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| Public Act 103-0479
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| SB0505 Enrolled | LRB103 02957 SPS 47963 b |
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AN ACT concerning employment.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities |
Act is amended by changing Section 3 as follows:
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(20 ILCS 2405/3) (from Ch. 23, par. 3434)
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Sec. 3. Powers and duties. The Department shall have the |
powers and
duties enumerated
herein:
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(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
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Innovation and Opportunity Act,
and of the federal Social |
Security Act to the extent and in the manner
provided in |
these Acts.
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(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
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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.
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(c) (Blank).
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(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
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the objects and purposes to which the respective items of |
these several
amounts have been devoted.
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(e) (Blank).
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(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:
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(1) personal assistant services;
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(2) homemaker services;
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(3) home-delivered meals;
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(4) adult day care services;
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(5) respite care;
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(6) home modification or assistive equipment;
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(7) home health services;
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(8) electronic home response;
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(9) brain injury behavioral/cognitive services;
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(10) brain injury habilitation;
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(11) brain injury pre-vocational services; or
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(12) brain injury supported employment.
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The Department shall establish eligibility
standards |
for such services taking into consideration the unique
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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
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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.
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The services shall be provided, as established by the
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Department by rule, to eligible persons
to prevent |
unnecessary or premature institutionalization, to
the |
extent that the cost of the services, together with the
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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
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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.
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Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, |
personal assistants shall be paid at a rate negotiated
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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.
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Solely for the purposes of coverage under the Illinois |
Public Labor
Relations
Act, personal assistants providing
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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
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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
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Insurance Act
of 1971.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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(g) To establish such subdivisions of the Department
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as shall be desirable and assign to the various |
subdivisions the
responsibilities and duties placed upon |
the Department by law.
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(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.
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(i) To possess all powers reasonable and necessary for
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the exercise and administration of the powers, duties and
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responsibilities of the Department which are provided for |
by law.
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(j) (Blank).
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(k) (Blank).
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(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
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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
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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.
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(m) To assure that the names and case records of |
persons who received or
are
receiving services from the |
Department, including persons receiving vocational
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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 |
