education and
training activities;
(7) youth in care, as defined in Section 4d of the
Children and Family Services Act, who are parents,
regardless of income or whether they are working or
participating in Department-approved employment or
education or training programs. Any family that receives
child care assistance in accordance with this paragraph
shall receive one additional 12-month child care
eligibility period after the parenting youth in care's
case with the Department of Children and Family Services
is closed, regardless of income or whether the parenting
youth in care is working or participating in
Department-approved employment or education or training

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programs;
(8) families receiving Extended Family Support Program
services from the Department of Children and Family
Services, regardless of income or whether they are working
or participating in Department-approved employment or
education or training programs; and
(9) families with children under the age of 5 who have
an open intact family services case with the Department of
Children and Family Services. Any family that receives
child care assistance in accordance with this paragraph
shall remain eligible for child care assistance 6 months
after the child's intact family services case is closed,
regardless of whether the child's parents or other
relatives as defined by rule are working or participating
in Department approved employment or education or training
programs. The Department of Human Services, in
consultation with the Department of Children and Family
Services, shall adopt rules to protect the privacy of
families who are the subject of an open intact family
services case when such families enroll in child care
services. Additional rules shall be adopted to offer
children who have an open intact family services case the
opportunity to receive an Early Intervention screening and
other services that their families may be eligible for as
provided by the Department of Human Services; and .
(10) beginning January 1, 2025, all child care workers

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with incomes at or below 325% of the federal poverty level
for each family size.
Beginning October 1, 2023, and every October 1 thereafter,
the Department of Children and Family Services shall report to
the General Assembly on the number of children who received
child care via vouchers paid for by the Department of Children
and Family Services during the preceding fiscal year. The
report shall include the ages of children who received child
care, the type of child care they received, and the number of
months they received child care.
The Department shall specify by rule the conditions of
eligibility, the application process, and the types, amounts,
and duration of services. Eligibility for child care benefits
and the amount of child care provided may vary based on family
size, income, and other factors as specified by rule.
The Department shall update the Child Care Assistance
Program Eligibility Calculator posted on its website to
include a question on whether a family is applying for child
care assistance for the first time or is applying for a
redetermination of eligibility.
A family's eligibility for child care services shall be
redetermined no sooner than 12 months following the initial
determination or most recent redetermination. During the
12-month periods, the family shall remain eligible for child
care services regardless of (i) a change in family income,
unless family income exceeds 85% of State median income, or

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(ii) a temporary change in the ongoing status of the parents or
other relatives, as defined by rule, as working or attending a
job training or educational program.
In determining income eligibility for child care benefits,
the Department annually, at the beginning of each fiscal year,
shall establish, by rule, one income threshold for each family
size, in relation to percentage of State median income for a
family of that size, that makes families with incomes below
the specified threshold eligible for assistance and families
with incomes above the specified threshold ineligible for
assistance. Through and including fiscal year 2007, the
specified threshold must be no less than 50% of the
then-current State median income for each family size.
Beginning in fiscal year 2008, the specified threshold must be
no less than 185% of the then-current federal poverty level
for each family size. Notwithstanding any other provision of
law or administrative rule to the contrary, beginning in
fiscal year 2019, the specified threshold for working families
with very low incomes as defined by rule must be no less than
185% of the then-current federal poverty level for each family
size. Notwithstanding any other provision of law or
administrative rule to the contrary, beginning in State fiscal
year 2022 through State fiscal year 2023, the specified income
threshold shall be no less than 200% of the then-current
federal poverty level for each family size. Beginning in State
fiscal year 2024, the specified income threshold shall be no

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less than 225% of the then-current federal poverty level for
each family size.
In determining eligibility for assistance, the Department
shall not give preference to any category of recipients or
give preference to individuals based on their receipt of
benefits under this Code.
Nothing in this Section shall be construed as conferring
entitlement status to eligible families.
The Illinois Department is authorized to lower income
eligibility ceilings, raise parent co-payments, create waiting
lists, or take such other actions during a fiscal year as are
necessary to ensure that child care benefits paid under this
Article do not exceed the amounts appropriated for those child
care benefits. These changes may be accomplished by emergency
rule under Section 5-45 of the Illinois Administrative
Procedure Act, except that the limitation on the number of
emergency rules that may be adopted in a 24-month period shall
not apply.
The Illinois Department may contract with other State
agencies or child care organizations for the administration of
child care services.
(c) Payment shall be made for child care that otherwise
meets the requirements of this Section and applicable
standards of State and local law and regulation, including any
requirements the Illinois Department promulgates by rule in
addition to the licensure requirements promulgated by the

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Department of Children and Family Services and Fire Prevention
and Safety requirements promulgated by the Office of the State
Fire Marshal, and is provided in any of the following:
(1) a child care center which is licensed or exempt
from licensure pursuant to Section 2.09 of the Child Care
Act of 1969;
(2) a licensed child care home or home exempt from
licensing;
(3) a licensed group child care home;
(4) other types of child care, including child care
provided by relatives or persons living in the same home
as the child, as determined by the Illinois Department by
rule.
(c-5) Solely for the purposes of coverage under the
Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, child and day care home
providers, including licensed and license exempt,
participating in the Department's child care assistance
program shall be considered to be public employees and the
State of Illinois shall be considered to be their employer as
of January 1, 2006 (the effective date of Public Act 94-320),
but not before. The State shall engage in collective
bargaining with an exclusive representative of child and day
care home providers participating in the child care assistance
program concerning their terms and conditions of employment
that are within the State's control. Nothing in this
subsection shall be understood to limit the right of families

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receiving services defined in this Section to select child and
day care home providers or supervise them within the limits of
this Section. The State shall not be considered to be the
employer of child and day care home providers for any purposes
not specifically provided in Public Act 94-320, including, but
not limited to, purposes of vicarious liability in tort and
purposes of statutory retirement or health insurance benefits.
Child and day care home providers shall not be covered by the
State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971.
In according child and day care home providers and their
selected representative rights under the Illinois Public Labor
Relations Act, the State intends that the State action
exemption to application of federal and State antitrust laws
be fully available to the extent that their activities are
authorized by Public Act 94-320.
(d) The Illinois Department shall establish, by rule, a
co-payment scale that provides for cost sharing by families
that receive child care services, including parents whose only
income is from assistance under this Code. The co-payment
shall be based on family income and family size and may be
based on other factors as appropriate. Co-payments may be
waived for families whose incomes are at or below the federal
poverty level.
(d-5) The Illinois Department, in consultation with its
Child Care and Development Advisory Council, shall develop a
plan to revise the child care assistance program's co-payment

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scale. The plan shall be completed no later than February 1,
2008, and shall include:
(1) findings as to the percentage of income that the
average American family spends on child care and the
relative amounts that low-income families and the average
American family spend on other necessities of life;
(2) recommendations for revising the child care
co-payment scale to assure that families receiving child
care services from the Department are paying no more than
they can reasonably afford;
(3) recommendations for revising the child care
co-payment scale to provide at-risk children with complete
access to Preschool for All and Head Start; and
(4) recommendations for changes in child care program
policies that affect the affordability of child care.
(e) (Blank).
(f) The Illinois Department shall, by rule, set rates to
be paid for the various types of child care. Child care may be
provided through one of the following methods:
(1) arranging the child care through eligible
providers by use of purchase of service contracts or
vouchers;
(2) arranging with other agencies and community
volunteer groups for non-reimbursed child care;
(3) (blank); or
(4) adopting such other arrangements as the Department

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