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91_SB1865
LRB9112944REdv
1 AN ACT concerning assistance to senior citizens.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 5. The Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons
5 Property Tax Relief and Pharmaceutical Assistance Act is
6 amended by changing Section 4 as follows:
7 (320 ILCS 25/4) (from Ch. 67 1/2, par. 404)
8 Sec. 4. Amount of Grant.
9 (a) In general. Any individual 65 years or older or any
10 individual who will become 65 years old during the calendar
11 year in which a claim is filed, and any surviving spouse of
12 such a claimant, who at the time of death received or was
13 entitled to receive a grant pursuant to this Section, which
14 surviving spouse will become 65 years of age within the 24
15 months immediately following the death of such claimant and
16 which surviving spouse but for his or her age is otherwise
17 qualified to receive a grant pursuant to this Section, and
18 any disabled person whose annual household income is less
19 than $14,000 for grant years before the 1998 grant year and
20 less than $16,000 for the 1998 grant year and thereafter and
21 whose household is liable for payment of property taxes
22 accrued or has paid rent constituting property taxes accrued
23 and is domiciled in this State at the time he files his claim
24 is entitled to claim a grant under this Act. With respect to
25 claims filed by individuals who will become 65 years old
26 during the calendar year in which a claim is filed, the
27 amount of any grant to which that household is entitled shall
28 be an amount equal to 1/12 of the amount to which the
29 claimant would otherwise be entitled as provided in this
30 Section, multiplied by the number of months in which the
31 claimant was 65 in the calendar year in which the claim is
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1 filed.
2 (b) Limitation. Except as otherwise provided in
3 subsections (a) and (f) of this Section, the maximum amount
4 of grant which a claimant is entitled to claim is the amount
5 by which the property taxes accrued which were paid or
6 payable during the last preceding tax year or rent
7 constituting property taxes accrued upon the claimant's
8 residence for the last preceding taxable year exceeds 3 1/2%
9 of the claimant's household income for that year but in no
10 event is the grant to exceed (i) $700 less 4.5% of household
11 income for that year for those with a household income of
12 $14,000 or less or (ii) $70 if household income for that year
13 is more than $14,000 but less than $16,000.
14 (c) Public aid recipients. If household income in one
15 or more months during a year includes cash assistance in
16 excess of $55 per month from the Department of Public Aid or
17 the Department of Human Services (acting as successor to the
18 Department of Public Aid under the Department of Human
19 Services Act) which was determined under regulations of that
20 Department on a measure of need that included an allowance
21 for actual rent or property taxes paid by the recipient of
22 that assistance, the amount of grant to which that household
23 is entitled, except as otherwise provided in subsection (a),
24 shall be the product of (1) the maximum amount computed as
25 specified in subsection (b) of this Section and (2) the ratio
26 of the number of months in which household income did not
27 include such cash assistance over $55 to the number twelve.
28 If household income did not include such cash assistance over
29 $55 for any months during the year, the amount of the grant
30 to which the household is entitled shall be the maximum
31 amount computed as specified in subsection (b) of this
32 Section. For purposes of this paragraph (c), "cash
33 assistance" does not include any amount received under the
34 federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.
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1 (d) Joint ownership. If title to the residence is held
2 jointly by the claimant with a person who is not a member of
3 his household, the amount of property taxes accrued used in
4 computing the amount of grant to which he is entitled shall
5 be the same percentage of property taxes accrued as is the
6 percentage of ownership held by the claimant in the
7 residence.
8 (e) More than one residence. If a claimant has occupied
9 more than one residence in the taxable year, he may claim
10 only one residence for any part of a month. In the case of
11 property taxes accrued, he shall pro rate 1/12 of the total
12 property taxes accrued on his residence to each month that he
13 owned and occupied that residence; and, in the case of rent
14 constituting property taxes accrued, shall pro rate each
15 month's rent payments to the residence actually occupied
16 during that month.
17 (f) There is hereby established a program of
18 pharmaceutical assistance to the aged and disabled which
19 shall be administered by the Department in accordance with
20 this Act, to consist of payments to authorized pharmacies, on
21 behalf of beneficiaries of the program, for the reasonable
22 costs of covered prescription drugs. Each beneficiary who
23 pays $40 for an identification card shall pay the first $15
24 of prescription costs each month. Each beneficiary who pays
25 $80 for an identification card shall pay the first $25 of
26 prescription costs each month. In addition, after a
27 beneficiary receives $800 in benefits during a State fiscal
28 year, that beneficiary shall also be charged 20% of the cost
29 of each prescription for which payments are made by the
30 program during the remainder of the fiscal year. To become a
31 beneficiary under this program a person must be: (1) (i) be
32 65 years or older, or (ii) be the surviving spouse of such a
33 claimant, who at the time of death received or was entitled
34 to receive benefits pursuant to this subsection, which
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1 surviving spouse will become 65 years of age within the 24
2 months immediately following the death of such claimant and
3 which surviving spouse but for his or her age is otherwise
4 qualified to receive benefits pursuant to this subsection, or
5 (iii) be disabled, and (2) is domiciled in this State at the
6 time he files his or her claim, and (3) has a maximum
7 household income of less than $14,000 for grant years before
8 the 1998 grant year and less than $16,000 for the 1998 grant
9 year and thereafter. In addition, each eligible person must
10 (1) obtain an identification card from the Department, (2) at
11 the time the card is obtained, sign a statement assigning to
12 the State of Illinois benefits which may be otherwise claimed
13 under any private insurance plans, (3) present the
14 identification card to the dispensing pharmacist.
15 Any person otherwise eligible for pharmaceutical
16 assistance under this Act whose covered drugs are covered by
17 any public program for assistance in purchasing any covered
18 prescription drugs shall be ineligible for assistance under
19 this Act to the extent such costs are covered by such other
20 plan.
21 The fee to be charged by the Department for the
22 identification card shall be equal to $40 for persons below
23 the official poverty line as defined by the United States
24 Department of Health and Human Services and $80 for all other
25 persons.
26 In the event that 2 or more persons are eligible for any
27 benefit under this Act, and are members of the same
28 household, (1) each such person shall be entitled to
29 participate in the pharmaceutical assistance program,
30 provided that he or she meets all other requirements imposed
31 by this subsection and (2) each participating household
32 member contributes the fee required for that person by the
33 preceding paragraph for the purpose of obtaining an
34 identification card. Persons eligible for any benefit under
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1 this Act due to become 65 in calendar year 1984 or any
2 subsequent calendar year in which a claim is filed are
3 excluded from the benefit prescribed in this subsection (f)
4 for the calendar year in which they become 65.
5 (Source: P.A. 90-650, eff. 7-27-98; 91-357, eff. 7-29-99.)