Public Act 103-0695
 
HB5218 EnrolledLRB103 39106 CES 69246 b

    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Nursing Home Care Act is amended by 
changing Section 3-206 as follows:
 
    (210 ILCS 45/3-206)  (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 4153-206)
    Sec. 3-206. The Department shall prescribe a curriculum 
for training nursing assistants, habilitation aides, and child 
care aides.
    (a) No person, except a volunteer who receives no 
compensation from a facility and is not included for the 
purpose of meeting any staffing requirements set forth by the 
Department, shall act as a nursing assistant, habilitation 
aide, or child care aide in a facility, nor shall any person, 
under any other title, not licensed, certified, or registered 
to render medical care by the Department of Financial and 
Professional Regulation, assist with the personal, medical, or 
nursing care of residents in a facility, unless such person 
meets the following requirements:
        (1) Be at least 16 years of age, of temperate habits 
    and good moral character, honest, reliable and 
    trustworthy.
        (2) Be able to speak and understand the English 
    language or a language understood by a substantial 
    percentage of the facility's residents.
        (3) Provide evidence of employment or occupation, if 
    any, and residence for 2 years prior to his present 
    employment.
        (4) Have completed at least 8 years of grade school or 
    provide proof of equivalent knowledge.
        (5) Begin a current course of training for nursing 
    assistants, habilitation aides, or child care aides, 
    approved by the Department, within 45 days of initial 
    employment in the capacity of a nursing assistant, 
    habilitation aide, or child care aide at any facility. 
    Such courses of training shall be successfully completed 
    within 120 days of initial employment in the capacity of 
    nursing assistant, habilitation aide, or child care aide 
    at a facility. Nursing assistants, habilitation aides, and 
    child care aides who are enrolled in approved courses in 
    community colleges or other educational institutions on a 
    term, semester, or trimester basis, shall be exempt from 
    the 120-day completion time limit. During a statewide 
    public health emergency, as defined in the Illinois 
    Emergency Management Agency Act, all nursing assistants, 
    habilitation aides, and child care aides shall, to the 
    extent feasible, complete the training. The Department 
    shall adopt rules for such courses of training. These 
    rules shall include procedures for facilities to carry on 
    an approved course of training within the facility. The 
    Department shall allow an individual to satisfy the 
    supervised clinical experience requirement for placement 
    on the Health Care Worker Registry under 77 Ill. Adm. Code 
    300.663 through supervised clinical experience at an 
    assisted living establishment licensed under the Assisted 
    Living and Shared Housing Act. The Department shall adopt 
    rules requiring that the Health Care Worker Registry 
    include information identifying where an individual on the 
    Health Care Worker Registry received his or her clinical 
    training.
        The Department may accept comparable training in lieu 
    of the 120-hour course for student nurses, foreign nurses, 
    military personnel, or employees of the Department of 
    Human Services.
        The Department shall accept on-the-job experience in 
    lieu of clinical training from any individual who 
    participated in the temporary nursing assistant program 
    during the COVID-19 pandemic before the end date of the 
    temporary nursing assistant program and left the program 
    in good standing, and the Department shall notify all 
    approved certified nurse assistant training programs in 
    the State of this requirement. The individual shall 
    receive one hour of credit for every hour employed as a 
    temporary nursing assistant, up to 40 total hours, and 
    shall be permitted 90 days after the end date of the 
    temporary nursing assistant program to enroll in an 
    approved certified nursing assistant training program and 
    240 days to successfully complete the certified nursing 
    assistant training program. Temporary nursing assistants 
    who enroll in a certified nursing assistant training 
    program within 90 days of the end of the temporary nursing 
    assistant program may continue to work as a nursing 
    assistant for up to 240 days after enrollment in the 
    certified nursing assistant training program. As used in 
    this Section, "temporary nursing assistant program" means 
    the program implemented by the Department of Public Health 
    by emergency rule, as listed in 44 Ill. Reg. 7936, 
    effective April 21, 2020. 
        The Department shall adopt rules that require the 
    certification exam for nursing assistants to be offered in 
    both English and Spanish. The Department shall not place 
    any restrictions on which candidates may take the exam in 
    Spanish instead of English, including, but not limited to, 
    any requirement to be employed by a facility prior to 
    testing or any requirement for a specified number of 
    facility residents to speak a specific language. 
        The facility shall develop and implement procedures, 
    which shall be approved by the Department, for an ongoing 
    review process, which shall take place within the 
    facility, for nursing assistants, habilitation aides, and 
    child care aides.
        At the time of each regularly scheduled licensure 
    survey, or at the time of a complaint investigation, the 
    Department may require any nursing assistant, habilitation 
    aide, or child care aide to demonstrate, either through 
    written examination or action, or both, sufficient 
    knowledge in all areas of required training. If such 
    knowledge is inadequate the Department shall require the 
    nursing assistant, habilitation aide, or child care aide 
    to complete inservice training and review in the facility 
    until the nursing assistant, habilitation aide, or child 
    care aide demonstrates to the Department, either through 
    written examination or action, or both, sufficient 
    knowledge in all areas of required training.
        (6) Be familiar with and have general skills related 
    to resident care.
    (a-0.5) An educational entity, other than a secondary 
school, conducting a nursing assistant, habilitation aide, or 
child care aide training program shall initiate a criminal 
history record check in accordance with the Health Care Worker 
Background Check Act prior to entry of an individual into the 
training program. A secondary school may initiate a criminal 
history record check in accordance with the Health Care Worker 
Background Check Act at any time during or after a training 
program.
    (a-1) Nursing assistants, habilitation aides, or child 
care aides seeking to be included on the Health Care Worker 
Registry under the Health Care Worker Background Check Act on 
or after January 1, 1996 must authorize the Department of 
Public Health or its designee to request a criminal history 
record check in accordance with the Health Care Worker 
Background Check Act and submit all necessary information. An 
individual may not newly be included on the Health Care Worker 
Registry unless a criminal history record check has been 
conducted with respect to the individual. 
    (b) Persons subject to this Section shall perform their 
duties under the supervision of a licensed nurse.
    (c) It is unlawful for any facility to employ any person in 
the capacity of nursing assistant, habilitation aide, or child 
care aide, or under any other title, not licensed by the State 
of Illinois to assist in the personal, medical, or nursing 
care of residents in such facility unless such person has 
complied with this Section.
    (d) Proof of compliance by each employee with the 
requirements set out in this Section shall be maintained for 
each such employee by each facility in the individual 
personnel folder of the employee. Proof of training shall be 
obtained only from the Health Care Worker Registry. 
    (e) Each facility shall obtain access to the Health Care 
Worker Registry's web application, maintain the employment and 
demographic information relating to each employee, and verify 
by the category and type of employment that each employee 
subject to this Section meets all the requirements of this 
Section.
    (f) Any facility that is operated under Section 3-803 
shall be exempt from the requirements of this Section.
    (g) Each skilled nursing and intermediate care facility 
that admits persons who are diagnosed as having Alzheimer's 
disease or related dementias shall require all nursing 
assistants, habilitation aides, or child care aides, who did 
not receive 12 hours of training in the care and treatment of 
such residents during the training required under paragraph 
(5) of subsection (a), to obtain 12 hours of in-house training 
in the care and treatment of such residents. If the facility 
does not provide the training in-house, the training shall be 
obtained from other facilities, community colleges or other 
educational institutions that have a recognized course for 
such training. The Department shall, by rule, establish a 
recognized course for such training. The Department's rules 
shall provide that such training may be conducted in-house at 
each facility subject to the requirements of this subsection, 
in which case such training shall be monitored by the 
Department.
    The Department's rules shall also provide for 
circumstances and procedures whereby any person who has 
received training that meets the requirements of this 
subsection shall not be required to undergo additional 
training if he or she is transferred to or obtains employment 
at a different facility or a facility other than a long-term 
care facility but remains continuously employed for pay as a 
nursing assistant, habilitation aide, or child care aide. 
Individuals who have performed no nursing or nursing-related 
services for a period of 24 consecutive months shall be listed 
as "inactive" and as such do not meet the requirements of this 
Section. Licensed sheltered care facilities shall be exempt 
from the requirements of this Section.
    An individual employed during the COVID-19 pandemic as a 
nursing assistant in accordance with any Executive Orders, 
emergency rules, or policy memoranda related to COVID-19 shall 
be assumed to meet competency standards and may continue to be 
employed as a certified nurse assistant when the pandemic ends 
and the Executive Orders or emergency rules lapse. Such 
individuals shall be listed on the Department's Health Care 
Worker Registry website as "active". 
(Source: P.A. 103-1, eff. 4-27-23.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 
becoming law.

Effective Date:  7/19/2024