Public Act 098-0504
 
SB2339 EnrolledLRB098 10715 JDS 41041 b

    AN ACT concerning government.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Intergovernmental Cooperation Act is
amended by changing Section 6 as follows:
 
    (5 ILCS 220/6)  (from Ch. 127, par. 746)
    Sec. 6. Joint self-insurance. An intergovernmental
contract may, among other undertakings, authorize public
agencies to jointly self-insure and authorize each public
agency member of the contract to utilize its funds to pay to a
joint insurance pool its costs and reserves to protect, wholly
or partially, itself or any public agency member of the
contract against liability or loss in the designated insurable
area.
    A joint insurance pool shall have an annual audit performed
by an independent certified public accountant and shall file an
annual audited financial report with the Director of Insurance
no later than 150 days after the end of the pool's immediately
preceding fiscal year. The Director of Insurance shall issue
rules necessary to implement this audit and report requirement.
The rule shall establish the due date for filing the initial
annual audited financial report. Within 30 days after January
1, 1991, and within 30 days after each January 1 thereafter,
public agencies that are jointly self-insured to protect
against liability under the Workers' Compensation Act and the
Workers' Occupational Diseases Act shall file with the Illinois
Workers' Compensation Commission a report indicating an
election to self-insure.
    The joint insurance pool shall also annually file with the
Director a statement of actuarial opinion by an independent
actuary who is an associate or fellow in a casualty actuarial
society that the pool's reserves are in accordance with sound
loss-reserving standards and adequate for the payment of
claims. This opinion shall be filed no later than 150 days
after the end of each fiscal year. The joint insurance pool
shall be exempt from filing a statement of actuarial opinion by
an independent actuary who is an associate or fellow in a
casualty actuarial society that the joint insurance pool's
reserves are in accordance with sound loss-reserving standards
and payment of claims for the primary level of coverage if the
joint insurance pool files with the Director, by the reporting
deadline, a statement of actuarial opinion from the provider of
the joint pool's aggregate coverage, reinsurance, or other
similar excess insurance coverage.
    The Director may assess penalties against a joint insurance
pool that fails to comply with the auditing, statement of
actuarial opinion, and examination requirements of this
Section in an amount equal to $500 per day for each violation,
up to a maximum of $10,000 for each violation. The Director (or
his or her staff) or a Director-selected independent auditor
(or actuarial firm) that is not owned or affiliated with an
insurance brokerage firm, insurance company, or other
insurance industry affiliated entity may examine, as often as
the Director deems advisable, the affairs, transactions,
accounts, records, and assets and liabilities of each joint
insurance pool that fails to comply with this Section. The
joint insurance pool shall cooperate fully with the Director's
representatives in all evaluations and audits of the joint
insurance pool and resolve issues raised in those evaluations
and audits. The failure to resolve those issues may constitute
a violation of this Section, and may, after notice and an
opportunity to be heard, result in the imposition of penalties
pursuant to this Section. No sanctions under this Section may
become effective until 30 days after the date that a notice of
sanctions is delivered by registered or certified mail to the
joint insurance pool. The Director shall have the authority to
extend the time for filing any statement by any joint insurance
pool for reasons that he or she considers good and sufficient.
    If a joint insurance pool requires a member to submit
written notice in order for the member to withdraw from a
qualified pool, then the period in which the member must
provide the written notice cannot be greater than 120 days,
except that this requirement applies only to joint insurance
pool agreements entered into, modified, or renewed on or after
the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 98th General
Assembly.
    For purposes of this Section, "public agency member" means
any public agency defined or created under this Act, any local
public entity as defined in Section 1-206 of the Local
Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, and
any public agency, authority, instrumentality, council, board,
service region, district, unit, bureau, or, commission, or any
municipal corporation, college, or university, whether
corporate or otherwise, and any other local governmental body
or similar entity that is presently existing or created after
the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General
Assembly, whether or not specified in this Section. Only public
agency members with tax receipts, tax revenues, taxing
authority, or other resources sufficient to pay costs and to
service debt related to intergovernmental activities described
in this Section, or public agency members created by or as part
of a public agency with these powers, may enter into contracts
or otherwise associate among themselves as permitted in this
Section.
    No joint insurance pool or other intergovernmental
cooperative offering health insurance shall interfere with the
statutory obligation of any public agency member to bargain
over or to reach agreement with a labor organization over a
mandatory subject of collective bargaining as those terms are
used in the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act. No
intergovernmental contract of insurance offering health
insurance shall limit the rights or obligations of public
agency members to engage in collective bargaining, and it shall
be unlawful for a joint insurance pool or other
intergovernmental cooperative offering health insurance to
discriminate against public agency members or otherwise
retaliate against such members for limiting their
participation in a joint insurance pool as a result of a
collective bargaining agreement.
    It shall not be considered a violation of this Section for
an intergovernmental contract of insurance relating to health
insurance coverage, life insurance coverage, or both to permit
the pool or cooperative, if a member withdraws employees or
officers into a union-sponsored program, to re-price the costs
of benefits provided to the continuing employees or officers
based upon the same underwriting criteria used by that pool or
cooperative in the normal course of its business, but no member
shall be expelled from a pool or cooperative if the continuing
employees or officers meet the general criteria required of
other members.
(Source: P.A. 93-721, eff. 1-1-05; 94-685, eff. 11-2-05.)