101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
SB0242

 

Introduced 1/31/2019, by Sen. Andy Manar

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
20 ILCS 2405/3  from Ch. 23, par. 3434

    Amends the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act. Provides that a home care consumer in the Department of Human Services' Home Services Program has the right and discretion to: (1) select and hire a personal assistant or other individual provider of his or her choice; and (2) determine the number of hours per week his or her personal assistant or other individual provider may work. Provides that, subject to the Department's authority to approve the total monthly hours in a home care consumer's service plan, no limitation shall be imposed on the number of hours per week a personal assistant or other individual provider may work unless the following conditions are satisfied: (A) as an exception to any limit imposed by the Department, a personal assistant or other individual provider may work and be paid for all hours worked up to at least 66 hours per week if the personal assistant or other individual provider works for a home care consumer who: (i) receives services under a court-ordered service plan; (ii) has a Determination of Need score of 70 or above; or (iii) has an exceptional care rate; (B) the Department shall establish an exceptions and appeals process that permits a home care consumer to request an exception to any limit imposed by the Department up to a maximum of no less than 66 hours per week; and (C) if the home care consumer would face a serious risk of institutionalization, the Department shall work with the home care consumer to ensure that appropriate care in the community will be provided, whether through authorized overtime or another solution. Provides that nothing shall limit the Department's authority under any other statute to disqualify an individual from providing services in the Department's Home Services Program for reasons other than the number of weekly hours worked by the individual.


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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning State government.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities
5Act is amended by changing Section 3 as follows:
 
6    (20 ILCS 2405/3)  (from Ch. 23, par. 3434)
7    Sec. 3. Powers and duties. The Department shall have the
8powers and duties enumerated herein:
9        (a) To co-operate with the federal government in the
10    administration of the provisions of the federal
11    Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, of the Workforce
12    Innovation and Opportunity Act, and of the federal Social
13    Security Act to the extent and in the manner provided in
14    these Acts.
15        (b) To prescribe and supervise such courses of
16    vocational training and provide such other services as may
17    be necessary for the habilitation and rehabilitation of
18    persons with one or more disabilities, including the
19    administrative activities under subsection (e) of this
20    Section, and to co-operate with State and local school
21    authorities and other recognized agencies engaged in
22    habilitation, rehabilitation and comprehensive
23    rehabilitation services; and to cooperate with the

 

 

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1    Department of Children and Family Services regarding the
2    care and education of children with one or more
3    disabilities.
4        (c) (Blank).
5        (d) To report in writing, to the Governor, annually on
6    or before the first day of December, and at such other
7    times and in such manner and upon such subjects as the
8    Governor may require. The annual report shall contain (1) a
9    statement of the existing condition of comprehensive
10    rehabilitation services, habilitation and rehabilitation
11    in the State; (2) a statement of suggestions and
12    recommendations with reference to the development of
13    comprehensive rehabilitation services, habilitation and
14    rehabilitation in the State; and (3) an itemized statement
15    of the amounts of money received from federal, State and
16    other sources, and of the objects and purposes to which the
17    respective items of these several amounts have been
18    devoted.
19        (e) (Blank).
20        (f) To establish a program of services to prevent the
21    unnecessary institutionalization of persons in need of
22    long term care and who meet the criteria for blindness or
23    disability as defined by the Social Security Act, thereby
24    enabling them to remain in their own homes. Such preventive
25    services include any or all of the following:
26            (1) personal assistant services;

 

 

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1            (2) homemaker services;
2            (3) home-delivered meals;
3            (4) adult day care services;
4            (5) respite care;
5            (6) home modification or assistive equipment;
6            (7) home health services;
7            (8) electronic home response;
8            (9) brain injury behavioral/cognitive services;
9            (10) brain injury habilitation;
10            (11) brain injury pre-vocational services; or
11            (12) brain injury supported employment.
12        The Department shall establish eligibility standards
13    for such services taking into consideration the unique
14    economic and social needs of the population for whom they
15    are to be provided. Such eligibility standards may be based
16    on the recipient's ability to pay for services; provided,
17    however, that any portion of a person's income that is
18    equal to or less than the "protected income" level shall
19    not be considered by the Department in determining
20    eligibility. The "protected income" level shall be
21    determined by the Department, shall never be less than the
22    federal poverty standard, and shall be adjusted each year
23    to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index For All
24    Urban Consumers as determined by the United States
25    Department of Labor. The standards must provide that a
26    person may not have more than $10,000 in assets to be

 

 

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1    eligible for the services, and the Department may increase
2    or decrease the asset limitation by rule. The Department
3    may not decrease the asset level below $10,000.
4        The services shall be provided, as established by the
5    Department by rule, to eligible persons to prevent
6    unnecessary or premature institutionalization, to the
7    extent that the cost of the services, together with the
8    other personal maintenance expenses of the persons, are
9    reasonably related to the standards established for care in
10    a group facility appropriate to their condition. These
11    non-institutional services, pilot projects or experimental
12    facilities may be provided as part of or in addition to
13    those authorized by federal law or those funded and
14    administered by the Illinois Department on Aging. The
15    Department shall set rates and fees for services in a fair
16    and equitable manner. Services identical to those offered
17    by the Department on Aging shall be paid at the same rate.
18        Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph,
19    personal assistants shall be paid at a rate negotiated
20    between the State and an exclusive representative of
21    personal assistants under a collective bargaining
22    agreement. In no case shall the Department pay personal
23    assistants an hourly wage that is less than the federal
24    minimum wage. Within 30 days after July 6, 2017 (the
25    effective date of Public Act 100-23), the hourly wage paid
26    to personal assistants and individual maintenance home

 

 

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1    health workers shall be increased by $0.48 per hour.
2        Solely for the purposes of coverage under the Illinois
3    Public Labor Relations Act, personal assistants providing
4    services under the Department's Home Services Program
5    shall be considered to be public employees and the State of
6    Illinois shall be considered to be their employer as of
7    July 16, 2003 (the effective date of Public Act 93-204),
8    but not before. Solely for the purposes of coverage under
9    the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, home care and home
10    health workers who function as personal assistants and
11    individual maintenance home health workers and who also
12    provide services under the Department's Home Services
13    Program shall be considered to be public employees, no
14    matter whether the State provides such services through
15    direct fee-for-service arrangements, with the assistance
16    of a managed care organization or other intermediary, or
17    otherwise, and the State of Illinois shall be considered to
18    be the employer of those persons as of January 29, 2013
19    (the effective date of Public Act 97-1158), but not before
20    except as otherwise provided under this subsection (f). The
21    State shall engage in collective bargaining with an
22    exclusive representative of home care and home health
23    workers who function as personal assistants and individual
24    maintenance home health workers working under the Home
25    Services Program concerning their terms and conditions of
26    employment that are within the State's control. Nothing in

 

 

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1    this paragraph shall be understood to limit the right of
2    the persons receiving services defined in this Section to
3    hire and fire home care and home health workers who
4    function as personal assistants and individual maintenance
5    home health workers working under the Home Services Program
6    or to supervise them within the limitations set by the Home
7    Services Program. The State shall not be considered to be
8    the employer of home care and home health workers who
9    function as personal assistants and individual maintenance
10    home health workers working under the Home Services Program
11    for any purposes not specifically provided in Public Act
12    93-204 or Public Act 97-1158, including but not limited to,
13    purposes of vicarious liability in tort and purposes of
14    statutory retirement or health insurance benefits. Home
15    care and home health workers who function as personal
16    assistants and individual maintenance home health workers
17    and who also provide services under the Department's Home
18    Services Program shall not be covered by the State
19    Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971.
20    A home care consumer, as defined in Section 17.1, in the
21Department's Home Services Program has the right and discretion
22to select and hire a personal assistant or other individual
23provider of his or her choice. A home care consumer in the
24Department's Home Services Program also has the right and
25discretion to determine the number of hours per week his or her
26personal assistant or other individual provider may work.

 

 

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1Subject to the Department's authority to approve the total
2monthly hours in a home care consumer's service plan, the State
3of Illinois and any of its departments, including the
4Department, shall not impose a limit on the number of hours per
5week a personal assistant or other individual provider may work
6that is less than 55 hours per week. Subject to the
7Department's authority to approve the total monthly hours in a
8home care consumer's service plan, the State of Illinois and
9any of its departments, including the Department, shall not
10impose any limit on the number of hours per week a personal
11assistant or other individual provider may work unless the
12following conditions are satisfied:
13        (1) As an exception to any limit imposed by the
14    Department, a personal assistant or other individual
15    provider may work and be paid for all hours worked up to at
16    least 66 hours per week if, subject to verification by the
17    Department, the personal assistant or other individual
18    provider works for: (i) a home care consumer receiving
19    services under a court-ordered service plan; (ii) a home
20    care consumer with a Determination of Need score of 70 or
21    above (or the equivalent under any new assessment tool); or
22    (iii) a home care consumer with an exceptional care rate.
23        (2) The Department shall establish an exceptions and
24    appeals process that permits a home care consumer to
25    request an exception to any limit imposed by the Department
26    up to a maximum of no less than 66 hours per week.

 

 

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1    Exceptions shall be approved as appropriate to maintain
2    consumer independence and shall be approved, at a minimum,
3    under the following circumstances which must be verified by
4    the Department:
5            (A) Delayed arrival of a provider.
6            (B) Sudden loss of a provider.
7            (C) Unexpected illness of a provider.
8            (D) Extraordinary circumstances justified by the
9        health and safety issues of the home care consumer.
10        The exceptions and appeals process shall also permit a
11    home care consumer to apply to be pre-approved for the use
12    of a personal assistant or other individual provider for
13    hours worked above the weekly maximum. Such pre-approval
14    shall last for not less than one year from the date of the
15    approval. Additionally, the exceptions and appeals process
16    shall permit a home care consumer to apply after the fact
17    for the approval of the prior use of a personal assistant
18    or other individual provider who worked up to a maximum of
19    no less than 66 hours per week.
20        (3) Notwithstanding any limit imposed by the
21    Department on the number of hours per week a home care
22    consumer's personal assistant or other individual provider
23    may work, if the home care consumer would face a serious
24    risk of institutionalization, the Department shall work
25    with the home care consumer to ensure that appropriate care
26    in the community will be provided, whether through

 

 

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1    authorized overtime or another solution.
2    Nothing in this subsection shall limit the Department's
3authority under any other statute to disqualify an individual
4from providing services in the Department's Home Services
5Program for reasons other than the number of weekly hours
6worked by the individual.
7        The Department shall execute, relative to nursing home
8    prescreening, as authorized by Section 4.03 of the Illinois
9    Act on the Aging, written inter-agency agreements with the
10    Department on Aging and the Department of Healthcare and
11    Family Services, to effect the intake procedures and
12    eligibility criteria for those persons who may need long
13    term care. On and after July 1, 1996, all nursing home
14    prescreenings for individuals 18 through 59 years of age
15    shall be conducted by the Department, or a designee of the
16    Department.
17        The Department is authorized to establish a system of
18    recipient cost-sharing for services provided under this
19    Section. The cost-sharing shall be based upon the
20    recipient's ability to pay for services, but in no case
21    shall the recipient's share exceed the actual cost of the
22    services provided. Protected income shall not be
23    considered by the Department in its determination of the
24    recipient's ability to pay a share of the cost of services.
25    The level of cost-sharing shall be adjusted each year to
26    reflect changes in the "protected income" level. The

 

 

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1    Department shall deduct from the recipient's share of the
2    cost of services any money expended by the recipient for
3    disability-related expenses.
4        To the extent permitted under the federal Social
5    Security Act, the Department, or the Department's
6    authorized representative, may recover the amount of
7    moneys expended for services provided to or in behalf of a
8    person under this Section by a claim against the person's
9    estate or against the estate of the person's surviving
10    spouse, but no recovery may be had until after the death of
11    the surviving spouse, if any, and then only at such time
12    when there is no surviving child who is under age 21 or
13    blind or who has a permanent and total disability. This
14    paragraph, however, shall not bar recovery, at the death of
15    the person, of moneys for services provided to the person
16    or in behalf of the person under this Section to which the
17    person was not entitled; provided that such recovery shall
18    not be enforced against any real estate while it is
19    occupied as a homestead by the surviving spouse or other
20    dependent, if no claims by other creditors have been filed
21    against the estate, or, if such claims have been filed,
22    they remain dormant for failure of prosecution or failure
23    of the claimant to compel administration of the estate for
24    the purpose of payment. This paragraph shall not bar
25    recovery from the estate of a spouse, under Sections 1915
26    and 1924 of the Social Security Act and Section 5-4 of the

 

 

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1    Illinois Public Aid Code, who precedes a person receiving
2    services under this Section in death. All moneys for
3    services paid to or in behalf of the person under this
4    Section shall be claimed for recovery from the deceased
5    spouse's estate. "Homestead", as used in this paragraph,
6    means the dwelling house and contiguous real estate
7    occupied by a surviving spouse or relative, as defined by
8    the rules and regulations of the Department of Healthcare
9    and Family Services, regardless of the value of the
10    property.
11        The Department shall submit an annual report on
12    programs and services provided under this Section. The
13    report shall be filed with the Governor and the General
14    Assembly on or before March 30 each year.
15        The requirement for reporting to the General Assembly
16    shall be satisfied by filing copies of the report as
17    required by Section 3.1 of the General Assembly
18    Organization Act, and filing additional copies with the
19    State Government Report Distribution Center for the
20    General Assembly as required under paragraph (t) of Section
21    7 of the State Library Act.
22        (g) To establish such subdivisions of the Department as
23    shall be desirable and assign to the various subdivisions
24    the responsibilities and duties placed upon the Department
25    by law.
26        (h) To cooperate and enter into any necessary

 

 

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1    agreements with the Department of Employment Security for
2    the provision of job placement and job referral services to
3    clients of the Department, including job service
4    registration of such clients with Illinois Employment
5    Security offices and making job listings maintained by the
6    Department of Employment Security available to such
7    clients.
8        (i) To possess all powers reasonable and necessary for
9    the exercise and administration of the powers, duties and
10    responsibilities of the Department which are provided for
11    by law.
12        (j) (Blank).
13        (k) (Blank).
14        (l) To establish, operate, and maintain a Statewide
15    Housing Clearinghouse of information on available
16    government subsidized housing accessible to persons with
17    disabilities and available privately owned housing
18    accessible to persons with disabilities. The information
19    shall include, but not be limited to, the location, rental
20    requirements, access features and proximity to public
21    transportation of available housing. The Clearinghouse
22    shall consist of at least a computerized database for the
23    storage and retrieval of information and a separate or
24    shared toll free telephone number for use by those seeking
25    information from the Clearinghouse. Department offices and
26    personnel throughout the State shall also assist in the

 

 

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1    operation of the Statewide Housing Clearinghouse.
2    Cooperation with local, State, and federal housing
3    managers shall be sought and extended in order to
4    frequently and promptly update the Clearinghouse's
5    information.
6        (m) To assure that the names and case records of
7    persons who received or are receiving services from the
8    Department, including persons receiving vocational
9    rehabilitation, home services, or other services, and
10    those attending one of the Department's schools or other
11    supervised facility shall be confidential and not be open
12    to the general public. Those case records and reports or
13    the information contained in those records and reports
14    shall be disclosed by the Director only to proper law
15    enforcement officials, individuals authorized by a court,
16    the General Assembly or any committee or commission of the
17    General Assembly, and other persons and for reasons as the
18    Director designates by rule. Disclosure by the Director may
19    be only in accordance with other applicable law.
20(Source: P.A. 99-143, eff. 7-27-15; 100-23, eff. 7-6-17;
21100-477, eff. 9-8-17; 100-587, eff. 6-4-18; 100-863, eff.
228-14-18; 100-1148, eff. 12-10-18.)