Public Act 103-0303
 
HB2285 EnrolledLRB103 26209 AMQ 52568 b

    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Health Care Worker Background Check Act is
amended by changing Section 15 as follows:
 
    (225 ILCS 46/15)
    Sec. 15. Definitions. In this Act:
    "Applicant" means an individual enrolling in a training
program, seeking employment, whether paid or on a volunteer
basis, with a health care employer who has received a bona fide
conditional offer of employment.
    "Conditional offer of employment" means a bona fide offer
of employment by a health care employer to an applicant, which
is contingent upon the receipt of a report from the Department
of Public Health indicating that the applicant does not have a
record of conviction of any of the criminal offenses
enumerated in Section 25.
    "Department" means the Department of Public Health.
    "Direct care" means the provision of nursing care or
assistance with feeding, dressing, movement, bathing,
toileting, or other personal needs, including home services as
defined in the Home Health, Home Services, and Home Nursing
Agency Licensing Act. The entity responsible for inspecting
and licensing, certifying, or registering the health care
employer may, by administrative rule, prescribe guidelines for
interpreting this definition with regard to the health care
employers that it licenses.
    "Director" means the Director of Public Health.
    "Disqualifying offenses" means those offenses set forth in
Section 25 of this Act.
    "Employee" means any individual hired, employed, or
retained, whether paid or on a volunteer basis, to which this
Act applies.
    "Finding" means the Department's determination of whether
an allegation is verified and substantiated.
    "Fingerprint-based criminal history records check" means a
livescan fingerprint-based criminal history records check
submitted as a fee applicant inquiry in the form and manner
prescribed by the Illinois State Police.
    "Health care employer" means:
        (1) the owner or licensee of any of the following:
            (i) a community living facility, as defined in the
        Community Living Facilities Licensing Act;
            (ii) a life care facility, as defined in the Life
        Care Facilities Act;
            (iii) a long-term care facility;
            (iv) a home health agency, home services agency,
        or home nursing agency as defined in the Home Health,
        Home Services, and Home Nursing Agency Licensing Act;
            (v) a hospice care program or volunteer hospice
        program, as defined in the Hospice Program Licensing
        Act;
            (vi) a hospital, as defined in the Hospital
        Licensing Act;
            (vii) (blank);
            (viii) a nurse agency, as defined in the Nurse
        Agency Licensing Act;
            (ix) a respite care provider, as defined in the
        Respite Program Act;
            (ix-a) an establishment licensed under the
        Assisted Living and Shared Housing Act;
            (x) a supportive living program, as defined in the
        Illinois Public Aid Code;
            (xi) early childhood intervention programs as
        described in 59 Ill. Adm. Code 121;
            (xii) the University of Illinois Hospital,
        Chicago;
            (xiii) programs funded by the Department on Aging
        through the Community Care Program;
            (xiv) programs certified to participate in the
        Supportive Living Program authorized pursuant to
        Section 5-5.01a of the Illinois Public Aid Code;
            (xv) programs listed by the Emergency Medical
        Services (EMS) Systems Act as Freestanding Emergency
        Centers;
            (xvi) locations licensed under the Alternative
        Health Care Delivery Act;
        (2) a day training program certified by the Department
    of Human Services;
        (3) a community integrated living arrangement operated
    by a community mental health and developmental service
    agency, as defined in the Community-Integrated Living
    Arrangements Licensure and Certification Act;
        (4) the State Long Term Care Ombudsman Program,
    including any regional long term care ombudsman programs
    under Section 4.04 of the Illinois Act on the Aging, only
    for the purpose of securing background checks; or
        (5) the Department of Corrections or a third-party
    vendor employing certified nursing assistants working with
    the Department of Corrections; or .
        (6) a financial management services entity contracted
    with the Department of Human Services, Division of
    Developmental Disabilities, which is not the employer of
    personal support workers but supports individuals
    receiving participant directed services, to administer the
    individuals' employer authority. A financial management
    services entity assists participants in completing
    background check requirements, collecting and processing
    time sheets for support workers, and processing payroll,
    withholding, filing, and payment of applicable federal,
    State, and local employment-related taxes and insurance.
    "Initiate" means obtaining from a student, applicant, or
employee his or her social security number, demographics, a
disclosure statement, and an authorization for the Department
of Public Health or its designee to request a
fingerprint-based criminal history records check; transmitting
this information electronically to the Department of Public
Health; conducting Internet searches on certain web sites,
including without limitation the Illinois Sex Offender
Registry, the Department of Corrections' Sex Offender Search
Engine, the Department of Corrections' Inmate Search Engine,
the Department of Corrections Wanted Fugitives Search Engine,
the National Sex Offender Public Registry, and the List of
Excluded Individuals and Entities database on the website of
the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General to
determine if the applicant has been adjudicated a sex
offender, has been a prison inmate, or has committed Medicare
or Medicaid fraud, or conducting similar searches as defined
by rule; and having the student, applicant, or employee's
fingerprints collected and transmitted electronically to the
Illinois State Police.
    "Livescan vendor" means an entity whose equipment has been
certified by the Illinois State Police to collect an
individual's demographics and inkless fingerprints and, in a
manner prescribed by the Illinois State Police and the
Department of Public Health, electronically transmit the
fingerprints and required data to the Illinois State Police
and a daily file of required data to the Department of Public
Health. The Department of Public Health shall negotiate a
contract with one or more vendors that effectively demonstrate
that the vendor has 2 or more years of experience transmitting
fingerprints electronically to the Illinois State Police and
that the vendor can successfully transmit the required data in
a manner prescribed by the Department of Public Health. Vendor
authorization may be further defined by administrative rule.
    "Long-term care facility" means a facility licensed by the
State or certified under federal law as a long-term care
facility, including without limitation facilities licensed
under the Nursing Home Care Act, the Specialized Mental Health
Rehabilitation Act of 2013, the ID/DD Community Care Act, or
the MC/DD Act, a supportive living facility, an assisted
living establishment, or a shared housing establishment or
registered as a board and care home.
    "Resident" means a person, individual, or patient under
the direct care of a health care employer or who has been
provided goods or services by a health care employer.
(Source: P.A. 101-176, eff. 7-31-19; 102-226, eff. 7-30-21;
102-503, eff. 8-20-21; 102-538, eff. 8-20-21; 102-813, eff.
5-13-22.)