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Public Act 095-0322 |
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AN ACT concerning public aid.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Illinois Public Aid Code is amended by | ||||
changing Sections 9A-11 and 12-4.33 as follows:
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(305 ILCS 5/9A-11) (from Ch. 23, par. 9A-11)
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Sec. 9A-11. Child Care.
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(a) The General Assembly recognizes that families with | ||||
children need child
care in order to work. Child care is | ||||
expensive and families with low incomes,
including those who | ||||
are transitioning from welfare to work, often struggle to
pay | ||||
the costs of day care. The
General Assembly understands the | ||||
importance of helping low income working
families become and | ||||
remain self-sufficient. The General Assembly also believes
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that it is the responsibility of families to share in the costs | ||||
of child care.
It is also the preference of the General | ||||
Assembly that all working poor
families should be treated | ||||
equally, regardless of their welfare status.
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(b) To the extent resources permit, the Illinois Department | ||||
shall provide
child care services to parents or other relatives | ||||
as defined by rule who are
working or participating in | ||||
employment or Department approved
education or training | ||||
programs. At a minimum, the Illinois Department shall
cover the |
following categories of families:
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(1) recipients of TANF under Article IV participating | ||
in work and training
activities as specified in the | ||
personal plan for employment and
self-sufficiency;
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(2) families transitioning from TANF to work;
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(3) families at risk of becoming recipients of TANF;
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(4) families with special needs as defined by rule; and
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(5) working families with very low incomes as defined | ||
by rule.
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The Department shall specify by rule the conditions of | ||
eligibility, the
application process, and the types, amounts, | ||
and duration of services.
Eligibility for
child care benefits | ||
and the amount of child care provided may vary based on
family | ||
size, income,
and other factors as specified by rule.
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In determining income eligibility for child care benefits, | ||
the Department
annually, at the beginning of each fiscal year, | ||
shall
establish, by rule, one income threshold for each family | ||
size, in relation to
percentage of State median income for a | ||
family of that size, that makes
families with incomes below the | ||
specified threshold eligible for assistance
and families with | ||
incomes above the specified threshold ineligible for
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assistance. The specified threshold must be no less than 50% of | ||
the
then-current State median income for each family size.
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In determining eligibility for
assistance, the Department | ||
shall not give preference to any category of
recipients
or give | ||
preference to individuals based on their receipt of benefits |
under this
Code.
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The Department shall allocate $7,500,000 annually for a | ||
test program for
families who are income-eligible for child | ||
care assistance, who
are not recipients of TANF under Article | ||
IV, and who need child care assistance
to participate in | ||
education and training activities. The
Department shall | ||
specify by rule the conditions of eligibility for this test
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program.
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Nothing in this Section shall be
construed as conferring | ||
entitlement status to eligible families.
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The Illinois
Department is authorized to lower income | ||
eligibility ceilings, raise parent
co-payments, create waiting | ||
lists, or take such other actions during a fiscal
year as are | ||
necessary to ensure that child care benefits paid under this
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Article do not exceed the amounts appropriated for those child | ||
care benefits.
These changes may be accomplished by emergency | ||
rule under Section 5-45 of the
Illinois Administrative | ||
Procedure Act, except that the limitation on the number
of | ||
emergency rules that may be adopted in a 24-month period shall | ||
not apply.
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The Illinois Department may contract with other State | ||
agencies or child care
organizations for the administration of | ||
child care services.
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(c) Payment shall be made for child care that otherwise | ||
meets the
requirements of this Section and applicable standards | ||
of State and local
law and regulation, including any |
requirements the Illinois Department
promulgates by rule in | ||
addition to the licensure
requirements
promulgated by the | ||
Department of Children and Family Services and Fire
Prevention | ||
and Safety requirements promulgated by the Office of the State
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Fire Marshal and is provided in any of the following:
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(1) a child care center which is licensed or exempt | ||
from licensure
pursuant to Section 2.09 of the Child Care | ||
Act of 1969;
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(2) a licensed child care home or home exempt from | ||
licensing;
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(3) a licensed group child care home;
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(4) other types of child care, including child care | ||
provided
by relatives or persons living in the same home as | ||
the child, as determined by
the Illinois Department by | ||
rule.
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(b-5) Solely for the purposes of coverage under the | ||
Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, child and day care home | ||
providers, including licensed and license exempt, | ||
participating in the Department's child care assistance | ||
program shall be considered to be public employees and the | ||
State of Illinois shall be considered to be their employer as | ||
of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th | ||
General Assembly, but not before. The State shall engage in | ||
collective bargaining with an exclusive representative of | ||
child and day care home providers participating in the child | ||
care assistance program concerning their terms and conditions |
of employment that are within the State's control. Nothing in | ||
this subsection shall be understood to limit the right of | ||
families receiving services defined in this Section to select | ||
child and day care home providers or supervise them within the | ||
limits of this Section. The State shall not be considered to be | ||
the employer of child and day care home providers for any | ||
purposes not specifically provided in this amendatory Act of | ||
the 94th General Assembly, including but not limited to, | ||
purposes of vicarious liability in tort and purposes of | ||
statutory retirement or health insurance benefits. Child and | ||
day care home providers shall not be covered by the State | ||
Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971. | ||
In according child and day care home providers and their | ||
selected representative rights under the Illinois Public Labor | ||
Relations Act, the State intends that the State action | ||
exemption to application of federal and State antitrust laws be | ||
fully available to the extent that their activities are | ||
authorized by this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly.
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(d) The Illinois Department shall, by rule, require | ||
co-payments for
child care services by any parent, including | ||
parents whose only income is from
assistance under this Code. | ||
The co-payment shall be assessed based on a
sliding scale based | ||
on family income, family size, and the number of
children in | ||
care. Co-payments shall not be increased due solely to a change
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in the methodology for counting family income.
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(e) (Blank).
The Illinois Department shall conduct a market |
rate survey based on
the cost of care and other relevant | ||
factors which shall be completed by July 1,
1998.
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(f) The Illinois Department shall, by rule, set rates to be | ||
paid for the
various types of child care. Child care may be | ||
provided through one of the
following methods:
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(1) arranging the child care through eligible | ||
providers by use of
purchase of service contracts or | ||
vouchers;
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(2) arranging with other agencies and community | ||
volunteer groups for
non-reimbursed child care;
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(3) (blank); or
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(4) adopting such other arrangements as the Department | ||
determines
appropriate.
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(f-5) (Blank).
The Illinois Department, in consultation | ||
with its Child Care and Development Advisory Council, shall | ||
develop a comprehensive plan to revise the State's rates for | ||
the various types of child care. The plan shall be completed no | ||
later than January 1, 2005 and shall include: | ||
(1) Base reimbursement rates that are adequate to | ||
provide children receiving child care services from | ||
the Department equal access to quality child care, | ||
utilizing data from the most current market rate | ||
survey. | ||
(2) A tiered reimbursement rate system that | ||
financially rewards providers of child care services | ||
that meet defined benchmarks of higher-quality care. |
(3) Consideration of revisions to existing county | ||
groupings and age classifications, utilizing data from | ||
the most current market rate survey. | ||
(4) Consideration of special rates for certain | ||
types of care such as caring for a child with a | ||
disability.
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(g) Families eligible for assistance under this Section | ||
shall be given the
following options:
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(1) receiving a child care certificate issued by the | ||
Department or a
subcontractor of the Department that may be | ||
used by the parents as payment for
child care and | ||
development services only; or
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(2) if space is available, enrolling the child with a | ||
child care provider
that has a purchase of service contract | ||
with the Department or a subcontractor
of the Department | ||
for the provision of child care and development services.
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The Department may identify particular priority | ||
populations for whom they may
request special | ||
consideration by a provider with purchase of service
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contracts, provided that the providers shall be permitted | ||
to maintain a balance
of clients in terms of household | ||
incomes and families and children with special
needs, as | ||
defined by rule.
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(Source: P.A. 93-361, eff. 9-1-03; 93-1062, eff. 12-23-04; | ||
94-320, eff. 1-1-06.)
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(305 ILCS 5/12-4.33)
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Sec. 12-4.33. Welfare reform research and accountability.
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(a) The Illinois Department shall collect and report
upon | ||
all data in connection with federally funded or assisted | ||
welfare programs
as federal law may require, including, but not | ||
limited to, Section 411 of the
Personal Responsibility and Work | ||
Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 and its
implementing | ||
regulations and any amendments thereto as may from time to time | ||
be
enacted.
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(b) In addition to and on the same schedule as the data | ||
collection required
by federal law and subsection (a), the | ||
Department shall collect and report on
further information with | ||
respect to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
("TANF") | ||
program, as follows:
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(1) With respect to denials of applications for | ||
benefits, all of the same
information about the family | ||
required under the federal law, plus the specific
reason or | ||
reasons for denial of the application.
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(2) With respect to all terminations of benefits, all | ||
of the same
information as required under the federal law, | ||
plus the specific reason
or reasons for the termination.
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(c) The Department shall collect all of the same data as | ||
set forth in
subsections (a) and (b), and report it on the same | ||
schedule, with respect to
all cash assistance benefits provided | ||
to families that are not funded from the
TANF program
federal | ||
block grant or are not otherwise required to be included in the |
data
collection and reporting in subsections (a) and (b).
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(d) Whether or not reports under this Section must be | ||
submitted to the
federal government, they shall be considered | ||
public and they shall be promptly
made available to
the public | ||
at the end of
each fiscal year, free of charge upon request. | ||
The data underlying the reports
shall be made available to
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academic institutions and public policy organizations
involved | ||
in the study of welfare issues or programs
and redacted to | ||
conform with applicable privacy
laws. The cost shall be no more | ||
than that incurred by the Department in
assembling and | ||
delivering the data.
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(e) (Blank).
The Department shall, in addition to the | ||
foregoing data collection and
reporting activities, seek a | ||
university to conduct, at no cost to the
Department, a | ||
longitudinal study of the implementation of TANF and related
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welfare reforms. The study shall select subgroups representing | ||
important
sectors of the
assistance population, including type | ||
of area of residence (city, suburban,
small town, rural), | ||
English proficiency, level of education, literacy, work
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experience, number of adults in the home, number of children in | ||
the home, teen
parentage, parents before and after the age of | ||
18, and other such subgroups.
For each subgroup, the study | ||
shall assemble a statistically valid sample of
cases entering | ||
the TANF program at least 6 months after its implementation | ||
date
and prior to July 1, 1998. The study shall continue until | ||
December 31, 2004.
The Department shall report to the General |
Assembly and the Governor by March 1
of each year, beginning | ||
March 1, 1999, the interim findings of the
study with respect | ||
to each subgroup, and by March 1, 2005, the final findings
with | ||
respect to each subgroup.
The reports shall be available to the | ||
public upon request.
No later than November 1, 1997, the
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Department, in consultation with an advisory panel of | ||
specialists in welfare
policy, social science, and other | ||
relevant fields shall devise the study and
identify the factors | ||
to be studied. The study shall, however, at least include
the | ||
following features:
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(1) Demographic breakdowns including, but not limited | ||
to, race, gender,
and
number of children in the household | ||
at the beginning of Department
services.
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(2) The Department shall obtain permission to conduct | ||
the study from the
subjects of the study and guarantee | ||
their privacy according to the privacy
laws. To facilitate | ||
this permission, the study may be designed to refer to
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subjects by pseudonyms or codes and shall in any event | ||
guarantee anonymity to
the subjects without limiting | ||
access by outsiders to the data (other than
identities) | ||
generated by the study.
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(3) The subjects of the study shall be followed after | ||
denial or
termination of assistance, to the extent | ||
feasible. The evaluator shall
attempt to maintain personal | ||
contact with the subjects of the study, and employ
such | ||
methods as meetings, telephone contacts, written surveys, |
and computer
matches with other data bases to accomplish | ||
this purpose.
The intent of this feature of the study is to | ||
discover the paths
people take after leaving welfare and | ||
the patterns of return to welfare,
including the factors | ||
that may influence
these paths and patterns.
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(4) The study shall examine the influence of various | ||
employability,
education, and training programs upon | ||
employment, earnings, job tenure, and
cycling between | ||
welfare and work.
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(5) The study shall examine the influence of various | ||
supportive
services such as child care (including type and | ||
cost), transportation, and
payment of initial employment | ||
expenses upon employment, earnings, job tenure,
and | ||
cycling between welfare and work.
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(6) The study shall examine the frequency of unplanned | ||
occurrences in
subjects' lives, such as illness or injury, | ||
family member's illness
or injury, car breakdown, strikes, | ||
natural disasters, evictions, loss of other
sources of | ||
income, domestic violence, and crime, and their impact upon
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employment, earnings, job tenure, and cycling between | ||
welfare and work.
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(7) The study shall examine the wages and other | ||
compensation, including
health benefits and what they cost | ||
the employee, received by subjects who
obtain employment, | ||
the type and characteristics of jobs, the hours and time of
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day of work, union status, and the relationships of such |
factors to earnings,
job tenure, and cycling between | ||
welfare and work.
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(8) The study shall examine the reasons for subjects' | ||
job loss, the
availability of Unemployment Insurance, the | ||
reasons for a subject's
return to welfare, programs or | ||
services utilized by subjects in the search for
another | ||
job, the characteristics of the subjects' next job, and the
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relationships of these factors to re-employment, earnings, | ||
job tenure on the
new job, and cycling between welfare and | ||
work.
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(9) The study shall examine the impact of mandatory | ||
work requirements,
including the types of work activities | ||
to which the subjects were assigned, and
the links between | ||
the requirements and the activities and
sanctions, | ||
employment, earnings, job tenure, and cycling between | ||
welfare and
work.
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(10) The study shall identify all sources and amounts | ||
of reported
household non-wage income and examine the | ||
influence of the sources and amounts
of non-wage | ||
non-welfare income on employment, earnings, job tenure, | ||
and cycling
between welfare and work.
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(11) The study shall examine sanctions, including | ||
child support
enforcement and paternity establishment | ||
sanctions, the reasons sanctions are
threatened, the | ||
number threatened, the number imposed, and the reasons
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sanctions are not imposed or are ended, such as cooperation |
achieved or good
cause established.
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(12) The study shall track the subjects' usage of TANF | ||
benefits over
the course of the lifetime 60-month limit of | ||
TANF eligibility, including
patterns of usage, | ||
relationships between consecutive usage of large numbers | ||
of
months and other factors, status of all study subjects | ||
with respect to the time
limit as of each report, | ||
characteristics of subjects exhausting the eligibility
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limit, types of exceptions granted to the 60-month limit, | ||
and numbers of cases
within each type of exception.
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(13) The study shall track subjects' participation in | ||
other public
systems, including the public schools, the | ||
child welfare system, the criminal
justice system, | ||
homeless and food services, and others and attempt to | ||
identify
the positive or negative ripple effects in these | ||
systems of welfare policies,
systems, and procedures.
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(f) (Blank).
The Department shall cooperate in any | ||
appropriate study by an
independent
expert
of the impact upon | ||
Illinois resident non-citizens of the denial or termination
of | ||
assistance under the Supplemental Security Income, Food | ||
Stamps, TANF,
Medicaid, and Title XX social services programs | ||
pursuant to the changes enacted
in the federal Personal | ||
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
of | ||
1996. The purpose of such a study must be to examine the | ||
immediate and
long-term
effects on this population and on the | ||
State of the denial or termination of
these forms of |
assistance, including the impact on the individuals, the
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alternate means they find to obtain support and care, and the | ||
impact on
state and local spending and human services delivery | ||
systems. An appropriate
study shall
select a statistically | ||
valid sample of persons denied or terminated from each
type of | ||
benefits and attempt to track them until December 31, 2000. Any
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reports from the study received by the Department shall be made | ||
available to
the General Assembly and the Governor upon | ||
request, and a final report shall be
submitted upon completion.
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These reports shall be available to the public upon request.
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(Source: P.A. 90-74, eff. 7-8-97.)
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(305 ILCS 5/3-2.5 rep.)
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(305 ILCS 5/4-17 rep.)
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(305 ILCS 5/9-13 rep.)
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(305 ILCS 5/9-4 rep.)
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(305 ILCS 5/9A-14 rep.)
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Section 10. The Illinois Public Aid Code is amended by | ||
repealing Sections 3-2.5, 4-17, 9-13, 9-4, and 9A-14.
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Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January | ||
1, 2008.
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