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.