HB5504 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB097 17776 KMW 62991 b

97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2011 and 2012
HB5504

Introduced 2/15/2012, by Rep. Brandon W. Phelps

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

55 ILCS 5/5-21001

from Ch. 34, par. 5-21001

Amends the Counties Code. Authorizes a county board, by resolution, to transfer, sell, lease, dispose of, or terminate services provided by, the county's sheltered care or nursing home facilities. Sets forth procedures concerning the adoption of the resolution and public notice. Further provides that a county may elect to continue to operate and maintain sheltered care or nursing home facilities or to continue to levy and have extended and collected any authorized tax for up to 10 years. Authorizes the county to be paid or reimbursed for operating and maintenance costs incurred, including but not limited to delays or failures of federal, State, or local payments related to the sheltered care or nursing home facilities, from general funds, fund transfers, tax or revenue anticipation notes, or other financing obligations. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning local government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Counties Code is amended by changing Section 5-21001 as follows:

(55 ILCS 5/5-21001) (from Ch. 34, par. 5-21001)

Sec. 5-21001. Establishment and maintenance of county home. In any county which establishes and maintains a county sheltered care home or a county nursing home for the care of infirm or chronically ill persons, as provided in Section 5-1005, the County Board shall have power:

1. To acquire in the name of the county by purchase, grant, gift, or legacy, a suitable tract or tracts of land upon which to erect and maintain the home, and in connection therewith a farm or acreage for the purpose of providing supplies for the home and employment for such patients as are able to work and benefit thereby.

The board shall expend not more than $20,000 for the purchase of any such land or the erection of buildings without a 2/3 vote of all its members in counties of 300,000 or more population, or a favorable vote of at least a majority of all its members in counties under 300,000 population.

2. To receive in the name of the county, gifts and legacies to aid in the erection or maintenance of the home.

3. To appoint a superintendent and all necessary employees for the management and control of the home and to prescribe their compensation and duties.

4. To arrange for physicians' services and other medical care for the patients in the home and prescribe the compensation and duties of physicians so designated.

5. To control the admission and discharge of patients in the home.

6. To fix the rate per day, week, or month which it will charge for care and maintenance of the patients. Rates so established may vary according to the amount of care required, but the rates shall be uniform for all persons or agencies purchasing care in the home except rates for persons who are able to purchase their own care may approximate actual cost.

7. To make all rules and regulations for the management of the home and of the patients therein.

8. To make appropriations from the county treasury for the purchase of land and the erection of buildings for the home, and to defray the expenses necessary for the care and maintenance of the home and for providing maintenance, personal care and nursing services to the patients therein, and to cause an amount sufficient for those purposes to be levied upon the taxable property of the counties and collected as other taxes and further providing that in counties with a population of not more than 1,000,000 to levy and collect annually a tax of not to exceed .1% of the value, as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue, of all the taxable property in the county for these purposes. The tax shall be in addition to all other taxes which the county is authorized to levy on the aggregate valuation of the property within the county and shall not be included in any limitation of the tax rate upon which taxes are required to be extended, but shall be excluded therefrom and in addition thereto. The tax shall be levied and collected in like manner as the general taxes of the county, and when collected, shall be paid into a special fund in the county treasury and used only as herein authorized. No such tax shall be levied or increased from a rate lower than the maximum rate in any such county until the question of levying such tax has first been submitted to the voters of such county at an election held in such county, and has been approved by a majority of such voters voting thereon. The corporate authorities shall certify the question of levying such tax to the proper election officials, who shall submit the question to the voters at an election held in accordance with the general election law.

The proposition shall be in substantially the following form:

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Shall ........ County be authorized to levy and collect a tax at a rate not YES to exceed .1% for the purpose of -------------------

........ (purchasing, maintaining) a NO county nursing home?

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If a majority of votes cast on the question are in favor, the county shall be authorized to levy the tax.

If the county has levied such tax at a rate lower than the maximum rate set forth in this Section, the county board may increase the rate of the tax, but not to exceed such maximum rate, by certifying the proposition of such increase to the proper election officials for submission to the voters of the county at a regular election in accordance with the general election law. The proposition shall be in substantially the following form:

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Shall the maximum rate of the tax levied by........ YES County for the purpose of....... (purchasing, maintaining) a ----------------------------

county nursing home be increased from........ to NO ........ (not to exceed .1%)

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If a majority of all the votes cast upon the proposition are in favor thereof, the county board may levy the tax at a rate not to exceed the rate set forth in this Section.

9. Upon the vote of a 2/3 majority of all the members of the board, to sell, dispose of or lease for any term, any part of the home properties in such manner and upon such terms as it deems best for the interest of the county, and to make and execute all necessary conveyances thereof in the same manner as other conveyances of real estate may be made by a county. However, if the home was erected after referendum approval by the voters of the county, it shall not be sold or disposed of except after referendum approval thereof by a majority of the voters of the county voting thereon.

If the home was erected after referendum approval by the voters of the county, the county nursing home may be leased upon the vote of a 3/5 majority of all the members of the board.

10. To operate a sheltered care home as a part of a county nursing home provided that a license to do so is obtained pursuant to the Nursing Home Care Act, as amended.

11. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Code, the county board, by public or private offer, may transfer, sell, lease, dispose of, or otherwise terminate services provided by, the county's sheltered care or nursing home facilities.

(a) The county board, by resolution, may authorize contracts and agreements for the transfer, sale, lease, or other disposition of the county's sheltered care or nursing home facilities to a public or private corporation or other entity, sheltered care facility, nursing home facility, hospital facility, health care facility, or unit of local government, or may otherwise terminate services of the county's sheltered care or nursing home facilities, provided that the county board finds and determines that any termination, transfer, sale, lease, or other disposition is in the county's, residents', patients', and users' best interests. At least 10 days before the adoption of a resolution authorizing the termination, transfer, lease, or other disposition the county board shall make the proposed resolution available for public inspection and shall hold at least one public hearing on the proposed resolution. At least 10 days before the public hearing, notice of the hearing shall be published in one or more newspapers having general circulation within the county. The notice shall state the date, time and place of the hearing, and the place where copies of the proposed resolution will be available for examination.

(b) If a county transfers, sells, leases, or disposes of its sheltered care or nursing home facilities, then the county may elect to continue to operate and maintain those facilities, to continue to levy and have extended and collected any tax authorized under paragraph 8, and to exercise powers, functions, and authority pursuant to this paragraph 11 as the county board may find desirable or necessary, for up to 10 years. After 10 years, the ability to levy a tax authorized under paragraph 8 shall cease. The county may be paid or reimbursed for operating and maintenance costs incurred by the county, including but not limited to delays or failures of federal, State, or local payments related to the sheltered care or nursing home facilities, from general funds, fund transfers, tax or revenue anticipation notes, or other financing obligations.

(Source: P.A. 89-185, eff. 1-1-96.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.