Full Text of SB1236 97th General Assembly
SB1236eng 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning public aid.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The Illinois Public Aid Code is amended by | 5 | | changing Section 9A-11 as follows:
| 6 | | (305 ILCS 5/9A-11) (from Ch. 23, par. 9A-11)
| 7 | | Sec. 9A-11. Child Care.
| 8 | | (a) The General Assembly recognizes that families with | 9 | | children need child
care in order to work. Child care is | 10 | | expensive and families with low incomes,
including those who | 11 | | are transitioning from welfare to work, often struggle to
pay | 12 | | the costs of day care. The
General Assembly understands the | 13 | | importance of helping low income working
families become and | 14 | | remain self-sufficient. The General Assembly also believes
| 15 | | that it is the responsibility of families to share in the costs | 16 | | of child care.
It is also the preference of the General | 17 | | Assembly that all working poor
families should be treated | 18 | | equally, regardless of their welfare status.
| 19 | | (b) To the extent resources permit, the Illinois Department | 20 | | shall provide
child care services to parents or other relatives | 21 | | as defined by rule who are
working or participating in | 22 | | employment or Department approved
education or training | 23 | | programs. At a minimum, the Illinois Department shall
cover the |
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| 1 | | following categories of families:
| 2 | | (1) recipients of TANF under Article IV participating | 3 | | in work and training
activities as specified in the | 4 | | personal plan for employment and
self-sufficiency;
| 5 | | (2) families transitioning from TANF to work;
| 6 | | (3) families at risk of becoming recipients of TANF;
| 7 | | (4) families with special needs as defined by rule; and
| 8 | | (5) working families with very low incomes as defined | 9 | | by rule.
| 10 | | The Department shall specify by rule the conditions of | 11 | | eligibility, the
application process, and the types, amounts, | 12 | | and duration of services.
Eligibility for
child care benefits | 13 | | and the amount of child care provided may vary based on
family | 14 | | size, income,
and other factors as specified by rule.
| 15 | | In determining income eligibility for child care benefits, | 16 | | the Department
annually, at the beginning of each fiscal year, | 17 | | shall
establish, by rule, one income threshold for each family | 18 | | size, in relation to
percentage of State median income for a | 19 | | family of that size, that makes
families with incomes below the | 20 | | specified threshold eligible for assistance
and families with | 21 | | incomes above the specified threshold ineligible for
| 22 | | assistance. Through and including fiscal year 2007, the | 23 | | specified threshold must be no less than 50% of the
| 24 | | then-current State median income for each family size. | 25 | | Beginning in fiscal year 2008, the specified threshold must be | 26 | | no less than 185% of the then-current federal poverty level for |
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| 1 | | each family size.
| 2 | | In determining eligibility for
assistance, the Department | 3 | | shall not give preference to any category of
recipients
or give | 4 | | preference to individuals based on their receipt of benefits | 5 | | under this
Code.
| 6 | | The Department shall allocate $7,500,000 annually for a | 7 | | test program for
families who are income-eligible for child | 8 | | care assistance, who
are not recipients of TANF under Article | 9 | | IV, and who need child care assistance
to participate in | 10 | | education and training activities. The
Department shall | 11 | | specify by rule the conditions of eligibility for this test
| 12 | | program.
| 13 | | Nothing in this Section shall be
construed as conferring | 14 | | entitlement status to eligible families.
| 15 | | The Illinois
Department is authorized to lower income | 16 | | eligibility ceilings, raise parent
co-payments, create waiting | 17 | | lists, or take such other actions during a fiscal
year as are | 18 | | necessary to ensure that child care benefits paid under this
| 19 | | Article do not exceed the amounts appropriated for those child | 20 | | care benefits.
These changes may be accomplished by emergency | 21 | | rule under Section 5-45 of the
Illinois Administrative | 22 | | Procedure Act, except that the limitation on the number
of | 23 | | emergency rules that may be adopted in a 24-month period shall | 24 | | not apply.
| 25 | | The Illinois Department may contract with other State | 26 | | agencies or child care
organizations for the administration of |
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| 1 | | child care services.
| 2 | | (c) Payment shall be made for child care that otherwise | 3 | | meets the
requirements of this Section and applicable standards | 4 | | of State and local
law and regulation, including any | 5 | | requirements the Illinois Department
promulgates by rule in | 6 | | addition to the licensure
requirements
promulgated by the | 7 | | Department of Children and Family Services and Fire
Prevention | 8 | | and Safety requirements promulgated by the Office of the State
| 9 | | Fire Marshal and is provided in any of the following:
| 10 | | (1) a child care center which is licensed or exempt | 11 | | from licensure
pursuant to Section 2.09 of the Child Care | 12 | | Act of 1969;
| 13 | | (2) a licensed child care home or home exempt from | 14 | | licensing;
| 15 | | (3) a licensed group child care home;
| 16 | | (4) other types of child care, including child care | 17 | | provided
by relatives or persons living in the same home as | 18 | | the child, as determined by
the Illinois Department by | 19 | | rule.
| 20 | | (c-5)
Solely for the purposes of coverage under the | 21 | | Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, child and day care home | 22 | | providers, including licensed and license exempt, | 23 | | participating in the Department's child care assistance | 24 | | program shall be considered to be public employees and the | 25 | | State of Illinois shall be considered to be their employer as | 26 | | of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th |
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| 1 | | General Assembly, but not before. The State shall engage in | 2 | | collective bargaining with an exclusive representative of | 3 | | child and day care home providers participating in the child | 4 | | care assistance program concerning their terms and conditions | 5 | | of employment that are within the State's control. Nothing in | 6 | | this subsection shall be understood to limit the right of | 7 | | families receiving services defined in this Section to select | 8 | | child and day care home providers or supervise them within the | 9 | | limits of this Section. The State shall not be considered to be | 10 | | the employer of child and day care home providers for any | 11 | | purposes not specifically provided in this amendatory Act of | 12 | | the 94th General Assembly, including but not limited to, | 13 | | purposes of vicarious liability in tort and purposes of | 14 | | statutory retirement or health insurance benefits. Child and | 15 | | day care home providers shall not be covered by the State | 16 | | Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971. | 17 | | In according child and day care home providers and their | 18 | | selected representative rights under the Illinois Public Labor | 19 | | Relations Act, the State intends that the State action | 20 | | exemption to application of federal and State antitrust laws be | 21 | | fully available to the extent that their activities are | 22 | | authorized by this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly.
| 23 | | (d) The Illinois Department shall establish , by rule, a | 24 | | co-payment scale that provides for cost sharing by families | 25 | | that receive require co-payments for
child care services by any | 26 | | parent , including parents whose only income is from
assistance |
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| 1 | | under this Code. The co-payment shall be assessed based on a
| 2 | | sliding scale based on family income and , family size , and may | 3 | | be based on other factors as appropriate the number of
children | 4 | | in care . Co-payments may be waived for families whose incomes | 5 | | are at or below the federal poverty level shall not be | 6 | | increased due solely to a change
in the methodology for | 7 | | counting family income .
| 8 | | (d-5) The Illinois Department, in consultation with its | 9 | | Child Care and Development Advisory Council, shall develop a | 10 | | plan to revise the child care assistance program's co-payment | 11 | | scale. The plan shall be completed no later than February 1, | 12 | | 2008, and shall include: | 13 | | (1) findings as to the percentage of income that the | 14 | | average American family spends on child care and the | 15 | | relative amounts that low-income families and the average | 16 | | American family spend on other necessities of life;
| 17 | | (2) recommendations for revising the child care | 18 | | co-payment scale to assure that families receiving child | 19 | | care services from the Department are paying no more than | 20 | | they can reasonably afford; | 21 | | (3) recommendations for revising the child care | 22 | | co-payment scale to provide at-risk children with complete | 23 | | access to Preschool for All and Head Start; and | 24 | | (4) recommendations for changes in child care program | 25 | | policies that affect the affordability of child care.
| 26 | | (e) (Blank).
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| 1 | | (f) The Illinois Department shall, by rule, set rates to be | 2 | | paid for the
various types of child care. Child care may be | 3 | | provided through one of the
following methods:
| 4 | | (1) arranging the child care through eligible | 5 | | providers by use of
purchase of service contracts or | 6 | | vouchers;
| 7 | | (2) arranging with other agencies and community | 8 | | volunteer groups for
non-reimbursed child care;
| 9 | | (3) (blank); or
| 10 | | (4) adopting such other arrangements as the Department | 11 | | determines
appropriate.
| 12 | | (f-5) (Blank). | 13 | | (g) Families eligible for assistance under this Section | 14 | | shall be given the
following options:
| 15 | | (1) receiving a child care certificate issued by the | 16 | | Department or a
subcontractor of the Department that may be | 17 | | used by the parents as payment for
child care and | 18 | | development services only; or
| 19 | | (2) if space is available, enrolling the child with a | 20 | | child care provider
that has a purchase of service contract | 21 | | with the Department or a subcontractor
of the Department | 22 | | for the provision of child care and development services.
| 23 | | The Department may identify particular priority | 24 | | populations for whom they may
request special | 25 | | consideration by a provider with purchase of service
| 26 | | contracts, provided that the providers shall be permitted |
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| 1 | | to maintain a balance
of clients in terms of household | 2 | | incomes and families and children with special
needs, as | 3 | | defined by rule.
| 4 | | (Source: P.A. 94-320, eff. 1-1-06; 95-206, eff. 8-16-07; | 5 | | 95-322, eff. 1-1-08; 95-876, eff. 8-21-08.)
| 6 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 7 | | becoming law.
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