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91_SB1685
LRB9112943SMdv
1 AN ACT to amend the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons
2 Property Tax Relief and Pharmaceutical Assistance Act by
3 changing Section 4.
4 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
5 represented in the General Assembly:
6 Section 5. The Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons
7 Property Tax Relief and Pharmaceutical Assistance Act is
8 amended by changing Section 4 as follows:
9 (320 ILCS 25/4) (from Ch. 67 1/2, par. 404)
10 Sec. 4. Amount of Grant.
11 (a) In general. Any individual 65 years or older or any
12 individual who will become 65 years old during the calendar
13 year in which a claim is filed, and any surviving spouse of
14 such a claimant, who at the time of death received or was
15 entitled to receive a grant pursuant to this Section, which
16 surviving spouse will become 65 years of age within the 24
17 months immediately following the death of such claimant and
18 which surviving spouse but for his or her age is otherwise
19 qualified to receive a grant pursuant to this Section, and
20 any disabled person whose annual household income is less
21 than $14,000 for grant years before the 1998 grant year and
22 less than $16,000 for the 1998 and 1999 grant years, and less
23 than $25,000 for a one-person household and less than $30,000
24 for a 2-person or more household for the 2000 grant year and
25 thereafter and whose household is liable for payment of
26 property taxes accrued or has paid rent constituting property
27 taxes accrued and is domiciled in this State at the time he
28 files his claim is entitled to claim a grant under this Act.
29 With respect to claims filed by individuals who will become
30 65 years old during the calendar year in which a claim is
31 filed, the amount of any grant to which that household is
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1 entitled shall be an amount equal to 1/12 of the amount to
2 which the claimant would otherwise be entitled as provided in
3 this Section, multiplied by the number of months in which the
4 claimant was 65 in the calendar year in which the claim is
5 filed.
6 (b) Limitation. Except as otherwise provided in
7 subsections (a) and (f) of this Section, the maximum amount
8 of grant which a claimant is entitled to claim is the amount
9 by which the property taxes accrued which were paid or
10 payable during the last preceding tax year or rent
11 constituting property taxes accrued upon the claimant's
12 residence for the last preceding taxable year exceeds 3 1/2%
13 of the claimant's household income for that year but in no
14 event is the grant to exceed (i) $700 less 4.5% of household
15 income for that year for those with a household income of
16 $14,000 or less or (ii) $70 if household income for that year
17 is more than $14,000 but less than $16,000.
18 (c) Public aid recipients. If household income in one
19 or more months during a year includes cash assistance in
20 excess of $55 per month from the Department of Public Aid or
21 the Department of Human Services (acting as successor to the
22 Department of Public Aid under the Department of Human
23 Services Act) which was determined under regulations of that
24 Department on a measure of need that included an allowance
25 for actual rent or property taxes paid by the recipient of
26 that assistance, the amount of grant to which that household
27 is entitled, except as otherwise provided in subsection (a),
28 shall be the product of (1) the maximum amount computed as
29 specified in subsection (b) of this Section and (2) the ratio
30 of the number of months in which household income did not
31 include such cash assistance over $55 to the number twelve.
32 If household income did not include such cash assistance over
33 $55 for any months during the year, the amount of the grant
34 to which the household is entitled shall be the maximum
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1 amount computed as specified in subsection (b) of this
2 Section. For purposes of this paragraph (c), "cash
3 assistance" does not include any amount received under the
4 federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.
5 (d) Joint ownership. If title to the residence is held
6 jointly by the claimant with a person who is not a member of
7 his household, the amount of property taxes accrued used in
8 computing the amount of grant to which he is entitled shall
9 be the same percentage of property taxes accrued as is the
10 percentage of ownership held by the claimant in the
11 residence.
12 (e) More than one residence. If a claimant has occupied
13 more than one residence in the taxable year, he may claim
14 only one residence for any part of a month. In the case of
15 property taxes accrued, he shall pro rate 1/12 of the total
16 property taxes accrued on his residence to each month that he
17 owned and occupied that residence; and, in the case of rent
18 constituting property taxes accrued, shall pro rate each
19 month's rent payments to the residence actually occupied
20 during that month.
21 (f) There is hereby established a program of
22 pharmaceutical assistance to the aged and disabled which
23 shall be administered by the Department in accordance with
24 this Act, to consist of payments to authorized pharmacies, on
25 behalf of beneficiaries of the program, for the reasonable
26 costs of covered prescription drugs. Each beneficiary who
27 pays $40 for an identification card shall pay the first $15
28 of prescription costs each month. Each beneficiary who pays
29 $80 for an identification card shall pay the first $25 of
30 prescription costs each month. In addition, after a
31 beneficiary receives $800 in benefits during a State fiscal
32 year, that beneficiary shall also be charged 20% of the cost
33 of each prescription for which payments are made by the
34 program during the remainder of the fiscal year. To become a
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1 beneficiary under this program a person must be: (1) (i) 65
2 years or older, or (ii) the surviving spouse of such a
3 claimant, who at the time of death received or was entitled
4 to receive benefits pursuant to this subsection, which
5 surviving spouse will become 65 years of age within the 24
6 months immediately following the death of such claimant and
7 which surviving spouse but for his or her age is otherwise
8 qualified to receive benefits pursuant to this subsection, or
9 (iii) disabled, and (2) is domiciled in this State at the
10 time he files his or her claim, and (3) has a maximum
11 household income of less than $14,000 for grant years before
12 the 1998 grant year and less than $16,000 for the 1998 and
13 1999 grant years, and less than $25,000 for a one-person
14 household and less than $30,000 for a 2-person or more
15 household for the 2000 grant year and thereafter. In
16 addition, each eligible person must (1) obtain an
17 identification card from the Department, (2) at the time the
18 card is obtained, sign a statement assigning to the State of
19 Illinois benefits which may be otherwise claimed under any
20 private insurance plans, (3) present the identification card
21 to the dispensing pharmacist.
22 Any person otherwise eligible for pharmaceutical
23 assistance under this Act whose covered drugs are covered by
24 any public program for assistance in purchasing any covered
25 prescription drugs shall be ineligible for assistance under
26 this Act to the extent such costs are covered by such other
27 plan.
28 The fee to be charged by the Department for the
29 identification card shall be equal to $40 for persons below
30 the official poverty line as defined by the United States
31 Department of Health and Human Services and $80 for all other
32 persons.
33 In the event that 2 or more persons are eligible for any
34 benefit under this Act, and are members of the same
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1 household, (1) each such person shall be entitled to
2 participate in the pharmaceutical assistance program,
3 provided that he or she meets all other requirements imposed
4 by this subsection and (2) each participating household
5 member contributes the fee required for that person by the
6 preceding paragraph for the purpose of obtaining an
7 identification card. Persons eligible for any benefit under
8 this Act due to become 65 in calendar year 1984 or any
9 subsequent calendar year in which a claim is filed are
10 excluded from the benefit prescribed in this subsection (f)
11 for the calendar year in which they become 65.
12 (Source: P.A. 90-650, eff. 7-27-98; 91-357, eff. 7-29-99.)
13 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
14 becoming law.