Bill Text: IL SB1448 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act. In a provision concerning personal care services under the Home Services Program, includes a program recipient's guardian, kin, or siblings to the list of persons the Department of Human Services shall allow to serve as a program recipient's provider of personal care or similar services. In a provision concerning wages to personal assistants, provides that wages and other benefits for personal assistants shall not count against benefits that guardians receive as outlined in the Guardians for Adults with Disabilities Article of the Probate Act of 1975.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2023-03-10 - Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments [SB1448 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-SB1448-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 SB1448 Introduced 2/7/2023, by Sen. Javier L. Cervantes SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
20 ILCS 2405/3 from Ch. 23, par. 3434
Amends the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act. In a provision concerning personal care services under the Home Services Program, includes a program recipient's guardian, kin, or siblings to the list of persons the Department of Human Services shall allow to serve as a program recipient's provider of personal care or similar services. In a provision concerning wages to personal assistants, provides that wages and other benefits for personal assistants shall not count against benefits that guardians receive as outlined in the Guardians for Adults with Disabilities Article of the Probate Act of 1975.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning State government.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities
Act is amended by changing Section 3 as follows:
(20 ILCS 2405/3) (from Ch. 23, par. 3434)
Sec. 3. Powers and duties. The Department shall have the
powers and duties enumerated herein:
(a) To cooperate with the federal government in the
administration of the provisions of the federal
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act, and of the federal Social
Security Act to the extent and in the manner provided in
these Acts.
(b) To prescribe and supervise such courses of
vocational training and provide such other services as may
be necessary for the vocational rehabilitation of persons
with one or more disabilities, including the
administrative activities under subsection (e) of this
Section; to cooperate with State and local school
authorities and other recognized agencies engaged in
vocational rehabilitation services; and to cooperate with
the Department of Children and Family Services, the

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Illinois State Board of Education, and others regarding
the education of children with one or more disabilities.
(c) (Blank).
(d) To report in writing, to the Governor, annually on
or before the first day of December, and at such other
times and in such manner and upon such subjects as the
Governor may require. The annual report shall contain (1)
information on the programs and activities dedicated to
vocational rehabilitation, independent living, and other
community services and supports administered by the
Director; (2) information on the development of vocational
rehabilitation services, independent living services, and
supporting services administered by the Director in the
State; and (3) information detailing the amounts of money
received from federal, State, and other sources, and of
the objects and purposes to which the respective items of
these several amounts have been devoted.
(e) (Blank).
(f) To establish a program of services to prevent the
unnecessary institutionalization of persons in need of
long term care and who meet the criteria for blindness or
disability as defined by the Social Security Act, thereby
enabling them to remain in their own homes. Such
preventive services include any or all of the following:
(1) personal assistant services;
(2) homemaker services;

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(3) home-delivered meals;
(4) adult day care services;
(5) respite care;
(6) home modification or assistive equipment;
(7) home health services;
(8) electronic home response;
(9) brain injury behavioral/cognitive services;
(10) brain injury habilitation;
(11) brain injury pre-vocational services; or
(12) brain injury supported employment.
The Department shall establish eligibility standards
for such services taking into consideration the unique
economic and social needs of the population for whom they
are to be provided. Such eligibility standards may be
based on the recipient's ability to pay for services;
provided, however, that any portion of a person's income
that is equal to or less than the "protected income" level
shall not be considered by the Department in determining
eligibility. The "protected income" level shall be
determined by the Department, shall never be less than the
federal poverty standard, and shall be adjusted each year
to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index For All
Urban Consumers as determined by the United States
Department of Labor. The standards must provide that a
person may not have more than $10,000 in assets to be
eligible for the services, and the Department may increase

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or decrease the asset limitation by rule. The Department
may not decrease the asset level below $10,000. Subject to
federal approval, the Department shall allow a recipient's
spouse, guardian, kin, or siblings to serve as his or her
provider of personal care or similar services.
The services shall be provided, as established by the
Department by rule, to eligible persons to prevent
unnecessary or premature institutionalization, to the
extent that the cost of the services, together with the
other personal maintenance expenses of the persons, are
reasonably related to the standards established for care
in a group facility appropriate to their condition. These
non-institutional services, pilot projects or experimental
facilities may be provided as part of or in addition to
those authorized by federal law or those funded and
administered by the Illinois Department on Aging. The
Department shall set rates and fees for services in a fair
and equitable manner. Services identical to those offered
by the Department on Aging shall be paid at the same rate.
Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph,
personal assistants shall be paid at a rate negotiated
between the State and an exclusive representative of
personal assistants under a collective bargaining
agreement. In no case shall the Department pay personal
assistants an hourly wage that is less than the federal
minimum wage. Within 30 days after July 6, 2017 (the

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effective date of Public Act 100-23), the hourly wage paid
to personal assistants and individual maintenance home
health workers shall be increased by $0.48 per hour. Wages
and other benefits for personal assistants shall not count
against benefits that guardians receive as outlined in
Article XIa of the Probate Act of 1975.
Solely for the purposes of coverage under the Illinois
Public Labor Relations Act, personal assistants providing
services under the Department's Home Services Program
shall be considered to be public employees and the State
of Illinois shall be considered to be their employer as of
July 16, 2003 (the effective date of Public Act 93-204),
but not before. Solely for the purposes of coverage under
the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, home care and
home health workers who function as personal assistants
and individual maintenance home health workers and who
also provide services under the Department's Home Services
Program shall be considered to be public employees, no
matter whether the State provides such services through
direct fee-for-service arrangements, with the assistance
of a managed care organization or other intermediary, or
otherwise, and the State of Illinois shall be considered
to be the employer of those persons as of January 29, 2013
(the effective date of Public Act 97-1158), but not before
except as otherwise provided under this subsection (f).
The State shall engage in collective bargaining with an

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exclusive representative of home care and home health
workers who function as personal assistants and individual
maintenance home health workers working under the Home
Services Program concerning their terms and conditions of
employment that are within the State's control. Nothing in
this paragraph shall be understood to limit the right of
the persons receiving services defined in this Section to
hire and fire home care and home health workers who
function as personal assistants and individual maintenance
home health workers working under the Home Services
Program or to supervise them within the limitations set by
the Home Services Program. The State shall not be
considered to be the employer of home care and home health
workers who function as personal assistants and individual
maintenance home health workers working under the Home
Services Program for any purposes not specifically
provided in Public Act 93-204 or Public Act 97-1158,
including but not limited to, purposes of vicarious
liability in tort and purposes of statutory retirement or
health insurance benefits. Home care and home health
workers who function as personal assistants and individual
maintenance home health workers and who also provide
services under the Department's Home Services Program
shall not be covered by the State Employees Group
Insurance Act of 1971.
The Department shall execute, relative to nursing home

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prescreening, as authorized by Section 4.03 of the
Illinois Act on the Aging, written inter-agency agreements
with the Department on Aging and the Department of
Healthcare and Family Services, to effect the intake
procedures and eligibility criteria for those persons who
may need long term care. On and after July 1, 1996, all
nursing home prescreenings for individuals 18 through 59
years of age shall be conducted by the Department, or a
designee of the Department.
The Department is authorized to establish a system of
recipient cost-sharing for services provided under this
Section. The cost-sharing shall be based upon the
recipient's ability to pay for services, but in no case
shall the recipient's share exceed the actual cost of the
services provided. Protected income shall not be
considered by the Department in its determination of the
recipient's ability to pay a share of the cost of
services. The level of cost-sharing shall be adjusted each
year to reflect changes in the "protected income" level.
The Department shall deduct from the recipient's share of
the cost of services any money expended by the recipient
for disability-related expenses.
To the extent permitted under the federal Social
Security Act, the Department, or the Department's
authorized representative, may recover the amount of
moneys expended for services provided to or in behalf of a

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person under this Section by a claim against the person's
estate or against the estate of the person's surviving
spouse, but no recovery may be had until after the death of
the surviving spouse, if any, and then only at such time
when there is no surviving child who is under age 21 or
blind or who has a permanent and total disability. This
paragraph, however, shall not bar recovery, at the death
of the person, of moneys for services provided to the
person or in behalf of the person under this Section to
which the person was not entitled; provided that such
recovery shall not be enforced against any real estate
while it is occupied as a homestead by the surviving
spouse or other dependent, if no claims by other creditors
have been filed against the estate, or, if such claims
have been filed, they remain dormant for failure of
prosecution or failure of the claimant to compel
administration of the estate for the purpose of payment.
This paragraph shall not bar recovery from the estate of a
spouse, under Sections 1915 and 1924 of the Social
Security Act and Section 5-4 of the Illinois Public Aid
Code, who precedes a person receiving services under this
Section in death. All moneys for services paid to or in
behalf of the person under this Section shall be claimed
for recovery from the deceased spouse's estate.
"Homestead", as used in this paragraph, means the dwelling
house and contiguous real estate occupied by a surviving

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spouse or relative, as defined by the rules and
regulations of the Department of Healthcare and Family
Services, regardless of the value of the property.
(g) To establish such subdivisions of the Department
as shall be desirable and assign to the various
subdivisions the responsibilities and duties placed upon
the Department by law.
(h) To cooperate and enter into any necessary
agreements with the Department of Employment Security for
the provision of job placement and job referral services
to clients of the Department, including job service
registration of such clients with Illinois Employment
Security offices and making job listings maintained by the
Department of Employment Security available to such
clients.
(i) To possess all powers reasonable and necessary for
the exercise and administration of the powers, duties and
responsibilities of the Department which are provided for
by law.
(j) (Blank).
(k) (Blank).
(l) To establish, operate, and maintain a Statewide
Housing Clearinghouse of information on available
government subsidized housing accessible to persons with
disabilities and available privately owned housing
accessible to persons with disabilities. The information

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shall include, but not be limited to, the location, rental
requirements, access features and proximity to public
transportation of available housing. The Clearinghouse
shall consist of at least a computerized database for the
storage and retrieval of information and a separate or
shared toll free telephone number for use by those seeking
information from the Clearinghouse. Department offices and
personnel throughout the State shall also assist in the
operation of the Statewide Housing Clearinghouse.
Cooperation with local, State, and federal housing
managers shall be sought and extended in order to
frequently and promptly update the Clearinghouse's
information.
(m) To assure that the names and case records of
persons who received or are receiving services from the
Department, including persons receiving vocational
rehabilitation, home services, or other services, and
those attending one of the Department's schools or other
supervised facility shall be confidential and not be open
to the general public. Those case records and reports or
the information contained in those records and reports
shall be disclosed by the Director only to proper law
enforcement officials, individuals authorized by a court,
the General Assembly or any committee or commission of the
General Assembly, and other persons and for reasons as the
Director designates by rule. Disclosure by the Director

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may be only in accordance with other applicable law.
(Source: P.A. 102-264, eff. 8-6-21; 102-826, eff. 5-13-22.)