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Public Act 096-0867
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| HB1801 Enrolled |
LRB096 05474 DRJ 15540 b |
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AN ACT concerning public aid.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, |
represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Illinois Public Aid Code is amended by |
changing Sections 11-15 and 11-20.1 as follows:
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(305 ILCS 5/11-15) (from Ch. 23, par. 11-15)
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Sec. 11-15. Application requirements.
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(1) An application for financial
aid shall be filed in |
writing by the person requesting aid and, in the case
of a |
request for family aid, by the head of that family, except as
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otherwise permitted in paragraph (2). Applications for aid |
under Articles
III, IV, and V shall be filed in writing with |
any local office of the Department of Human Services the county
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department of
the county in which the applicant resides in the |
manner prescribed by the
Illinois Department. Applications for |
aid under Article VI shall be filed
in writing with the local |
governmental unit upon forms approved by the
Illinois |
Department.
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Each applicant shall provide information as to the amount |
of
property, real and personal, owned by him or her within the |
period of time
preceding
the application as required under |
Sections 3-1.3, 4-1.11, and 5-2.1 of this
Code. The
applicant |
shall also furnish information concerning
all income, money |
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contributions, and other support from any source, and
the |
beneficiary and the amount or cash surrender or loan value of |
all
insurance policies held by himself or herself or any member |
of his family
for whom aid is requested.
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(2) An application, in all instances to be in writing, may |
be filed
in behalf of a person considered to be in need of |
financial aid under
Articles III, IV, V, or VI only if the |
person
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(a) has been adjudged to be under legal disability; or
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(b) is unable because of minority or physical or mental |
disability,
to execute the application; or
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(c) in the case of need for funeral and burial, died |
before an
application was filed and the application is |
filed not more than 30 days
after the person's death, |
excluding the day on which the death occurred.
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Applications in behalf of persons specified in (a) and (b) |
shall be
filed by the applicant's legal guardian or, if a
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guardian has not been appointed or the applicant has no legal
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guardian or the guardian is not available, by a relative or |
other
person, acceptable under the rules of the Illinois |
Department, who is
able to furnish the required information. |
Applications in behalf of
persons specified in (c) shall be |
filed by any next of kin of the deceased
who is not under legal |
disability or, if there are no such next of kin or
they are |
unknown or unavailable, by a person, acceptable under the rules |
of
the Illinois Department, who is able to furnish the required |
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information.
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(3) The application shall contain a written declaration to |
be signed
by the applicant, or in behalf of the applicant by a |
person qualified
under paragraph (2), in substantially the |
following form, the
parenthetical references being applicable |
to an application filed by a
person in behalf of the applicant:
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"I declare under penalties of perjury that I have examined |
this form
and all accompanying statements or documents |
pertaining to the income
and resources of myself (the |
applicant) or any member of my family (the
applicant's family) |
included in this application for aid, or pertaining
to any |
other matter having bearing upon my (the applicant's) |
eligibility
for aid, and to the best of my knowledge and belief |
the information
supplied is true, correct, and complete".
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(4) If an application for financial aid is filed for a |
family, and any
person in that family is under 18 years of age, |
the application shall be
accompanied by the following for each |
such person under 18 years of age:
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(i) a copy of the person's birth certificate, or
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(ii) other reliable proof, as determined by the |
Department, of the
person's identity and age.
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The Illinois Department shall provide information to all |
families, orally
by an intake
worker and in writing when the |
application is filed, about the availability and
location of |
immunization services.
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(5) Once an applicant is determined eligible for aid, he or |
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she has the right to request to have the case transferred to |
another local office of the Department of Human Services for |
his or her convenience based on one of the following factors: |
the location of his or her employer; the location of his or her |
child care provider; access to reliable transportation; or the |
location of a social service provider that he or she sees on a |
regular basis. Within 5 business days after the request for |
transfer, the Department shall transfer the case, assign a |
caseworker, make appropriate entries in the computer system, |
and issue a written notice to the recipient that includes the |
name of and contact information for the caseworker. The |
location of the recipient's case may be reconsidered on the |
recipient's request or at the time of redetermination of |
eligibility. |
(Source: P.A. 92-111, eff. 1-1-02.)
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(305 ILCS 5/11-20.1) (from Ch. 23, par. 11-20.1)
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Sec. 11-20.1. Employment; Rights of recipient and |
obligations of
Illinois Department when recipients become |
employed; Assistance when
a recipient has employment or earned |
income or both. |
(a) When a recipient reports employment or earned income, |
or both, or
the Illinois Department otherwise learns of a |
recipient's employment or
earned income, or both, the Illinois |
Department shall provide the recipient
with:
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(1) An explanation of how the earned income will affect |
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the
recipient's eligibility for a grant, and whether the |
recipient
must engage in additional work
activities to meet |
the recipient's monthly work activities requirement and |
what
types of activities may be approved for
that purpose, |
and whether the employment is sufficient to cause months of
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continued receipt of a grant not to be
counted against the |
recipient's lifetime eligibility limit.
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(2) An explanation of the Work Pays budgeting process,
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and an explanation of how the first
month's income on a new |
job will be projected, and how the recipient should
report |
the new job to avoid the
Department overestimating the |
first month's income.
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(3) An explanation of how the earned income will affect |
the
recipient's eligibility for food stamps, whether the |
recipient will
continue to receive food stamps, and, if so, |
the amount of food stamps.
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(4) The names and telephone numbers of all caseworkers |
to whom the
recipient's case or cases are assigned or will |
be transferred, an
explanation of which type of case each |
worker will be handling, and the
effective date of the |
transfer.
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(5) An explanation of the recipient's
responsibilities |
to report income and household circumstances, the process |
by
which quarterly reporting forms are
sent to recipients,
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where and to whom the reports should be returned, the |
deadline by which
reports must be returned, instructions on |
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how to fill out the reports, an
explanation of what the |
recipient should do if he or she does not receive
the form, |
advice on how to prove the report was returned by the |
recipient
such as by keeping a copy, and an explanation of |
the effects of failure to file
reports.
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(6) If the recipient will continue to receive a grant, |
an explanation
of the recipient's new fiscal month and a |
statement as to when the
recipient will receive his or her |
grant.
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(7) An explanation of Kidcare, Family Assist, Family |
Care, and
the 12 month extension
of medical
assistance that |
is available when a grant is cancelled due to earned |
income.
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(8) An explanation of the medical assistance the person |
may be
eligible for when the 12 month extension expires and |
how to request or
apply for it.
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(9) An explanation of the availability of
a child care |
subsidy to all families below the child care
assistance |
program's income limit, how to apply for the benefit |
through the
Child Care Resource and Referral or |
site-administered child care program or
both, the nature of |
the child care program's
sliding scale co-payments, the
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availability of the 10% earned income disregard in |
determining eligibility for
child care assistance and the |
amount of
the parent co-payment, the right to use the |
subsidy for either licensed or
license exempt legal care, |
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and the
availability of benefits when the parent is engaged |
in an education and
training program.
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(10) (Blank).
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(11) (Blank).
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(11a) (Blank).
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(12) (Blank).
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(13) An explanation of the availability of payment for |
initial
expenses of employment and how to request or apply |
for it.
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(14) An explanation of the job retention component and
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how to participate in it, and an explanation of the |
recipient's
eligibility to receive supportive
services to |
participate in education and training programs while |
working.
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(15) A statement of the types of assistance that will |
be provided to
the person automatically or continued and a |
statement of the types of
assistance for which the person |
must apply or reapply.
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(16) If the recipient will not continue to receive a |
cash grant and
the recipient has assigned his or her right |
to child support to the
Illinois Department, an explanation |
of the recipient's right to continue to
receive child |
support enforcement services, the recipient's right to |
have
all current support paid after grant cancellation |
forwarded promptly to the
recipient, the procedures by |
which child support will be forwarded, and the
procedures |
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by which the recipient will be informed of the collection |
and
distribution of child support.
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(17) An explanation of the availability of payments if
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the recipient experiences a decrease in or loss of earned |
income
during a calendar quarter as to which the monthly |
grant was previously
budgeted based upon the higher income.
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(18) If the recipient will not continue to receive a |
cash grant, an
explanation of the procedures for reapplying |
for cash assistance if the
person experiences a decrease in |
or loss of earned income.
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(19) An explanation of the earned income tax credit and |
the procedures
by which it may be obtained and the rules |
for disregarding it in determining
eligibility for and the |
amount of assistance.
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(20) An explanation of the education and training |
opportunities
available to recipients.
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(b) The information listed in subsection (a) shall be |
provided to the
recipient on an individual basis during an |
in-person meeting with a
representative of the Illinois |
Department. The individual in-person
meeting shall be held at a |
time which does not conflict with the
recipient's work schedule |
within 30 days of the date the recipient begins
working. If the |
recipient informs the Illinois Department that an
in-person |
meeting would be inconvenient, the Illinois Department may
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provide the information during a home visit, by telephone, or |
by mail
within 30 days of the date the recipient begins |
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working, whichever the
client prefers.
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(c) At the conclusion of the meeting described in |
subsection (b), the
Illinois Department shall ensure that all |
case transfers and calculations
of benefits necessitated by the |
recipient's employment or receipt of earned
income have been |
performed, that applications have been made or provided
for all |
benefits for which the person must apply or reapply, and that |
the
person has received payment for initial expenses of |
employment.
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(d) In food stamp cases in which an applicant or recipient |
reports earned income, the applicant's or recipient's |
employment shall be presumed to be a hardship for purposes of |
scheduling an in-person meeting with a
representative of the |
Illinois Department and an in-person meeting shall be waived. |
(Source: P.A. 93-598, eff. 8-26-03.)
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Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect on |
January 1, 2011.
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