Bill Text: IL SB1998 | 2013-2014 | 98th General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Amends the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the short title.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)

Status: (Failed) 2015-01-13 - Session Sine Die [SB1998 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2013-SB1998-Amended.html

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Sen. Wm. Sam McCann

Filed: 3/19/2014

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AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 1998
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 1998 by replacing
everything after the enacting clause with the following:
"Section 5. The Illinois Finance Authority Act is amended
by adding Section 825-120 as follows:
(20 ILCS 3501/825-120 new)
Sec. 825-120. Propane Purchase Assistance Revolving Loan
Program; special fund.
(a) In this Section, "propane" means a hydrocarbon whose
chemical composition is predominantly C3H8, whether recovered
from natural gas or crude oil, and includes liquefied petroleum
gases and mixtures thereof.
(b) The Illinois Finance Authority shall administer a
propane purchase assistance revolving loan program ("the
program"). The program shall provide short-term low-interest
or zero-interest loans to propane distributors and to small

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businesses and farmers that use propane.
(c) Funds for the loans shall be paid out of the Propane
Purchase Assistance Revolving Loan Fund ("the Fund"), a special
fund created in the State treasury. The moneys in the Fund
shall consist of any moneys transferred or appropriated into
the Fund as well as all repayments of loans made under the
program. Moneys in the Fund may be used only for loans to
propane distributors, small businesses, and farmers for the
purchase of propane and for no other purpose. All interest
earned on moneys in the Fund must be deposited into the Fund.
(d) No later than 5 business days after the effective date
of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly, the State
Comptroller shall direct and the Treasurer shall transfer
$20,000,000 from the General Revenue Fund into the Propane
Purchase Assistance Revolving Loan Fund.
(e) When loan repayments are made that are no longer needed
for the purposes of the program, the State Comptroller shall
direct and the Treasurer shall transfer those moneys from the
Propane Purchase Assistance Revolving Loan Fund into the
General Revenue Fund.
(f) The Authority, with the assistance of the Department of
Commerce and Economic Opportunity, shall adopt rules,
including emergency rules adopted in accordance with Section
5-45 of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act, necessary to
implement this Section.

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Section 10. The State Finance Act is amended by adding
Sections 5.855 and 5.856 as follows:
(30 ILCS 105/5.855 new)
Sec. 5.855. The Propane Purchase Assistance Revolving Loan
Fund.
(30 ILCS 105/5.856 new)
Sec. 5.856. The Temporary Propane Purchase Assistance
Fund.
Section 15. The Energy Assistance Act is amended by
changing Section 6 and by adding Section 7.5 as follows:
(305 ILCS 20/6) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 1406)
Sec. 6. Eligibility, Conditions of Participation, and
Energy Assistance.
(a) Any person who is a resident of the State of Illinois
and whose household income is not greater than an amount
determined annually by the Department, in consultation with the
Policy Advisory Council, may apply for assistance pursuant to
this Act in accordance with regulations promulgated by the
Department. In setting the annual eligibility level, the
Department shall consider the amount of available funding and
may not set a limit higher than 150% of the federal nonfarm
poverty level as established by the federal Office of

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Management and Budget; except as provided in Section 7.5, and
except that for the period ending June 30, 2013, the Department
may not establish limits higher than 200% of that poverty level
or the maximum level provided for by federal guidelines.
(b) Applicants who qualify for assistance pursuant to
subsection (a) of this Section shall, subject to appropriation
from the General Assembly and subject to availability of funds
to the Department, receive energy assistance as provided by
this Act. The Department, upon receipt of monies authorized
pursuant to this Act for energy assistance, shall commit funds
for each qualified applicant in an amount determined by the
Department. In determining the amounts of assistance to be
provided to or on behalf of a qualified applicant, the
Department shall ensure that the highest amounts of assistance
go to households with the greatest energy costs in relation to
household income. The Department shall include factors such as
energy costs, household size, household income, and region of
the State when determining individual household benefits. In
setting assistance levels, the Department shall attempt to
provide assistance to approximately the same number of
households who participated in the 1991 Residential Energy
Assistance Partnership Program. Such assistance levels shall
be adjusted annually on the basis of funding availability and
energy costs. In promulgating rules for the administration of
this Section the Department shall assure that a minimum of 1/3
of funds available for benefits to eligible households with the

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lowest incomes and that elderly and disabled households are
offered a priority application period.
(c) If the applicant is not a customer of record of an
energy provider for energy services or an applicant for such
service, such applicant shall receive a direct energy
assistance payment in an amount established by the Department
for all such applicants under this Act; provided, however, that
such an applicant must have rental expenses for housing greater
than 30% of household income.
(c-1) This subsection shall apply only in cases where: (1)
the applicant is not a customer of record of an energy provider
because energy services are provided by the owner of the unit
as a portion of the rent; (2) the applicant resides in housing
subsidized or developed with funds provided under the Rental
Housing Support Program Act or under a similar locally funded
rent subsidy program, or is the voucher holder who resides in a
rental unit within the State of Illinois and whose monthly rent
is subsidized by the tenant-based Housing Choice Voucher
Program under Section 8 of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937; and
(3) the rental expenses for housing are no more than 30% of
household income. In such cases, the household may apply for an
energy assistance payment under this Act and the owner of the
housing unit shall cooperate with the applicant by providing
documentation of the energy costs for that unit. Any
compensation paid to the energy provider who supplied energy
services to the household shall be paid on behalf of the owner

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of the housing unit providing energy services to the household.
The Department shall report annually to the General Assembly on
the number of households receiving energy assistance under this
subsection and the cost of such assistance. The provisions of
this subsection (c-1), other than this sentence, are
inoperative after August 31, 2012.
(d) If the applicant is a customer of an energy provider,
such applicant shall receive energy assistance in an amount
established by the Department for all such applicants under
this Act, such amount to be paid by the Department to the
energy provider supplying winter energy service to such
applicant. Such applicant shall:
(i) make all reasonable efforts to apply to any other
appropriate source of public energy assistance; and
(ii) sign a waiver permitting the Department to receive
income information from any public or private agency
providing income or energy assistance and from any
employer, whether public or private.
(e) Any qualified applicant pursuant to this Section may
receive or have paid on such applicant's behalf an emergency
assistance payment to enable such applicant to obtain access to
winter energy services. Any such payments shall be made in
accordance with regulations of the Department.
(f) The Department may, if sufficient funds are available,
provide additional benefits to certain qualified applicants:
(i) for the reduction of past due amounts owed to

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energy providers; and
(ii) to assist the household in responding to
excessively high summer temperatures or energy costs.
Households containing elderly members, children, a person
with a disability, or a person with a medical need for
conditioned air shall receive priority for receipt of such
benefits.
(Source: P.A. 96-154, eff. 1-1-10; 96-157, eff. 9-1-09;
96-1000, eff. 7-2-10; 97-721, eff. 6-29-12.)
(305 ILCS 20/7.5 new)
Sec. 7.5. Temporary Propane Purchase Assistance Program;
special fund.
(a) In this Section, "propane" means a hydrocarbon whose
chemical composition is predominantly C3H8, whether recovered
from natural gas or crude oil, and includes liquefied petroleum
gases and mixtures thereof.
(b) The Department shall establish a temporary propane
purchase assistance program ("the program") to ensure the
availability and affordability of propane to low-income
residents. Under the program, when an energy provider supplies
winter energy in the form of propane to a program participant
for use in the participant's residence, the State shall
compensate the provider pursuant to rules adopted by the
Department. The rules shall provide for participation in the
program by homeowners, by renters of residential housing, and

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by persons who are not customers of record of an energy
provider. The program shall provide assistance for the purchase
of propane supplied by an energy provider on or after December
1, 2013, and before May 15, 2014. The program shall terminate
on May 15, 2014.
(c) A person who is a resident of this State and whose
annual household income is not greater than 186% of the poverty
guidelines as updated for 2013 in the Federal Register by the
United States Department of Health and Human Services under the
authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2) may apply for assistance in the
form of compensation to energy providers under the program for
propane purchased from an energy provider. Persons eligible to
participate in the program may apply at any time during the
period beginning December 1, 2013 and ending May 15, 2014 for
assistance in purchasing propane supplied by an energy provider
for residential use during that period.
(d) Assistance under the program, consisting of
compensation paid to energy providers as provided in subsection
(b), shall be paid out of the Temporary Propane Purchase
Assistance Fund ("the Fund"), a special fund created in the
State treasury. The moneys in the Fund shall consist of any
moneys transferred or appropriated into the Fund. Moneys in the
Fund may be used only for compensation to providers of propane
under the program and for no other purpose. All interest earned
on moneys in the Fund shall be deposited into the Fund.
No later than 5 business days after the effective date of

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this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly, the State
Comptroller shall direct and the Treasurer shall transfer
$10,000,000 from the General Revenue Fund into the Temporary
Propane Purchase Assistance Fund.
No later than May 31, 2014, the State Comptroller shall
direct and the Treasurer shall transfer all moneys remaining in
the Temporary Propane Purchase Assistance Fund from that Fund
into the General Revenue Fund.
(e) The Department shall adopt rules, including emergency
rules adopted in accordance with Section 5-45 of the Illinois
Administrative Procedure Act, necessary to implement this
Section.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.".