Public Act 0719 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB1084 Enrolled LRB097 06351 PJG 46431 b

Public Act 097-0719

AN ACT concerning State government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Governmental Ethics Act is amended by changing Section 3A-40 as follows:

(5 ILCS 420/3A-40)

Sec. 3A-40. Appointees with expired terms; temporary and acting appointees.

(a) A person who is nominated by the Governor on or after August 26, 2011 (the effective date of Public Act 97-582) this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly for any affected office to which appointment requires the advice and consent of the Senate, who is appointed pursuant to that advice and consent, and whose term of office expires on or after August 26, 2011 shall not continue in office longer than 60 calendar days after the expiration of that term of office. After that 60th day, each such office is considered vacant and shall be filled only pursuant to the law applicable to making appointments to that office, subject to the provisions of this Section.

A person who has been nominated by the Governor before August 26, 2011 (the effective date of Public Act 97-582) this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly for any affected office to which appointment requires the advice and consent of the Senate, who has been appointed pursuant to that advice and consent, and whose term of office has expired before that effective date shall not continue in office longer than 60 calendar days after the date upon which his or her term of office has expired that effective date. After that 60 days, each such office is considered vacant and shall be filled only pursuant to the law applicable to making appointments to that office, subject to the provisions of this Section. If the term of office of a person who is subject to this paragraph expires more than 60 calendar days prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly, then that office is considered vacant on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly, and that vacancy shall be filled only pursuant to the law applicable to making appointments to that office. For the purposes of this subsection (a), "affected office" means (i) an office in which one receives any form of compensation, including salary or per diem, but not including expense reimbursement, or (ii) membership on the board of trustees of a public university.

(b) A person who is appointed by the Governor on or after August 26, 2011 (the effective date of Public Act 97-582) this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly to serve as a temporary appointee, pursuant to Article V, Section 9(b) of the Illinois Constitution or any other applicable statute, to any office to which appointment requires the advice and consent of the Senate shall not continue in office after the next meeting of the Senate unless the Governor has filed a message with the Secretary of the Senate nominating that person to fill that office on or before that meeting date. After that meeting date, each such office is considered vacant and shall be filled only pursuant to the law applicable to making appointments to that office, subject to the provisions of this Section.

A person who has been appointed by the Governor before August 26, 2011 (the effective date of Public Act 97-582) this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly to serve as a temporary appointee, pursuant to Article V, Section 9(b) of the Illinois Constitution or any other applicable statute, to any office to which appointment requires the advice and consent of the Senate shall not continue in office after August 26, 2011 that effective date or the next meeting of the Senate after August 26, 2011 that effective date, as applicable, unless the Governor has filed a message with the Secretary of the Senate nominating that person to fill that office on or before the next meeting of the Senate after that temporary appointment was made. After that effective date or meeting date, as applicable, each such office is considered vacant and shall be filled only pursuant to the law applicable to making appointments to that office, subject to the provisions of this Section.

For the purposes of this subsection (b), a meeting of the Senate does not include a perfunctory session day as designated by the Senate under its rules.

(c) A person who is designated by the Governor on or after August 26, 2011 (the effective date of Public Act 97-582) this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly to serve as an acting appointee to any office to which appointment requires the advice and consent of the Senate shall not continue in office more than 60 calendar days unless the Governor files a message with the Secretary of the Senate nominating that person to fill that office within that 60 days. After that 60 days, each such office is considered vacant and shall be filled only pursuant to the law applicable to making appointments to that office, subject to the provisions of this Section. No person who has been designated by the Governor to serve as an acting appointee to any office to which appointment requires the advice and consent of the Senate shall, except at the Senate's request, be designated again as an acting appointee for that office at the same session of that Senate, subject to the provisions of this Section.

A person who has been designated by the Governor before August 26, 2011 (the effective date of Public Act 97-582) this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly to serve as an acting appointee to any office to which appointment requires the advice and consent of the Senate shall not continue in office longer than 60 calendar days after August 26, 2011 that effective date unless the Governor has filed a message with the Secretary of the Senate nominating that person to fill that office on or before that 60 days. After that 60 days, each such office is considered vacant and shall be filled only pursuant to the law applicable to making appointments to that office, subject to the provisions of this Section. No person who has been designated by the Governor to serve as an acting appointee to any office to which appointment requires the advice and consent of the Senate shall, except at the Senate's request, be designated again as an acting appointee for that office at the same session of that Senate, subject to the provisions of this Section.

During the term of a General Assembly, the Governor may not designate a person to serve as an acting appointee to any office to which appointment requires the advice and consent of the Senate if that person's nomination to serve as the appointee for the same office was rejected by the Senate of the same General Assembly.

For the purposes of this subsection (c), "acting appointee" means a person designated by the Governor to serve as an acting director or acting secretary pursuant to Section 5-605 of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. "Acting appointee" also means a person designated by the Governor pursuant to any other statute to serve as an acting holder of any office, to execute the duties and functions of any office, or both.

(d) The provisions of this Section apply notwithstanding any law to the contrary. However, the provisions of this Section do not apply to appointments made under Article 1A of the Election Code or to the appointment of any person to serve as Director of the Illinois Power Agency.

(Source: P.A. 97-582, eff. 8-26-11.)

Section 10. The Workers' Compensation Act is amended by changing Section 14 as follows:

(820 ILCS 305/14) (from Ch. 48, par. 138.14)

Sec. 14. The Commission shall appoint a secretary, an assistant secretary, and arbitrators and shall employ such assistants and clerical help as may be necessary. Arbitrators shall be appointed pursuant to this Section, notwithstanding any provision of the Personnel Code.

Each arbitrator appointed after November 22, 1977 shall be required to demonstrate in writing and in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Illinois Department of Central Management Services his or her knowledge of and expertise in the law of and judicial processes of the Workers' Compensation Act and the Occupational Diseases Act.

A formal training program for newly-hired arbitrators shall be implemented. The training program shall include the following:

(a) substantive and procedural aspects of the arbitrator position;

(b) current issues in workers' compensation law and practice;

(c) medical lectures by specialists in areas such as orthopedics, ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation counseling;

(d) orientation to each operational unit of the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission;

(e) observation of experienced arbitrators conducting hearings of cases, combined with the opportunity to discuss evidence presented and rulings made;

(f) the use of hypothetical cases requiring the trainee to issue judgments as a means to evaluating knowledge and writing ability;

(g) writing skills;

(h) professional and ethical standards pursuant to Section 1.1 of this Act;

(i) detection of workers' compensation fraud and reporting obligations of Commission employees and appointees;

(j) standards of evidence-based medical treatment and best practices for measuring and improving quality and health care outcomes in the workers' compensation system, including but not limited to the use of the American Medical Association's "Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment" and the practice of utilization review; and

(k) substantive and procedural aspects of coal workers' pneumoconiosis (black lung) cases.

A formal and ongoing professional development program including, but not limited to, the above-noted areas shall be implemented to keep arbitrators informed of recent developments and issues and to assist them in maintaining and enhancing their professional competence. Each arbitrator shall complete 20 hours of training in the above-noted areas during every 2 years such arbitrator shall remain in office.

Each arbitrator shall devote full time to his or her duties and shall serve when assigned as an acting Commissioner when a Commissioner is unavailable in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of this Act. Any arbitrator who is an attorney-at-law shall not engage in the practice of law, nor shall any arbitrator hold any other office or position of profit under the United States or this State or any municipal corporation or political subdivision of this State. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act to the contrary, an arbitrator who serves as an acting Commissioner in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of this Act shall continue to serve in the capacity of Commissioner until a decision is reached in every case heard by that arbitrator while serving as an acting Commissioner.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section, the term of all arbitrators serving on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly, including any arbitrators on administrative leave, shall terminate at the close of business on July 1, 2011, but the incumbents shall continue to exercise all of their duties until they are reappointed or their successors are appointed.

On and after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly, arbitrators shall be appointed to 3-year terms by the full Commission, except that initial appointments made on and after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly shall be made as follows:

(1) All appointments shall be made by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate.

(2) For their initial appointments, 12 arbitrators shall be appointed to terms expiring July 1, 2012; 12 arbitrators shall be appointed to terms expiring July 1, 2013; and all additional arbitrators shall be appointed to terms expiring July 1, 2014. Thereafter, all arbitrators shall be appointed to 3-year terms.

Upon the expiration of a term, the Chairman shall evaluate the performance of the arbitrator and may recommend to the Governor that he or she be reappointed to a second or subsequent term by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate the full Commission.

Each arbitrator appointed on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly and who has not previously served as an arbitrator for the Commission shall be required to be authorized to practice law in this State by the Supreme Court, and to maintain this authorization throughout his or her term of employment.

All arbitrators shall be subject to the provisions of the Personnel Code, and the performance of all arbitrators shall be reviewed by the Chairman on an annual basis. The changes made to this Section by this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly shall prevail over any conflict with the Personnel Code. The Chairman shall allow input from the Commissioners in all such reviews.

The Commission shall assign no fewer than 3 arbitrators to each hearing site. The Commission shall establish a procedure to ensure that the arbitrators assigned to each hearing site are assigned cases on a random basis. No arbitrator shall hear cases in any county, other than Cook County, for more than 2 years in each 3-year term.

The Secretary and each arbitrator shall receive a per annum salary of $4,000 less than the per annum salary of members of The Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission as provided in Section 13 of this Act, payable in equal monthly installments.

The members of the Commission, Arbitrators and other employees whose duties require them to travel, shall have reimbursed to them their actual traveling expenses and disbursements made or incurred by them in the discharge of their official duties while away from their place of residence in the performance of their duties.

The Commission shall provide itself with a seal for the authentication of its orders, awards and proceedings upon which shall be inscribed the name of the Commission and the words "Illinois--Seal".

The Secretary or Assistant Secretary, under the direction of the Commission, shall have charge and custody of the seal of the Commission and also have charge and custody of all records, files, orders, proceedings, decisions, awards and other documents on file with the Commission. He shall furnish certified copies, under the seal of the Commission, of any such records, files, orders, proceedings, decisions, awards and other documents on file with the Commission as may be required. Certified copies so furnished by the Secretary or Assistant Secretary shall be received in evidence before the Commission or any Arbitrator thereof, and in all courts, provided that the original of such certified copy is otherwise competent and admissible in evidence. The Secretary or Assistant Secretary shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed from time to time by the Commission.

(Source: P.A. 97-18, eff. 6-28-11.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.