99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016
HB3730

 

Introduced , by Rep. Charles E. Meier

 

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

    Amends the Disabled Persons Rehabilitation Act. Provides that any home care and home health worker who functions as a personal assistant or as an individual maintenance home health worker and provides services under the Department's Home Services Program shall complete standardized instruction or education as determined by the Department concerning his or her obligations as a caregiver and provider of Medicaid services under the Home Services Program. Provides that the instruction or education must be available in languages other than English and to those who need accommodations due to disabilities. Grants the Department rulemaking authority to implement this provision. Effective immediately.


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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 Disabled Persons Rehabilitation Act is
5amended 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
10administration of the provisions of the federal Rehabilitation
11Act of 1973, as amended, of the Workforce Investment Act of
121998, and of the federal Social Security Act to the extent and
13in the manner provided in these Acts.
14    (b) To prescribe and supervise such courses of vocational
15training and provide such other services as may be necessary
16for the habilitation and rehabilitation of persons with one or
17more disabilities, including the administrative activities
18under subsection (e) of this Section, and to co-operate with
19State and local school authorities and other recognized
20agencies engaged in habilitation, rehabilitation and
21comprehensive rehabilitation services; and to cooperate with
22the Department of Children and Family Services regarding the
23care and education of children with one or more disabilities.

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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1or premature institutionalization, to the extent that the cost
2of the services, together with the other personal maintenance
3expenses of the persons, are reasonably related to the
4standards established for care in a group facility appropriate
5to their condition. These non-institutional services, pilot
6projects or experimental facilities may be provided as part of
7or in addition to those authorized by federal law or those
8funded and administered by the Illinois Department on Aging.
9The Department shall set rates and fees for services in a fair
10and equitable manner. Services identical to those offered by
11the Department on Aging shall be paid at the same rate.
12    Personal assistants shall be paid at a rate negotiated
13between the State and an exclusive representative of personal
14assistants under a collective bargaining agreement. In no case
15shall the Department pay personal assistants an hourly wage
16that is less than the federal minimum wage.
17    Solely for the purposes of coverage under the Illinois
18Public Labor Relations Act (5 ILCS 315/), personal assistants
19providing services under the Department's Home Services
20Program shall be considered to be public employees and the
21State of Illinois shall be considered to be their employer as
22of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd
23General Assembly, but not before. Solely for the purposes of
24coverage under the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, home
25care and home health workers who function as personal
26assistants and individual maintenance home health workers and

 

 

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

 

 

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1vicarious liability in tort and purposes of statutory
2retirement or health insurance benefits. Home care and home
3health workers who function as personal assistants and
4individual maintenance home health workers and who also provide
5services under the Department's Home Services Program shall not
6be covered by the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971
7(5 ILCS 375/).
8    Any home care and home health worker who functions as a
9personal assistant or as an individual maintenance home health
10worker and provides services under the Department's Home
11Services Program shall complete standardized instruction or
12education as determined by the Department concerning his or her
13obligations as a caregiver and provider of Medicaid services
14under the Home Services Program. The instruction or education
15must be available in languages other than English and to those
16who need accommodations due to disabilities. The Department
17shall adopt any rules necessary to implement this provision.
18    The Department shall execute, relative to nursing home
19prescreening, as authorized by Section 4.03 of the Illinois Act
20on the Aging, written inter-agency agreements with the
21Department on Aging and the Department of Healthcare and Family
22Services, to effect the intake procedures and eligibility
23criteria for those persons who may need long term care. On and
24after July 1, 1996, all nursing home prescreenings for
25individuals 18 through 59 years of age shall be conducted by
26the Department, or a designee of the Department.

 

 

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1    The Department is authorized to establish a system of
2recipient cost-sharing for services provided under this
3Section. The cost-sharing shall be based upon the recipient's
4ability to pay for services, but in no case shall the
5recipient's share exceed the actual cost of the services
6provided. Protected income shall not be considered by the
7Department in its determination of the recipient's ability to
8pay a share of the cost of services. The level of cost-sharing
9shall be adjusted each year to reflect changes in the
10"protected income" level. The Department shall deduct from the
11recipient's share of the cost of services any money expended by
12the recipient for disability-related expenses.
13    To the extent permitted under the federal Social Security
14Act, the Department, or the Department's authorized
15representative, may recover the amount of moneys expended for
16services provided to or in behalf of a person under this
17Section by a claim against the person's estate or against the
18estate of the person's surviving spouse, but no recovery may be
19had until after the death of the surviving spouse, if any, and
20then only at such time when there is no surviving child who is
21under age 21, blind, or permanently and totally disabled. This
22paragraph, however, shall not bar recovery, at the death of the
23person, of moneys for services provided to the person or in
24behalf of the person under this Section to which the person was
25not entitled; provided that such recovery shall not be enforced
26against any real estate while it is occupied as a homestead by

 

 

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1the surviving spouse or other dependent, if no claims by other
2creditors have been filed against the estate, or, if such
3claims have been filed, they remain dormant for failure of
4prosecution or failure of the claimant to compel administration
5of the estate for the purpose of payment. This paragraph shall
6not bar recovery from the estate of a spouse, under Sections
71915 and 1924 of the Social Security Act and Section 5-4 of the
8Illinois Public Aid Code, who precedes a person receiving
9services under this Section in death. All moneys for services
10paid to or in behalf of the person under this Section shall be
11claimed for recovery from the deceased spouse's estate.
12"Homestead", as used in this paragraph, means the dwelling
13house and contiguous real estate occupied by a surviving spouse
14or relative, as defined by the rules and regulations of the
15Department of Healthcare and Family Services, regardless of the
16value of the property.
17    The Department shall submit an annual report on programs
18and services provided under this Section. The report shall be
19filed with the Governor and the General Assembly on or before
20March 30 each year.
21    The requirement for reporting to the General Assembly shall
22be satisfied by filing copies of the report with the Speaker,
23the Minority Leader and the Clerk of the House of
24Representatives and the President, the Minority Leader and the
25Secretary of the Senate and the Legislative Research Unit, as
26required by Section 3.1 of the General Assembly Organization

 

 

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1Act, and filing additional copies with the State Government
2Report Distribution Center for the General Assembly as required
3under paragraph (t) of Section 7 of the State Library Act.
4    (g) To establish such subdivisions of the Department as
5shall be desirable and assign to the various subdivisions the
6responsibilities and duties placed upon the Department by law.
7    (h) To cooperate and enter into any necessary agreements
8with the Department of Employment Security for the provision of
9job placement and job referral services to clients of the
10Department, including job service registration of such clients
11with Illinois Employment Security offices and making job
12listings maintained by the Department of Employment Security
13available to such clients.
14    (i) To possess all powers reasonable and necessary for the
15exercise and administration of the powers, duties and
16responsibilities of the Department which are provided for by
17law.
18    (j) (Blank).
19    (k) (Blank).
20    (l) To establish, operate and maintain a Statewide Housing
21Clearinghouse of information on available, government
22subsidized housing accessible to disabled persons and
23available privately owned housing accessible to disabled
24persons. The information shall include but not be limited to
25the location, rental requirements, access features and
26proximity to public transportation of available housing. The

 

 

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1Clearinghouse shall consist of at least a computerized database
2for the storage and retrieval of information and a separate or
3shared toll free telephone number for use by those seeking
4information from the Clearinghouse. Department offices and
5personnel throughout the State shall also assist in the
6operation of the Statewide Housing Clearinghouse. Cooperation
7with local, State and federal housing managers shall be sought
8and extended in order to frequently and promptly update the
9Clearinghouse's information.
10    (m) To assure that the names and case records of persons
11who received or are receiving services from the Department,
12including persons receiving vocational rehabilitation, home
13services, or other services, and those attending one of the
14Department's schools or other supervised facility shall be
15confidential and not be open to the general public. Those case
16records and reports or the information contained in those
17records and reports shall be disclosed by the Director only to
18proper law enforcement officials, individuals authorized by a
19court, the General Assembly or any committee or commission of
20the General Assembly, and other persons and for reasons as the
21Director designates by rule. Disclosure by the Director may be
22only in accordance with other applicable law.
23(Source: P.A. 97-732, eff. 6-30-12; 97-1019, eff. 8-17-12;
2497-1158, eff. 1-29-13; 98-1004, eff. 8-18-14.)
 
25    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
26becoming law.