Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of Public Act 095-0322
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Public Act 095-0322


 

Public Act 0322 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY



 


 
Public Act 095-0322
 
SB0047 Enrolled LRB095 04133 DRJ 24171 b

    AN ACT concerning public aid.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Illinois Public Aid Code is amended by
changing Sections 9A-11 and 12-4.33 as follows:
 
    (305 ILCS 5/9A-11)  (from Ch. 23, par. 9A-11)
    Sec. 9A-11. Child Care.
    (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
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.
    (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:
        (1) recipients of TANF under Article IV participating
    in work and training activities as specified in the
    personal plan for employment and self-sufficiency;
        (2) families transitioning from TANF to work;
        (3) families at risk of becoming recipients of TANF;
        (4) families with special needs as defined by rule; and
        (5) working families with very low incomes as defined
    by rule.
    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.
    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
assistance. The specified threshold must be no less than 50% of
the then-current State median income for each family size.
    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.
    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
program.
    Nothing in this Section shall be construed as conferring
entitlement status to eligible families.
    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
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.
    The Illinois Department may contract with other State
agencies or child care organizations for the administration of
child care services.
    (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
Fire Marshal and is provided in any of the following:
        (1) a child care center which is licensed or exempt
    from licensure pursuant to Section 2.09 of the Child Care
    Act of 1969;
        (2) a licensed child care home or home exempt from
    licensing;
        (3) a licensed group child care home;
        (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.
    (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.
    (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
in the methodology for counting family income.
    (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.
    (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:
        (1) arranging the child care through eligible
    providers by use of purchase of service contracts or
    vouchers;
        (2) arranging with other agencies and community
    volunteer groups for non-reimbursed child care;
        (3) (blank); or
        (4) adopting such other arrangements as the Department
    determines appropriate.
    (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.
    (g) Families eligible for assistance under this Section
shall be given the following options:
        (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
        (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.
    The Department may identify particular priority
    populations for whom they may request special
    consideration by a provider with purchase of service
    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.
(Source: P.A. 93-361, eff. 9-1-03; 93-1062, eff. 12-23-04;
94-320, eff. 1-1-06.)
 
    (305 ILCS 5/12-4.33)
    Sec. 12-4.33. Welfare reform research and accountability.
    (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.
    (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:
        (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.
        (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.
    (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).
    (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
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.
    (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
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
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
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:
        (1) Demographic breakdowns including, but not limited
    to, race, gender, and number of children in the household
    at the beginning of Department services.
        (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
    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.
        (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.
        (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.
        (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.
        (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
    employment, earnings, job tenure, and cycling between
    welfare and work.
        (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
    day of work, union status, and the relationships of such
    factors to earnings, job tenure, and cycling between
    welfare and work.
        (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
    relationships of these factors to re-employment, earnings,
    job tenure on the new job, and cycling between welfare and
    work.
        (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.
        (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.
        (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
    sanctions are not imposed or are ended, such as cooperation
    achieved or good cause established.
        (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
    limit, types of exceptions granted to the 60-month limit,
    and numbers of cases within each type of exception.
        (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.
    (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
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
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.
These reports shall be available to the public upon request.
(Source: P.A. 90-74, eff. 7-8-97.)
 
    (305 ILCS 5/3-2.5 rep.)
    (305 ILCS 5/4-17 rep.)
    (305 ILCS 5/9-13 rep.)
    (305 ILCS 5/9-4 rep.)
    (305 ILCS 5/9A-14 rep.)
    Section 10. The Illinois Public Aid Code is amended by
repealing Sections 3-2.5, 4-17, 9-13, 9-4, and 9A-14.
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January
1, 2008.

Effective Date: 1/1/2008