104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB4861
 
Introduced , by Rep. Janet Yang Rohr
 
SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
325 ILCS 3/10-70
    Amends the Department of Early Childhood Act. In a provision requiring procedural safeguards for families by each public agency involved in the provision of early intervention services, provides that a parent or guardian, a provider, a regional intake entity, or the Department must request an impartial hearing on the due process complaint within 2 years after the date the parent or guardian, lead agency, or early intervention services provider knew or should have known about the alleged action that forms the basis of the due process complaint. Effective January 1, 2027.


LRB104 18154 RPS 31593 b

 
 
A BILL FOR
 
HB4861LRB104 18154 RPS 31593 b

1    AN ACT concerning children.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Department of Early Childhood Act is 
5amended by changing Section 10-70 as follows:
 
6    (325 ILCS 3/10-70)
7    Sec. 10-70. Procedural safeguards. The lead agency shall 
8adopt procedural safeguards that meet federal requirements and 
9ensure effective implementation of the safeguards for families 
10by each public agency involved in the provision of early 
11intervention services under this Act.
12    The procedural safeguards shall provide, at a minimum, the 
13following:
14        (a) The timely administrative resolution of State 
15    complaints, due process hearings, and mediations as 
16    defined by administrative rule. A parent or guardian, a 
17    provider, a regional intake entity, or the Department must 
18    request an impartial hearing on the due process complaint 
19    within 2 years after the date the parent or guardian, lead 
20    agency, or early intervention services provider knew or 
21    should have known about the alleged action that forms the 
22    basis of the due process complaint. 
23        (b) The right to confidentiality of personally 
 
 
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1    identifiable information.
2        (c) The opportunity for parents and a guardian to 
3    examine and receive copies of records relating to 
4    evaluations and assessments, screening, eligibility 
5    determinations, and the development and implementation of 
6    the Individualized Family Service Plan provision of early 
7    intervention services, individual complaints involving the 
8    child, or any part of the child's early intervention 
9    record.
10        (d) Procedures to protect the rights of the eligible 
11    infant or toddler whenever the parents or guardians of the 
12    child are not known or unavailable or the child is a youth 
13    in care as defined in Section 4d of the Children and Family 
14    Services Act, including the assignment of an individual 
15    (who shall not be an employee of the State agency or local 
16    agency providing services) to act as a surrogate for the 
17    parents or guardian. The regional intake entity must make 
18    reasonable efforts to ensure the assignment of a surrogate 
19    parent not more than 30 days after a public agency 
20    determines that the child needs a surrogate parent.
21        (e) Timely written prior notice to the parents or 
22    guardian of the eligible infant or toddler whenever the 
23    State agency or public or private service provider 
24    proposes to initiate or change or refuses to initiate or 
25    change the identification, evaluation, placement, or the 
26    provision of appropriate early intervention services to 
 
 
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1    the eligible infant or toddler.
2        (f) Written prior notice to fully inform the parents 
3    or guardians, in their native language or mode of 
4    communication used by the parent, unless clearly not 
5    feasible to do so, in a comprehensible manner, of these 
6    procedural safeguards.
7        (g) During the pendency of any State complaint 
8    procedure, due process hearing, or mediation involving a 
9    complaint, unless the State agency and the parents or 
10    guardian otherwise agree, the child shall continue to 
11    receive the appropriate early intervention services 
12    currently being provided, or in the case of an application 
13    for initial services, the child shall receive the services 
14    not in dispute.
15(Source: P.A. 103-594, eff. 6-25-24.)
 
16    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January 
171, 2027.