HB4584 EngrossedLRB104 17615 KTG 31046 b

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 Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities 
5Act is amended 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 cooperate with the federal government in the 
10    administration of the provisions of the federal 
11    Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by the Workforce 
12    Innovation and Opportunity Act, and of the federal Social 
13    Security Act to the extent and in the manner provided in 
14    these Acts.
15        (b) To prescribe and supervise such courses of 
16    vocational training and provide such other services as may 
17    be necessary for the vocational rehabilitation of persons 
18    with one or more disabilities, including the 
19    administrative activities under subsection (e) of this 
20    Section; to cooperate with State and local school 
21    authorities and other recognized agencies engaged in 
22    vocational rehabilitation services; and to cooperate with 
23    the Department of Children and Family Services, the 
 
 
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1    Illinois State Board of Education, and others regarding 
2    the education of children with one or more disabilities.
3        (c) (Blank).
4        (d) To report in writing, to the Governor, annually on 
5    or before the first day of December, and at such other 
6    times and in such manner and upon such subjects as the 
7    Governor may require. The annual report shall contain (1) 
8    information on the programs and activities dedicated to 
9    vocational rehabilitation, independent living, and other 
10    community services and supports administered by the 
11    Director; (2) information on the development of vocational 
12    rehabilitation services, independent living services, and 
13    supporting services administered by the Director in the 
14    State; and (3) information detailing the amounts of money 
15    received from federal, State, and other sources, and of 
16    the objects and purposes to which the respective items of 
17    these several amounts have been devoted.
18        (e) (Blank).
19        (f) To establish a program of services to prevent the 
20    unnecessary institutionalization of persons in need of 
21    long term care and who meet the criteria for blindness or 
22    disability as defined by the Social Security Act, thereby 
23    enabling them to remain in their own homes. Such 
24    preventive services include any or all of the following:
25            (1) personal assistant services;
26            (2) homemaker services;
 
 
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1            (3) home-delivered meals;
2            (4) adult day care services;
3            (5) respite care;
4            (6) home modification or assistive equipment;
5            (7) home health services;
6            (8) electronic home response;
7            (9) brain injury behavioral/cognitive services;
8            (10) brain injury habilitation;
9            (11) brain injury pre-vocational services; or
10            (12) brain injury supported employment.
11        The Department shall establish eligibility standards 
12    for such services taking into consideration the unique 
13    economic and social needs of the population for whom they 
14    are to be provided. Such eligibility standards may be 
15    based on the recipient's ability to pay for services; 
16    provided, however, that any portion of a person's income 
17    that is equal to or less than the "protected income" level 
18    shall not be considered by the Department in determining 
19    eligibility. The "protected income" level shall be 
20    determined by the Department, shall never be less than the 
21    federal poverty standard, and shall be adjusted each year 
22    to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index For All 
23    Urban Consumers as determined by the United States 
24    Department of Labor. The standards must provide that a 
25    person may not have more than $10,000 in assets to be 
26    eligible for the services, and the Department may increase 
 
 
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1    or decrease the asset limitation by rule. The Department 
2    may not decrease the asset level below $10,000. Subject to 
3    federal approval, the Department shall allow a recipient's 
4    spouse, guardian, kin, or siblings to serve as his or her 
5    provider of personal care or similar services.
6        The services shall be provided, as established by the 
7    Department by rule, to eligible persons to prevent 
8    unnecessary or premature institutionalization, to the 
9    extent that the cost of the services, together with the 
10    other personal maintenance expenses of the persons, are 
11    reasonably related to the standards established for care 
12    in a group facility appropriate to their condition. These 
13    non-institutional services, pilot projects or experimental 
14    facilities may be provided as part of or in addition to 
15    those authorized by federal law or those funded and 
16    administered by the Illinois Department on Aging. The 
17    Department shall set rates and fees for services in a fair 
18    and equitable manner. Services identical to those offered 
19    by the Department on Aging shall be paid at the same rate. 
20        Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, 
21    personal assistants shall be paid at a rate negotiated 
22    between the State and an exclusive representative of 
23    personal assistants under a collective bargaining 
24    agreement. In no case shall the Department pay personal 
25    assistants an hourly wage that is less than the federal 
26    minimum wage. Within 30 days after July 6, 2017 (the 
 
 
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1    effective date of Public Act 100-23), the hourly wage paid 
2    to personal assistants and individual maintenance home 
3    health workers shall be increased by $0.48 per hour. Wages 
4    and other benefits for personal assistants shall not count 
5    against benefits that guardians receive as outlined in 
6    Article XIa of the Probate Act of 1975. 
7        Solely for the purposes of coverage under the Illinois 
8    Public Labor Relations Act, personal assistants providing 
9    services under the Department's Home Services Program 
10    shall be considered to be public employees and the State 
11    of Illinois shall be considered to be their employer as of 
12    July 16, 2003 (the effective date of Public Act 93-204), 
13    but not before. Solely for the purposes of coverage under 
14    the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, home care and 
15    home health workers who function as personal assistants 
16    and individual maintenance home health workers and who 
17    also provide services under the Department's Home Services 
18    Program shall be considered to be public employees, no 
19    matter whether the State provides such services through 
20    direct fee-for-service arrangements, with the assistance 
21    of a managed care organization or other intermediary, or 
22    otherwise, and the State of Illinois shall be considered 
23    to be the employer of those persons as of January 29, 2013 
24    (the effective date of Public Act 97-1158), but not before 
25    except as otherwise provided under this subsection (f). 
26    The State shall engage in collective bargaining with an 
 
 
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1    exclusive representative of home care and home health 
2    workers who function as personal assistants and individual 
3    maintenance home health workers working under the Home 
4    Services Program concerning their terms and conditions of 
5    employment that are within the State's control. Nothing in 
6    this paragraph shall be understood to limit the right of 
7    the persons receiving services defined in this Section to 
8    hire and fire home care and home health workers who 
9    function as personal assistants and individual maintenance 
10    home health workers working under the Home Services 
11    Program or to supervise them within the limitations set by 
12    the Home Services Program. The State shall not be 
13    considered to be the employer of home care and home health 
14    workers who function as personal assistants and individual 
15    maintenance home health workers working under the Home 
16    Services Program for any purposes not specifically 
17    provided in Public Act 93-204 or Public Act 97-1158, 
18    including but not limited to, purposes of vicarious 
19    liability in tort and purposes of statutory retirement or 
20    health insurance benefits. Home care and home health 
21    workers who function as personal assistants and individual 
22    maintenance home health workers and who also provide 
23    services under the Department's Home Services Program 
24    shall not be covered by the State Employees Group 
25    Insurance Act of 1971.
26        The Department shall execute, relative to nursing home 
 
 
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1    prescreening, as authorized by Section 4.03 of the 
2    Illinois Act on the Aging, written inter-agency agreements 
3    with the Department on Aging and the Department of 
4    Healthcare and Family Services, to effect the intake 
5    procedures and eligibility criteria for those persons who 
6    may need long term care. On and after July 1, 1996, all 
7    nursing home prescreenings for individuals 18 through 59 
8    years of age shall be conducted by the Department, or a 
9    designee of the Department.
10        The Department is authorized to establish a system of 
11    recipient cost-sharing for services provided under this 
12    Section. The cost-sharing shall be based upon the 
13    recipient's ability to pay for services, but in no case 
14    shall the recipient's share exceed the actual cost of the 
15    services provided. Protected income shall not be 
16    considered by the Department in its determination of the 
17    recipient's ability to pay a share of the cost of 
18    services. The level of cost-sharing shall be adjusted each 
19    year to reflect changes in the "protected income" level. 
20    The Department shall deduct from the recipient's share of 
21    the cost of services any money expended by the recipient 
22    for disability-related expenses.
23        To the extent permitted under the federal Social 
24    Security Act, the Department, or the Department's 
25    authorized representative, may recover the amount of 
26    moneys expended for services provided to or in behalf of a 
 
 
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1    person under this Section by a claim against the person's 
2    estate or against the estate of the person's surviving 
3    spouse, but no recovery may be had until after the death of 
4    the surviving spouse, if any, and then only at such time 
5    when there is no surviving child who is under age 21 or 
6    blind or who has a permanent and total disability. This 
7    paragraph, however, shall not bar recovery, at the death 
8    of the person, of moneys for services provided to the 
9    person or in behalf of the person under this Section to 
10    which the person was not entitled; provided that such 
11    recovery shall not be enforced against any real estate 
12    while it is occupied as a homestead by the surviving 
13    spouse or other dependent, if no claims by other creditors 
14    have been filed against the estate, or, if such claims 
15    have been filed, they remain dormant for failure of 
16    prosecution or failure of the claimant to compel 
17    administration of the estate for the purpose of payment. 
18    This paragraph shall not bar recovery from the estate of a 
19    spouse, under Sections 1915 and 1924 of the Social 
20    Security Act and Section 5-4 of the Illinois Public Aid 
21    Code, who precedes a person receiving services under this 
22    Section in death. All moneys for services paid to or in 
23    behalf of the person under this Section shall be claimed 
24    for recovery from the deceased spouse's estate. 
25    "Homestead", as used in this paragraph, means the dwelling 
26    house and contiguous real estate occupied by a surviving 
 
 
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1    spouse or relative, as defined by the rules and 
2    regulations of the Department of Healthcare and Family 
3    Services, regardless of the value of the property.
4        This paragraph applies to Home Services Program 
5    rehabilitation counselors and to those homemaker agency 
6    employees who provide direct care services to individuals 
7    participating in the Home Services Program. Direct Service 
8    workers shall complete dementia training totaling at least 
9    2 hours at the start of their employment. Those 
10    aforementioned persons employed on the effective date of 
11    this amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly shall 
12    complete this training within 6 months after the effective 
13    date of this amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly. 
14    The training shall cover the following subjects: (1) 
15    Alzheimer's disease and dementia, (2) safety risks, and 
16    (3) communication and behavior. Annual continuing 
17    education training shall include dementia training 
18    totaling at least 2 hours covering the subjects described 
19    in this paragraph. The purpose of this paragraph is to 
20    improve the quality of training for direct service workers 
21    under the Home Services Program. If other laws or rules 
22    existing on the effective date of this amendatory Act of 
23    the 104th General Assembly contain more rigorous dementia 
24    training requirements for specific individuals providing 
25    direct services under the Home Services Program, then 
26    those laws or rules shall continue to apply. An individual 
 
 
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1    who is required to receive dementia training under any 
2    other law or rule may be considered exempt from the 
3    requirements of this paragraph if the other law's or 
4    rule's training requirement includes a minimum 2 hours of 
5    dementia training in the required subjects. The individual 
6    shall be required to show proof that he or she received 
7    dementia training equivalent to the training required 
8    under this paragraph. For individual providers covered by 
9    a collective bargaining agreement, the Department shall 
10    work with the joint training committee established by the 
11    collective bargaining agreement covering individual 
12    providers to discuss parameters and specific topics for 
13    the curriculum covering dementia training as part of the 
14    provided training for individual providers. 
15        (g) To establish such subdivisions of the Department 
16    as shall be desirable and assign to the various 
17    subdivisions the responsibilities and duties placed upon 
18    the Department by law.
19        (h) To cooperate and enter into any necessary 
20    agreements with the Department of Employment Security for 
21    the provision of job placement and job referral services 
22    to clients of the Department, including job service 
23    registration of such clients with Illinois Employment 
24    Security offices and making job listings maintained by the 
25    Department of Employment Security available to such 
26    clients.
 
 
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1        (i) To possess all powers reasonable and necessary for 
2    the exercise and administration of the powers, duties and 
3    responsibilities of the Department which are provided for 
4    by law.
5        (j) (Blank).
6        (k) (Blank).
7        (l) To establish, operate, and maintain a Statewide 
8    Housing Clearinghouse of information on available 
9    government subsidized housing accessible to persons with 
10    disabilities and available privately owned housing 
11    accessible to persons with disabilities. The information 
12    shall include, but not be limited to, the location, rental 
13    requirements, access features and proximity to public 
14    transportation of available housing. The Clearinghouse 
15    shall consist of at least a computerized database for the 
16    storage and retrieval of information and a separate or 
17    shared toll free telephone number for use by those seeking 
18    information from the Clearinghouse. Department offices and 
19    personnel throughout the State shall also assist in the 
20    operation of the Statewide Housing Clearinghouse. 
21    Cooperation with local, State, and federal housing 
22    managers shall be sought and extended in order to 
23    frequently and promptly update the Clearinghouse's 
24    information.
25        (m) To assure that the names and case records of 
26    persons who received or are receiving services from the 
 
 
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1    Department, including persons receiving vocational 
2    rehabilitation, home services, or other services, and 
3    those attending one of the Department's schools or other 
4    supervised facility shall be confidential and not be open 
5    to the general public. Those case records and reports or 
6    the information contained in those records and reports 
7    shall be disclosed by the Director only to proper law 
8    enforcement officials, individuals authorized by a court, 
9    the General Assembly or any committee or commission of the 
10    General Assembly, and other persons and for reasons as the 
11    Director designates by rule. Disclosure by the Director 
12    may be only in accordance with other applicable law.
13(Source: P.A. 102-264, eff. 8-6-21; 102-826, eff. 5-13-22; 
14103-479, eff. 1-1-24.)