Full Text of HB1084 97th General Assembly
HB1084sam003 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY | Sen. John J. Cullerton Filed: 5/28/2012
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| 1 | | AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 1084
| 2 | | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 1084, AS AMENDED, | 3 | | with reference to page and line numbers of Senate Amendment No. | 4 | | 2, on page 6, immediately below line 9, by inserting the | 5 | | following:
| 6 | | "Section 10. The Workers' Compensation Act is amended by | 7 | | changing Section 14 as follows:
| 8 | | (820 ILCS 305/14) (from Ch. 48, par. 138.14)
| 9 | | Sec. 14. The Commission shall appoint a secretary, an | 10 | | assistant
secretary, and arbitrators and shall employ such
| 11 | | assistants and clerical help as may be necessary. Arbitrators | 12 | | shall be appointed pursuant to this Section, notwithstanding | 13 | | any provision of the Personnel Code.
| 14 | | Each arbitrator appointed after November 22, 1977 shall be | 15 | | required
to demonstrate in writing and in accordance with
the | 16 | | rules and regulations of the Illinois Department of Central |
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| 1 | | Management
Services his or
her knowledge of and expertise in | 2 | | the law of and judicial processes of
the Workers' Compensation | 3 | | Act and the Occupational Diseases Act.
| 4 | | A formal training program for newly-hired arbitrators | 5 | | shall be
implemented. The training program shall include the | 6 | | following:
| 7 | | (a) substantive and procedural aspects of the | 8 | | arbitrator position;
| 9 | | (b) current issues in workers' compensation law and | 10 | | practice;
| 11 | | (c) medical lectures by specialists in areas such as | 12 | | orthopedics,
ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation | 13 | | counseling;
| 14 | | (d) orientation to each operational unit of the | 15 | | Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission;
| 16 | | (e) observation of experienced arbitrators conducting | 17 | | hearings of cases,
combined with the opportunity to discuss | 18 | | evidence presented and rulings made;
| 19 | | (f) the use of hypothetical cases requiring the trainee | 20 | | to issue
judgments as a means to evaluating knowledge and | 21 | | writing ability;
| 22 | | (g) writing skills;
| 23 | | (h) professional and ethical standards pursuant to | 24 | | Section 1.1 of this Act; | 25 | | (i) detection of workers' compensation fraud and | 26 | | reporting obligations of Commission employees and |
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| 1 | | appointees; | 2 | | (j) standards of evidence-based medical treatment and | 3 | | best practices for measuring and improving quality and | 4 | | health care outcomes in the workers' compensation system, | 5 | | including but not limited to the use of the American | 6 | | Medical Association's "Guides to the Evaluation of | 7 | | Permanent Impairment" and the practice of utilization | 8 | | review; and | 9 | | (k) substantive and procedural aspects of coal | 10 | | workers' pneumoconiosis (black lung) cases. | 11 | | A formal and ongoing professional development program | 12 | | including, but not
limited to, the above-noted areas shall be | 13 | | implemented to keep arbitrators
informed of recent | 14 | | developments and issues and to assist them in
maintaining and | 15 | | enhancing their professional competence. Each arbitrator shall | 16 | | complete 20 hours of training in the above-noted areas during | 17 | | every 2 years such arbitrator shall remain in office.
| 18 | | Each
arbitrator shall devote full time to his or her duties | 19 | | and shall serve when
assigned as
an acting Commissioner when a | 20 | | Commissioner is unavailable in accordance
with the provisions | 21 | | of Section 13 of this Act. Any
arbitrator who is an | 22 | | attorney-at-law shall not engage in the practice of
law, nor | 23 | | shall any arbitrator hold any other office or position of
| 24 | | profit under the United States or this State or any municipal
| 25 | | corporation or political subdivision of this State.
| 26 | | Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act to the |
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| 1 | | contrary, an arbitrator
who serves as an acting Commissioner in | 2 | | accordance with the provisions of
Section 13 of this Act shall | 3 | | continue to serve in the capacity of Commissioner
until a | 4 | | decision is reached in every case heard by that arbitrator | 5 | | while
serving as an acting Commissioner.
| 6 | | Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section, the | 7 | | term of all arbitrators serving on the effective date of this | 8 | | amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly, including any | 9 | | arbitrators on administrative leave, shall terminate at the | 10 | | close of business on July 1, 2011, but the incumbents shall | 11 | | continue to exercise all of their duties until they are | 12 | | reappointed or their successors are appointed. | 13 | | On and after the effective date of this amendatory Act of | 14 | | the 97th General Assembly, arbitrators shall be appointed to | 15 | | 3-year terms by the full Commission, except that initial | 16 | | appointments made on and after the effective date of this | 17 | | amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly shall be made as | 18 | | follows: | 19 | | (1) All appointments shall be made by the Governor with | 20 | | the advice and consent of the Senate. | 21 | | (2) For their initial appointments, 12 arbitrators | 22 | | shall be appointed to terms expiring July 1, 2012; 12 | 23 | | arbitrators shall be appointed to terms expiring July 1, | 24 | | 2013; and all additional arbitrators shall be appointed to | 25 | | terms expiring July 1, 2014. Thereafter, all arbitrators | 26 | | shall be appointed to 3-year terms. |
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| 1 | | Upon the expiration of a term, the Chairman shall evaluate | 2 | | the performance of the arbitrator and may recommend to the | 3 | | Governor that he or she be reappointed to a second or | 4 | | subsequent term by the Governor with the advice and consent of | 5 | | the Senate the full Commission . | 6 | | Each arbitrator appointed on or after the effective date of | 7 | | this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly and who has | 8 | | not previously served as an arbitrator for the Commission shall | 9 | | be required to be authorized to practice law in this State by | 10 | | the Supreme Court, and to maintain this authorization | 11 | | throughout his or her term of employment.
| 12 | | All arbitrators shall be subject to the provisions of the | 13 | | Personnel Code,
and the performance of all arbitrators shall be | 14 | | reviewed by the Chairman on
an annual basis. The changes made | 15 | | to this Section by this amendatory Act of the 97th General | 16 | | Assembly shall prevail over any conflict with the Personnel | 17 | | Code. The Chairman shall allow input from the Commissioners in
| 18 | | all such reviews.
| 19 | | The Commission shall assign no fewer than 3 arbitrators to | 20 | | each hearing site. The Commission shall establish a procedure | 21 | | to ensure that the arbitrators assigned to each hearing site | 22 | | are assigned cases on a random basis. No arbitrator shall hear | 23 | | cases in any county, other than Cook County, for more than 2 | 24 | | years in each 3-year term. | 25 | | The Secretary and each arbitrator shall receive a per annum | 26 | | salary of
$4,000 less than the per annum salary of members of |
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| 1 | | The
Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission as
provided in | 2 | | Section 13 of this Act, payable in equal monthly installments.
| 3 | | The members of the Commission, Arbitrators and other | 4 | | employees whose
duties require them to travel, shall have | 5 | | reimbursed to them their
actual traveling expenses and | 6 | | disbursements made or incurred by them in
the discharge of | 7 | | their official duties while away from their place of
residence | 8 | | in the performance of their duties.
| 9 | | The Commission shall provide itself with a seal for the
| 10 | | authentication of its orders, awards and proceedings upon which | 11 | | shall be
inscribed the name of the Commission and the words | 12 | | "Illinois--Seal".
| 13 | | The Secretary or Assistant Secretary, under the direction | 14 | | of the
Commission, shall have charge and custody of the seal of | 15 | | the Commission
and also have charge and custody of all records, | 16 | | files, orders,
proceedings, decisions, awards and other | 17 | | documents on file with the
Commission. He shall furnish | 18 | | certified copies, under the seal of the
Commission, of any such | 19 | | records, files, orders, proceedings, decisions,
awards and | 20 | | other documents on file with the Commission as may be
required. | 21 | | Certified copies so furnished by the Secretary or Assistant
| 22 | | Secretary shall be received in evidence before the Commission | 23 | | or any
Arbitrator thereof, and in all courts, provided that the | 24 | | original of
such certified copy is otherwise competent and | 25 | | admissible in evidence.
The Secretary or Assistant Secretary | 26 | | shall perform such other duties as
may be prescribed from time |
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| 1 | | to time by the Commission.
| 2 | | (Source: P.A. 97-18, eff. 6-28-11.)".
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