Public Act 93-0311

HB0525 Enrolled                      LRB093 05524 WGH 05615 b

    AN ACT concerning disclosure of information.

    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 11-9 as follows:

    (305 ILCS 5/11-9) (from Ch. 23, par. 11-9)
    Sec. 11-9.  Protection of records - Exceptions.  For  the
protection   of   applicants  and  recipients,  the  Illinois
Department, the county  departments  and  local  governmental
units   and  their  respective  officers  and  employees  are
prohibited, except as hereinafter provided,  from  disclosing
the    contents   of   any   records,   files,   papers   and
communications, except for purposes directly  connected  with
the administration of public aid under this Code.
    In  any judicial proceeding, except a proceeding directly
concerned with the administration of programs provided for in
this Code, such records, files,  papers  and  communications,
and  their contents shall be deemed privileged communications
and shall be disclosed only upon  the  order  of  the  court,
where the court finds such to be necessary in the interest of
justice.
    The  Illinois  Department  shall  establish  and  enforce
reasonable  rules  and regulations governing the custody, use
and  preservation  of  the  records,   papers,   files,   and
communications   of   the  Illinois  Department,  the  county
departments and local governmental units receiving  State  or
Federal  funds  or  aid.  The  governing  body of other local
governmental units shall in like manner establish and enforce
rules and regulations governing the same matters.
    The contents of case files pertaining to recipients under
Articles IV, V,  and  VI  shall  be  made  available  without
subpoena  or  formal  notice to the officers of any court, to
all law enforcing agencies, and  to  such  other  persons  or
agencies as from time to time may be authorized by any court.
In particular, the contents of those case files shall be made
available  upon  request  to a law enforcement agency for the
purpose of determining the current  address  of  a  recipient
with  respect  to  whom an arrest warrant is outstanding, and
the current address of a recipient who  was  a  victim  of  a
felony  or a witness to a felony shall be made available upon
request to a State's Attorney of  this  State  or  a  State's
Attorney's  investigator. Information shall also be disclosed
to the Illinois State Scholarship Commission pursuant  to  an
investigation  or  audit  by  the  Illinois State Scholarship
Commission of a delinquent student loan or monetary award.
    This Section does not prevent the Illinois Department and
local governmental units from reporting  to  appropriate  law
enforcement  officials  the  desertion  or  abandonment  by a
parent of a child, as a result of  which  financial  aid  has
been  necessitated  under Articles IV, V, or VI, or reporting
to appropriate law enforcement officials instances in which a
mother under age 18 has a child out  of  wedlock  and  is  an
applicant  for  or recipient of aid under any Article of this
Code. The Illinois Department may provide  by  rule  for  the
county  departments  and local governmental units to initiate
proceedings under the Juvenile Court  Act  of  1987  to  have
children  declared to be neglected when they deem such action
necessary to protect the  children  from  immoral  influences
present in their home or surroundings.
    This  Section  does not preclude the full exercise of the
powers of the Board of Public Aid  Commissioners  to  inspect
records  and  documents,  as provided for all advisory boards
pursuant  to  Section  5-505  of  the  Departments  of  State
Government Law (20 ILCS 5/5-505).
    This Section does not preclude exchanges  of  information
among  the  Illinois Department of Public Aid, the Department
of Human Services (as successor to the Department  of  Public
Aid),  and the Illinois Department of Revenue for the purpose
of verifying sources and amounts  of  income  and  for  other
purposes  directly  connected with the administration of this
Code and of the Illinois Income Tax Act.
    The provisions of this Section and of  Section  11-11  as
they  apply  to applicants and recipients of public aid under
Article V shall be operative only to the extent that they  do
not  conflict  with  any  Federal law or regulation governing
Federal grants to this State for such programs.
    The Illinois Department of Public Aid and the  Department
of Human Services (as successor to the Illinois Department of
Public  Aid)  shall enter into an inter-agency agreement with
the Department of Children and Family Services to establish a
procedure by which employees of the  Department  of  Children
and  Family  Services  may  have immediate access to records,
files, papers, and communications (except medical, alcohol or
drug assessment or treatment, mental  health,  or  any  other
medical   records)   of   the   Illinois  Department,  county
departments, and local governmental units receiving State  or
federal  funds  or  aid,  if  the  Department of Children and
Family Services determines the information  is  necessary  to
perform  its  duties  under  the  Abused  and Neglected Child
Reporting Act, the Child Care Act of 1969, and  the  Children
and Family Services Act.
(Source: P.A. 91-239, eff. 1-1-00; 92-111, eff. 1-1-02.)

    Section 10.  The Unemployment Insurance Act is amended by
changing Section 1900 as follows:

    (820 ILCS 405/1900) (from Ch. 48, par. 640)
    Sec. 1900.  Disclosure of information.
    A.  Except  as  provided  in  this  Section,  information
obtained  from  any  individual  or employing unit during the
administration of this Act shall:
         1.  be confidential,
         2.  not be published or open to public inspection,
         3.  not be used in any court in any  pending  action
    or proceeding,
         4.  not  be  admissible in evidence in any action or
    proceeding other than one arising out of this Act.
    B.  No finding, determination, decision, ruling or  order
(including  any finding of fact, statement or conclusion made
therein) issued pursuant to this Act shall be  admissible  or
used  in evidence in any action other than one arising out of
this Act, nor shall it be binding  or  conclusive  except  as
provided  in  this Act, nor shall it constitute res judicata,
regardless of whether the actions were between  the  same  or
related parties or involved the same facts.
    C.  Any officer or employee of this State, any officer or
employee  of  any  entity  authorized  to  obtain information
pursuant to this Section, and any agent of this State  or  of
such  entity who, except with authority of the Director under
this Section, shall disclose information shall be guilty of a
Class B misdemeanor and shall be  disqualified  from  holding
any appointment or employment by the State.
    D.  An  individual  or  his  duly authorized agent may be
supplied with information from records  only  to  the  extent
necessary  for  the  proper  presentation  of  his  claim for
benefits or  with  his  existing  or  prospective  rights  to
benefits.   Discretion  to  disclose this information belongs
solely to the Director and is not subject  to  a  release  or
waiver by the individual. Notwithstanding any other provision
to  the contrary, an individual or his or her duly authorized
agent may be supplied with  a  statement  of  the  amount  of
benefits   paid  to  the  individual  during  the  18  months
preceding the date of his or her request.
    E.  An employing unit may be furnished with  information,
only  if  deemed by the Director as necessary to enable it to
fully discharge its obligations or safeguard its rights under
the Act.  Discretion to  disclose  this  information  belongs
solely  to  the  Director  and is not subject to a release or
waiver by the employing unit.
    F.  The Director may furnish any information that he  may
deem proper to any public officer or public agency of this or
any other State or of the federal government dealing with:
         1.  the administration of relief,
         2.  public assistance,
         3.  unemployment compensation,
         4.  a system of public employment offices,
         5.  wages and hours of employment, or
         6.  a public works program.
    The   Director   may   make  available  to  the  Illinois
Industrial Commission information regarding employers for the
purpose of verifying the insurance  coverage  required  under
the  Workers'  Compensation  Act  and  Workers'  Occupational
Diseases Act.
    G.  The  Director  may  disclose information submitted by
the State or any of  its  political  subdivisions,  municipal
corporations,   instrumentalities,  or  school  or  community
college districts, except for information which  specifically
identifies an individual claimant.
    H.  The  Director  shall  disclose  only that information
required to be disclosed under  Section  303  of  the  Social
Security Act, as amended, including:
         1.  any  information required to be given the United
    States Department of Labor under Section 303(a)(6); and
         2.  the making available upon request to any  agency
    of  the  United States charged with the administration of
    public works or assistance through public employment, the
    name, address, ordinary occupation and employment  status
    of  each  recipient  of  unemployment compensation, and a
    statement  of   such   recipient's   right   to   further
    compensation  under  such  law  as  required  by  Section
    303(a)(7); and
         3.  records   to  make  available  to  the  Railroad
    Retirement Board as required by Section 303(c)(1); and
         4.  information   that   will   assure    reasonable
    cooperation  with  every  agency  of  the  United  States
    charged  with  the  administration  of  any  unemployment
    compensation law as required by Section 303(c)(2); and
         5.  information  upon  request and on a reimbursable
    basis to the United States Department of Agriculture  and
    to any State food stamp agency concerning any information
    required to be furnished by Section 303(d); and
         6.  any  wage  information  upon  request  and  on a
    reimbursable basis to any State or  local  child  support
    enforcement agency required by Section 303(e); and
         7.  any   information   required  under  the  income
    eligibility  and  verification  system  as  required   by
    Section 303(f); and
         8.  information  that might be useful in locating an
    absent parent or  that  parent's  employer,  establishing
    paternity  or establishing, modifying, or enforcing child
    support  orders  for  the  purpose  of  a  child  support
    enforcement program under Title IV of the Social Security
    Act upon the request of and on a  reimbursable  basis  to
    the   public  agency  administering  the  Federal  Parent
    Locator Service as required by Section 303(h); and
         9.  information, upon request, to representatives of
    any federal, State or local governmental  public  housing
    agency  with  respect  to individuals who have signed the
    appropriate consent form approved  by  the  Secretary  of
    Housing and Urban Development and who are applying for or
    participating   in   any   housing   assistance   program
    administered  by  the United States Department of Housing
    and Urban Development as required by Section 303(i).
    I.  The Director, upon the request of a public agency  of
Illinois,  of  the  federal  government or of any other state
charged with the investigation or enforcement of Section 10-5
of the Criminal Code of 1961 (or a  similar  federal  law  or
similar  law of another State), may furnish the public agency
information regarding the individual specified in the request
as to:
         1.  the current or most recent home address  of  the
    individual, and
         2.  the  names  and  addresses  of  the individual's
    employers.
    J.  Nothing in this Section shall be deemed to  interfere
with  the  disclosure  of  certain records as provided for in
Section 1706 or with the  right  to  make  available  to  the
Internal  Revenue  Service of the United States Department of
the Treasury, or the Department of Revenue of  the  State  of
Illinois, information obtained under this Act.
    K.  The  Department  shall make available to the Illinois
Student Assistance Commission, upon request,  information  in
the  possession  of  the  Department that may be necessary or
useful to the Commission in the collection  of  defaulted  or
delinquent student loans which the Commission administers.
    L.  The  Department  shall  make  available  to the State
Employees'  Retirement   System,   the   State   Universities
Retirement System, and the Teachers' Retirement System of the
State   of   Illinois,   upon  request,  information  in  the
possession of the Department that may be necessary or  useful
to  the  System  for  the  purpose of determining whether any
recipient  of  a  disability  benefit  from  the  System   is
gainfully employed.
    M.  This  Section  shall be applicable to the information
obtained  in  the  administration  of  the  State  employment
service, except that the  Director  may  publish  or  release
general  labor market information and may furnish information
that he may deem proper to an individual, public  officer  or
public  agency  of  this  or  any  other State or the federal
government (in addition to those public  officers  or  public
agencies specified in this Section) as he prescribes by Rule.
    N.  The  Director may require such safeguards as he deems
proper to insure that information disclosed pursuant to  this
Section  is  used  only  for  the  purposes set forth in this
Section.
    O.  (Blank).
    P.  Within 30 days  after  the  effective  date  of  this
amendatory   Act   of   1993  and  annually  thereafter,  the
Department shall  provide  to  the  Department  of  Financial
Institutions  a list of individuals or entities that, for the
most  recently  completed  calendar  year,  report   to   the
Department  as  paying  wages to workers.  The lists shall be
deemed confidential and may not be  disclosed  to  any  other
person.
    Q.  The  Director  shall  make  available  to  an elected
federal official the name and address  of  an  individual  or
entity that is located within the jurisdiction from which the
official   was  elected  and  that,  for  the  most  recently
completed calendar year, has reported to  the  Department  as
paying  wages  to workers, where the information will be used
in connection with the official duties of  the  official  and
the  official requests the information in writing, specifying
the purposes for which it will be used. For purposes of  this
subsection,  the  use  of  information in connection with the
official duties of an official does not include  use  of  the
information   in   connection   with   the   solicitation  of
contributions or expenditures, in money or in kind, to or  on
behalf  of  a  candidate  for public or political office or a
political party or with respect  to  a  public  question,  as
defined in Section 1-3 of the Election Code, or in connection
with   any  commercial  solicitation.   Any  elected  federal
official who, in submitting a request for information covered
by this subsection, knowingly  makes  a  false  statement  or
fails  to disclose a material fact, with the intent to obtain
the  information  for  a  purpose  not  authorized  by   this
subsection, shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.
    R.  The  Director may provide to any State or local child
support agency, upon request and  on  a  reimbursable  basis,
information that might be useful in locating an absent parent
or   that   parent's  employer,  establishing  paternity,  or
establishing, modifying, or enforcing child support orders.
    S. The Department  shall  make  available  to  a  State's
Attorney  of this State or a State's Attorney's investigator,
upon request, the current address or, if the current  address
is  unavailable,  current employer information, if available,
of a victim of a felony or a witness to a felony or a  person
against whom an arrest warrant is outstanding.
(Source:  P.A.  90-425,  eff.  8-15-97; 90-488, eff. 8-17-97;
90-655, eff. 7-30-98; 91-342, eff. 1-1-00.)

    Section 99.   Effective  date.   This  Act  takes  effect
January 1, 2004.