093_HB2157ham001











                                     LRB093 10425 RCE 12643 a

 1                    AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 2157

 2        AMENDMENT NO.     .  Amend House Bill 2157  by  replacing
 3    everything after the enacting clause with the following:

 4        "Section  1.   Short title.  This Act may be cited as the
 5    Welfare to Work Act.

 6        Section 5.  Legislative findings; purpose.   The  General
 7    Assembly hereby finds that:
 8        (a)  Poverty   and   welfare  dependence  are  widespread
 9    throughout the State of  Illinois.  Almost 1,500,000  of  its
10    citizens  are  dependent  on  the  State's  public assistance
11    programs for their most basic needs; and over 40,000 families
12    rely on cash assistance from the State for  all  or  part  of
13    their subsistence needs.
14        (b)  Poverty   and   unemployment   diminish   individual
15    self-esteem,  can    undermine  family  stability, and affect
16    family formation, community security and cohesion.
17        (c)  Under the new  federal  welfare  law,  the  Personal
18    Responsibility  and  Work  Opportunity  Reconciliation Act of
19    1996, cash assistance benefits will be limited to 60  months,
20    and    over 100,000 adult heads of households in the Illinois
21    welfare caseload must be employed by the year  2002  or  they
22    and their children will be destitute.
 
                            -2-      LRB093 10425 RCE 12643 a
 1        (d)  Voluntary  efforts  by  the private sector to employ
 2    welfare recipients are laudable and are to be commended,  but
 3    the State must also take direct responsibility to ensure that
 4    welfare  recipients are hired in jobs that will allow them to
 5    leave the welfare rolls altogether.
 6        (e)  The State spends billions of dollars  each  year  to
 7    improve  its  economy  and  infrastructure,  and  to  deliver
 8    services to the people of the State, all of which also serves
 9    to provide jobs for its citizens.
10        (f)  The State can accomplish the objectives of relieving
11    welfare dependency  and ensuring economic self-sufficiency as
12    well  as  the  objectives  related to carrying out  necessary
13    governmental  operations  at  the   same   time,   and   with
14    significant  savings  in State outlays in cash assistance and
15    supportive service dollars.
16        (g)  Poverty and welfare dependency can be alleviated  by
17    targeting  some of the resources of the State and making jobs
18    available to  the  welfare  poor,  specifically  by  bringing
19    qualified  poor persons into the State workforce and into the
20    workforces  that  are  generated  through  State   contracts,
21    without causing the displacement of existing workers.
22        (h)  Some  State  jobs that are newly created or that are
23    open through attrition and  some  jobs  created  under  State
24    contracts,  can   be  filled  by qualified welfare recipients
25    without compromising the integrity  of  the  hiring  process,
26    contractor  profits, collective bargaining agreements, timely
27    completion of projects, or the health and safety of  Illinois
28    workers.
29        (i)  To  the extent that these jobs are filled by welfare
30    recipients, the State accomplishes 4  important  governmental
31    objectives  simultaneously:   (1)  the alleviation of welfare
32    dependency,  ensuring  of  economic   self-sufficiency,   and
33    lifting  of  individuals and families out of poverty, (2) the
34    stabilization of families and communities  that  are  hardest
 
                            -3-      LRB093 10425 RCE 12643 a
 1    hit   by   persistent   poverty  and  unemployment,  (3)  the
 2    accomplishment of the essential work of the State which  must
 3    be  performed  through  these  jobs, and (4) the reduction of
 4    State outlays for cash assistance and services for the poor.
 5        (j)  The  State's  immediate,  direct   and   significant
 6    interest  in  relieving welfare dependency and the employment
 7    of the poor in jobs  generated  through  the  expenditure  of
 8    State funds constitutes the basis of this Act.

 9        Section 10.  Definitions.  As used in this Act:
10        "Aid recipient" means:
11             (a)  a  person  financially eligible to receive cash
12        assistance  under  the  Temporary  Assistance  for  Needy
13        Families program, the Transitional Assistance program, or
14        any other cash assistance  program  administered  by  the
15        Department of Human Services financed in whole or in part
16        by the State;
17             (b)   a   person   financially   eligible  for  cash
18        assistance under Article  VI  of  the  Public  Aid  Code,
19        whether   receiving   assistance   or  not;  an  Earnfare
20        participant; and an unemployed person or employed  person
21        who  is  earning less than the poverty level in wages and
22        who is also married to the parent of  a  child  receiving
23        cash  assistance  or  the legally adjudicated father of a
24        child receiving cash assistance; and
25             (c) a person who, within the previous 60 months, has
26        been found eligible and placed for training or employment
27        under the United States Department of Housing  and  Urban
28        Development's  Section  3  program,  or  under  any other
29        local, state, or federal government program that  creates
30        training  or  hiring  preferences  or  priorities for low
31        income persons, and who was, at the time  of  entry  into
32        such   program   an  "aid  recipient"  as  defined  under
33        paragraph (a) or (b) of this definition.
 
                            -4-      LRB093 10425 RCE 12643 a
 1        "Contracts for personal services" has the same meaning as
 2    under Section 14 of the State Finance Act.
 3        "Covered  contract"  means  a  contract,  aid,  or  grant
 4    between the State and any other entity or  entities,  whether
 5    private, public, or not-for-profit, regardless of the purpose
 6    of the contract, aid, or grant, and means contracts, aid, and
 7    grants  between  those  entities  and  their  contractors and
 8    subcontractors, but only if the contract or grant is  payable
 9    by  the  State  in  an  amount  in  excess  of  $250,000 or a
10    subcontract  is  for  an  amount  in  excess   of   $100,000.
11    Recipients  of  contracts,  aid,  and  grants  may not divide
12    contracts or  spread  out  the  work  to  be  undertaken  for
13    purposes of avoiding having a covered contract.
14        "Covered  employee"  means a person who is found eligible
15    for employment and  hired under this Act.
16        "Covered employer" means an  employer  in  receipt  of  a
17    "covered   contract"   payment   and   thus  subject  to  the
18    requirements  of  this  Act  with  respect  to   a   "covered
19    contract".
20        "Covered  position"  means  a  State-funded  position  of
21    employment,  whether  civil  service  or  under  contract for
22    personal services, that the Department of Human Services  has
23    not found exempt under Section 25 of this Act.
24        "Department" means the Department of Human Services.
25        "Qualified  aid  recipient"  means an "aid recipient" who
26    meets each  of  the    qualifications,  including  education,
27    training,  and experience, if any, that have been established
28    by the employer for the position.
29        "State agencies" means  all  State  departments  (whether
30    code   or   otherwise),   boards,  commissions,  authorities,
31    councils,   officers,   bureaus,    units,    colleges    and
32    universities,   and   executive,   legislative  and  judicial
33    agencies.
 
                            -5-      LRB093 10425 RCE 12643 a
 1        Section 15.  Disclosure of potential  covered  positions.
 2    Simultaneously  with  posting  its  positions  or  putting  a
 3    position  out  for  hire by contract, each State agency shall
 4    provide the Department of Employment Security with a copy  of
 5    a   job  announcement  specifying  the  job  description  and
 6    qualifications of each position that  is  newly  created,  is
 7    open,  or  is  otherwise  posted  for  hire or for hire under
 8    contract.  This requirement does not apply when the  position
 9    is  one  that  is subject to recall by a laid-off employee or
10    employees.

11        Section  20.  Duties  of  the  Department  of  Employment
12    Security.
13        (a)  The Department of Employment  Security  shall  place
14    these positions on the Illinois Skills Match System.
15        (b)  If  the  position is permanently exempted, the State
16    agency need not provide the Department of Employment Security
17    with position announcements for that position in the  future.
18    However, if an exemption of any position is revoked, from the
19    point  of  that  revocation  forward,  the State agency again
20    shall provide the  Department  of  Employment  Security  with
21    announcements of that position.
22        (d)  If   the   position  is  temporarily  exempted,  the
23    provisions of this Act do not apply to the position, but  the
24    State  agency must provide announcements to the Department of
25    Employment Security of future openings of that position.
26        (e)  If the position  is  not  determined  by  the  State
27    agency  to  be  exempted, it is a covered position under this
28    Act.

29        Section  30.   Eligibility  determinations.    Upon   the
30    request  of  a  person  who believes that he or she is an aid
31    recipient within the meaning of this Act or the request of  a
32    State  agency or covered employer on behalf of such a person,
 
                            -6-      LRB093 10425 RCE 12643 a
 1    the Department shall make the determination  of  whether  the
 2    person is an aid recipient within the meaning of this Act and
 3    shall  provide  the  necessary written proof of aid recipient
 4    status  to  the  aid  recipient  and  to  any  other  person,
 5    including the party making  request  on  behalf  of  the  aid
 6    recipient, if the aid recipient authorizes it in writing.

 7        Section  35.   Recruitment,  screening,  and referrals to
 8    training and for jobs under this Act.
 9        (a)  In  order  to  facilitate   a   steady   stream   of
10    potentially qualified aid recipients into positions available
11    under this Act, the Department of Human Services shall:
12             (1)  register  all  TANF  recipients in the Illinois
13        Skills Match System and work with  public,  private,  and
14        not-for-profit job training programs and  certified joint
15        apprenticeship  training programs to develop and make use
16        of  training  programs  to  facilitate   channeling   aid
17        recipients  into  such  training programs that correspond
18        with, and will qualify them for, open  covered  positions
19        and positions under covered contracts;
20             (2)  coordinate   the  recruitment,  screening,  and
21        referrals for placement of aid  recipients  in  education
22        and  training  programs  that  correspond  with  the  job
23        qualifications  and requirements of covered positions and
24        positions under covered contracts;
25             (3)  coordinate  the  recruitment,  screening,   and
26        referrals  of  potentially    qualified aid recipients to
27        employers for open covered positions and positions  under
28        covered contracts;
29        (b)  The  Department  shall  maintain an equal balance in
30    its referrals of  potentially  qualified  aid  recipients  to
31    training programs, to employers for covered positions, and to
32    positions  under  covered  contracts  as  identified  on  the
33    Illinois  Match  System  as  appropriate as between those who
 
                            -7-      LRB093 10425 RCE 12643 a
 1    qualify  under  paragraph  (a)  of  the  definition  of  "aid
 2    recipient" in Section 10 of this Act.
 3        (c)  The duties  of  the  Department  specified  in  this
 4    Section  may  be  carried  out,  in  whole  or in part, under
 5    contracts entered into by the Department with units of  local
 6    government    or    by    not-for-profit    community   based
 7    organizations.

 8        Section 40.  Hiring without  referrals  authorized.   Any
 9    aid  recipient  who  believes  he  or  she is a qualified aid
10    recipient may apply, through the Illinois Skills Match System
11    and without a referral by the Department, for jobs under this
12    Act. For any covered position, whether previously  determined
13    by  the  Department  to  be a covered position or not, if the
14    Illinois Skills Match System finds  the  applicant  to  be  a
15    qualified  aid recipient, the applicant shall be provided the
16    preference this Act affords. For any position under a covered
17    contract, the employer  may  count,  under  the  requirements
18    imposed  under  this  Act,  any  aid recipient hired, whether
19    referred by the Department or not, as an employee meeting the
20    requirements during the life of the contract.

21        Section 45.   Hiring  requirements  relative  to  covered
22    positions.
23        (a)  Verification  that an applicant for a position is an
24    aid  recipient  shall  be  made  by  the  State  agency,   if
25    necessary,  by copying for its records the applicant's public
26    aid card or such other proof of aid recipient status  as  has
27    been  provided  to  the  aid  recipient  or  employer  by the
28    Department of Human Services.
29        (b)  The  State  agency  shall  provide   qualified   aid
30    recipients  with  a hiring  preference in accordance with the
31    requirements for civil service positions under Section 8b.7-1
32    of the Personnel Code,  and  for  personal  service  contract
 
                            -8-      LRB093 10425 RCE 12643 a
 1    positions,  under  Section  45-70 of the Illinois Procurement
 2    Code.
 3        (c)  The minimum qualifications for hire, wages, days per
 4    week, hours per day, shifts  of  employment,  and  terms  and
 5    conditions  of employment of a qualified aid recipient who is
 6    hired under this Act shall be the same as for  other  members
 7    of  the  employer's  workforce doing the same or similar work
 8    and shall be subject to the same State and federal laws.
 9        (d)  Nothing in this Act prevents  a  State  agency  from
10    counting  a  person  hired  under  this  Act,  who  is also a
11    protected  female  or  minority,   toward   that   employer's
12    affirmative action obligations that may otherwise be imposed.
13        (e)  Nothing  in  this  Act diminishes the full authority
14    and prerogative of State agencies to determine  independently
15    an  aid  recipient's qualifications and to make independently
16    all hiring decisions, based on merit, under this Act.

17        Section  50.   Contract   requirements.    Each   covered
18    contract  shall  contain  provisions incorporating all of the
19    following requirements:
20        (a)  Not less than 5% of the hours worked under positions
21    that are paid under a covered contract  shall  be  worked  by
22    qualified aid recipients.
23        (b)  In  order  to facilitate compliance with this Act, a
24    covered employer may  notify  the  Department  of  Employment
25    Security  of jobs that are opening under the covered contract
26    for which aid recipients may be qualified in order to receive
27    referrals of aid recipients through the Illinois Skills Match
28    System.
29        (c)  The covered employer shall verify that an  applicant
30    for  a  position  is  an  aid recipient, and shall maintain a
31    record of the aid  recipient's  status  by  copying  for  its
32    records  the  applicant's public aid card or such other proof
33    of aid recipient status as has been provided to the recipient
 
                            -9-      LRB093 10425 RCE 12643 a
 1    or employer by the Department of Human Services.
 2        (d)  The covered employer shall make the determination of
 3    whether an aid  recipient who applies for the position  is  a
 4    qualified  aid  recipient.   Nothing  in  this  Act implies a
 5    diminution of the full authority and prerogative  of  covered
 6    employers  to  determine  independently  an  aid  recipient's
 7    qualifications and to make independently all hiring decisions
 8    under  this  Act.  No State agency may require an employer to
 9    hire an aid recipient who is not qualified for  the  position
10    for which the aid recipient is applying.
11        (e)  The number of covered employees in a workforce shall
12    be  calculated as  follows:  the number of total hours worked
13    under the contract are the  "worker  hours".  The  number  of
14    hours  that  covered employees have worked under the contract
15    are the "covered  employee  hours".   The  "covered  employee
16    hours" shall be divided by the "worker hours" and the product
17    shall be no less than  0.05 during the life of the contract.
18    If the covered contract includes positions that are otherwise
19    reported to the State and federal government only by daily or
20    weekly  full  time equivalency, then those positions shall be
21    calculated  by  dividing  the  full-time  equivalent  of  the
22    covered employees in those positions by the  total  full-time
23    equivalent  for  those  positions.  An employer may sponsor a
24    covered worker in an apprenticeship training program or other
25    education or training program, in which case the employer may
26    count the number of hours or days  in  off-site  training  or
27    classroom   instruction   toward  the  requirements  of  this
28    Section.
29        (f)  A covered employer who is unable to hire at least 5%
30    of its  workforce  from  qualified  aid  recipients  under  a
31    covered   contract   shall   certify  to  the  Department  of
32    Employment Security the circumstances which made meeting  the
33    requirements of this Act impossible.  Permitted circumstances
34    may   include  the  high  percentage  of  professional,  high
 
                            -10-     LRB093 10425 RCE 12643 a
 1    skilled, or journey level workers needed under the  contract,
 2    the  need  to  recall out of work employees who are receiving
 3    unemployment compensation through the  covered  employer,  or
 4    other  circumstances  outside  of  the control of the covered
 5    employer.  If a covered employer has not met  the  percentage
 6    hire  requirements  under  this  Act,  and did not notify the
 7    Department of jobs  that  have  become  available  under  its
 8    covered  contract,  and  jobs existed under that contract for
 9    potentially qualified aid recipients,  the  covered  employer
10    shall  be  deemed  to  have  been  able to hire the requisite
11    percentage of aid recipients under this Act, and failed to do
12    so.
13        (g)  At the  request  of  the  covered  employer  to  the
14    Department of Employment Security, the requirements of hiring
15    covered  employees  under  this  Section  may  be  waived, in
16    advance,  by  the  Department,  in  whole  or  in  part,   in
17    accordance  with  rules  established  by  the  Department, if
18    enough qualified aid recipients are not referred or cannot be
19    hired due to circumstances set forth in subsection  (5).   To
20    receive  this  waiver,  the covered employer must request the
21    waiver before hiring under the  covered  contract,  and  must
22    include  in  its request for the waiver, job descriptions for
23    each of the positions that are  subject  to  hire  under  the
24    covered  contract,  and  the number of people estimated to be
25    hired for each such job.
26        (h)  The minimum qualifications for hire, and the  wages,
27    days per week, hours per day, shifts of employment, and terms
28    and  conditions of employment, of a covered employee shall be
29    the same as for other members  of  the  employer's  workforce
30    doing  the  same  or similar work and shall be subject to the
31    same State and federal laws.
32        (i)  Covered employees shall  abide  by  all  health  and
33    safety  rules  and  laws    imposed  on  a covered employer's
34    workforce.
 
                            -11-     LRB093 10425 RCE 12643 a
 1        (j)  This Act  does  not  require  covered  employers  to
 2    provide any additional or separate training or apprenticeship
 3    programs  for  aid  recipients  that  the  employer would not
 4    otherwise provide to other workers in  the  same  or  similar
 5    jobs at the same or similar level of experience.
 6        (k)  Nothing in this Act prevents a covered employer from
 7    counting  a covered  employee, who is also a protected female
 8    or  minority,  toward  the  employer's   affirmative   action
 9    obligations that may otherwise be imposed.

10        Section  55.   Duties  of  the  Department  of Employment
11    Security.  The Department of Employment Security shall ensure
12    that covered employers comply with the provisions of this Act
13    and shall work with the Department of Human Services and  the
14    Social  Services  Advisory  Council in promulgating rules for
15    implementation and governance and to effectuate the  purposes
16    of   this   Act,   including   contractor   compliance.    In
17    promulgating  compliance  rules,  the  Illinois Department of
18    Employment Security shall create provisions that assure  that
19    there   will  be  good  faith  attempts  at  negotiation  and
20    conciliation, and the affording of  the  protections  of  due
21    process  of law before any sanctions against a contractor are
22    imposed.

23        Section 60.  Compliance and Reporting.
24        (a)  The Department of Human Services, the Department  of
25    Employment  Security,  and  the  General Assembly are jointly
26    empowered to ensure and monitor covered  employer  and  State
27    agency compliance with the provisions of this Act.
28        (b)  The Department of Employment Security shall annually
29    prepare  a report to the Department of Human Services and the
30    General Assembly demonstrating its hiring under this Act from
31    the Illinois  Skills  Match  System.   The  report  shall  be
32    submitted  to  the  Department  of  Human  Services  and  the
 
                            -12-     LRB093 10425 RCE 12643 a
 1    minority and majority leaders of the House of Representatives
 2    and  the  Senate  no later than January 31 of each year.  The
 3    report shall set forth, for the previous calendar  year,  the
 4    total  number  of  positions  filled by the State agency, the
 5    number of positions not exempted and thus found to be covered
 6    positions by the Department,  and  the  number  of  positions
 7    filled  by  aid  recipients produced from the Illinois Skills
 8    Match System.
 9        (c)  The report shall be subject  to  public  inspection,
10    review, and copying.
11        (d)  Each  covered  contractor  shall  annually prepare a
12    single duplicated report that documents its hiring  practices
13    under this Act that shall be submitted both to the Department
14    of  Employment Security and the Department of Human Services.
15    The report shall be submitted no later  than  January  31  of
16    each  year.   The  report  shall  set forth, for the previous
17    calendar year, for each covered contract, the calculations of
18    total  worker  hours  and  covered  employee  hours  and  the
19    percentage of covered employee hours, and such other data and
20    information as may be required by rule.
21        (e)  The Department of Employment Security shall  collate
22    the  contractor  reports  and  shall  submit  a report to the
23    minority and majority leaders of both chambers of the General
24    Assembly no later than the first day of March of  each  year,
25    with  the  total  worker  hours,  the  total covered employee
26    hours, and  the  percentage  of  hours  of  work  by  covered
27    employees.  The  Department of Human Services shall set forth
28    the number of aid recipients who have closed their aid  cases
29    or  had  their  aid reduced as a result of positions obtained
30    under this Act, and shall set forth such other data and  cost
31    savings as it deems appropriate.
32        (f)  The Department's summary reports shall be subject to
33    public inspection,  review and copying.
 
                            -13-     LRB093 10425 RCE 12643 a
 1        Section  905.   The  Personnel  Code is amended by adding
 2    Section 8b.7-1 as follows:

 3        (20 ILCS 415/8b.7-1 new)
 4        Sec. 8b.7-1. Qualified aid recipient preference.  For the
 5    granting of preferences to "qualified aid recipients"  within
 6    the meaning of the Welfare to Work Act.  The preference shall
 7    be given only after the application and provision of veterans
 8    preferences  under  Section  8b.7,  unless  the  applicant is
 9    subject to preferences under both veterans and qualified  aid
10    recipient  designations,  in  which  case those persons shall
11    take  precedence.   When  qualified  aid  recipients  are  on
12    eligible lists on the basis  of  category  rankings  such  as
13    superior,  excellent,  well-qualified,  and  qualified,  they
14    shall be preferred over nonveterans who are not qualified aid
15    recipients  in  the  same  category.  Notwithstanding Section
16    8b.5, when a list is prepared by numerical  rankings,  and  a
17    qualified aid recipient is one of the top 3 candidates on the
18    basis  of  the numerical ranking, the qualified aid recipient
19    shall be appointed, unless one or two of the other candidates
20    is a qualified veteran.

21        Section 910.  The Illinois Procurement Code is amended by
22    adding Section 45-70 as follows:

23        (30 ILCS 500/45-70 new)
24        Sec. 45-70. Contracts for  personal  services;  qualified
25    aid  recipients.    All  contracts  for personal services, as
26    defined under Section 14 of the State Finance Act,  shall  be
27    subject  to  the  preference  of  "qualified  aid recipients"
28    within the meaning of the Welfare to Work  Act,  over  others
29    who are similarly qualified.

30        Section 999.  Effective date.  This Act takes effect upon
 
                            -14-     LRB093 10425 RCE 12643 a
 1    becoming law.".