(20 ILCS 605/605-435)

Sec. 605-435. Lifelong learning accounts; pilot program.

(a) The Department may establish and maintain a pilot program to provide for and test the use of lifelong learning accounts for workers in the State's healthcare sector. For the purposes of this Section, "lifelong learning account" means an individual asset account held by a trustee, custodian, or fiduciary approved by the Department on behalf of a healthcare employee, the moneys in which may be used only to pay education expenses incurred by or on behalf of the account owner.

(b) The Department, if administering a program under this Section:

(1) may serve up to 500 healthcare workers;

(2) must encourage the participation, in the program, of lower-income and lower-skilled healthcare workers;

(3) must implement the program in diverse geographic and economic areas and include healthcare workers in urban, suburban, and rural areas of the State;

(4) must include, in the program, healthcare employers of different sizes that choose to participate in the program;

(5) must provide matching grants in an amount, not to exceed $500 annually for each grant, equal to 50% of the annual aggregate contribution made by an employer and employee to the employee's lifelong learning account;

(6) must make technical assistance available to companies and educational and career advising available to individual participants.

(c) The establishment of program under this Section is discretionary on the part of the Department and is subject to appropriation.

(d) The Department may adopt any rules necessary to administer the provisions of this Section.

(Source: P.A. 94-1006, eff. 7-3-06; 95-331, eff. 8-21-07.)