Full Text of SB0898 95th General Assembly
SB0898eng 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| AN ACT concerning public aid.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 5. The Illinois Public Aid Code is amended by | 5 |
| changing Section 9A-11 as follows:
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| (305 ILCS 5/9A-11) (from Ch. 23, par. 9A-11)
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| Sec. 9A-11. Child Care.
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| (a) The General Assembly recognizes that families with | 9 |
| children need child
care in order to work. Child care is | 10 |
| expensive and families with low incomes,
including those who | 11 |
| are transitioning from welfare to work, often struggle to
pay | 12 |
| the costs of day care. The
General Assembly understands the | 13 |
| importance of helping low income working
families become and | 14 |
| remain self-sufficient. The General Assembly also believes
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| that it is the responsibility of families to share in the costs | 16 |
| of child care.
It is also the preference of the General | 17 |
| Assembly that all working poor
families should be treated | 18 |
| equally, regardless of their welfare status.
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| (b) To the extent resources permit, the Illinois Department | 20 |
| shall provide
child care services to parents or other relatives | 21 |
| as defined by rule who are
working or participating in | 22 |
| employment or Department approved
education or training | 23 |
| programs. At a minimum, the Illinois Department shall
cover the |
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| following categories of families:
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| (1) recipients of TANF under Article IV participating | 3 |
| in work and training
activities as specified in the | 4 |
| personal plan for employment and
self-sufficiency;
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| (2) families transitioning from TANF to work;
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| (3) families at risk of becoming recipients of TANF;
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| (4) families with special needs as defined by rule; and
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| (5) working families with very low incomes as defined | 9 |
| by rule.
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| The Department shall specify by rule the conditions of | 11 |
| eligibility, the
application process, and the types, amounts, | 12 |
| and duration of services.
Eligibility for
child care benefits | 13 |
| and the amount of child care provided may vary based on
family | 14 |
| size, income,
and other factors as specified by rule.
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| In determining income eligibility for child care benefits, | 16 |
| the Department
annually, at the beginning of each fiscal year, | 17 |
| shall
establish, by rule, one income threshold for each family | 18 |
| size, in relation to
percentage of State median income for a | 19 |
| family of that size, that makes
families with incomes below the | 20 |
| specified threshold eligible for assistance
and families with | 21 |
| incomes above the specified threshold ineligible for
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| assistance. The Through and including fiscal year 2007, the | 23 |
| specified threshold must be no less than 50% of the
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| then-current State median income for each family size. | 25 |
| Beginning in fiscal year 2008, the specified threshold must be | 26 |
| no less than 200% 185% of the then-current federal poverty |
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| level for each family size.
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| In determining eligibility for
assistance, the Department | 3 |
| shall not give preference to any category of
recipients
or give | 4 |
| preference to individuals based on their receipt of benefits | 5 |
| under this
Code.
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| The Department shall allocate $7,500,000 annually for a | 7 |
| test program for
families who are income-eligible for child | 8 |
| care assistance, who
are not recipients of TANF under Article | 9 |
| IV, and who need child care assistance
to participate in | 10 |
| education and training activities. The
Department shall | 11 |
| specify by rule the conditions of eligibility for this test
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| program.
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| Nothing in this Section shall be
construed as conferring | 14 |
| entitlement status to eligible families.
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| The Illinois
Department is authorized to lower income | 16 |
| eligibility ceilings, raise parent
co-payments, create waiting | 17 |
| lists, or take such other actions during a fiscal
year as are | 18 |
| necessary to ensure that child care benefits paid under this
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| Article do not exceed the amounts appropriated for those child | 20 |
| care benefits.
These changes may be accomplished by emergency | 21 |
| rule under Section 5-45 of the
Illinois Administrative | 22 |
| Procedure Act, except that the limitation on the number
of | 23 |
| emergency rules that may be adopted in a 24-month period shall | 24 |
| not apply.
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| The Illinois Department may contract with other State | 26 |
| agencies or child care
organizations for the administration of |
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| child care services.
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| (c) Payment shall be made for child care that otherwise | 3 |
| meets the
requirements of this Section and applicable standards | 4 |
| of State and local
law and regulation, including any | 5 |
| requirements the Illinois Department
promulgates by rule in | 6 |
| addition to the licensure
requirements
promulgated by the | 7 |
| Department of Children and Family Services and Fire
Prevention | 8 |
| and Safety requirements promulgated by the Office of the State
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| Fire Marshal and is provided in any of the following:
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| (1) a child care center which is licensed or exempt | 11 |
| from licensure
pursuant to Section 2.09 of the Child Care | 12 |
| Act of 1969;
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| (2) a licensed child care home or home exempt from | 14 |
| licensing;
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| (3) a licensed group child care home;
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| (4) other types of child care, including child care | 17 |
| provided
by relatives or persons living in the same home as | 18 |
| the child, as determined by
the Illinois Department by | 19 |
| rule.
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| (c-5) (b-5) Solely for the purposes of coverage under the | 21 |
| Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, child and day care home | 22 |
| providers, including licensed and license exempt, | 23 |
| participating in the Department's child care assistance | 24 |
| program shall be considered to be public employees and the | 25 |
| State of Illinois shall be considered to be their employer as | 26 |
| of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th |
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| General Assembly, but not before. The State shall engage in | 2 |
| collective bargaining with an exclusive representative of | 3 |
| child and day care home providers participating in the child | 4 |
| care assistance program concerning their terms and conditions | 5 |
| of employment that are within the State's control. Nothing in | 6 |
| this subsection shall be understood to limit the right of | 7 |
| families receiving services defined in this Section to select | 8 |
| child and day care home providers or supervise them within the | 9 |
| limits of this Section. The State shall not be considered to be | 10 |
| the employer of child and day care home providers for any | 11 |
| purposes not specifically provided in this amendatory Act of | 12 |
| the 94th General Assembly, including but not limited to, | 13 |
| purposes of vicarious liability in tort and purposes of | 14 |
| statutory retirement or health insurance benefits. Child and | 15 |
| day care home providers shall not be covered by the State | 16 |
| Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971. | 17 |
| In according child and day care home providers and their | 18 |
| selected representative rights under the Illinois Public Labor | 19 |
| Relations Act, the State intends that the State action | 20 |
| exemption to application of federal and State antitrust laws be | 21 |
| fully available to the extent that their activities are | 22 |
| authorized by this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly.
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| (d) The Illinois Department shall, by rule, require | 24 |
| co-payments for
child care services by any parent, including | 25 |
| parents whose only income is from
assistance under this Code. | 26 |
| The co-payment shall be assessed based on a
sliding scale based |
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| on family income, family size, and the number of
children in | 2 |
| care. The amount of a family's co-payment shall not exceed the | 3 |
| sum of the following: | 4 |
| (1) 3% of the family's countable income, if any, that | 5 |
| is not more than 100% of the federal poverty level; plus | 6 |
| (2) 7% of the family's countable income, if any, that | 7 |
| is more than 100% of the federal poverty level but not more | 8 |
| than 150% of the federal poverty level; plus | 9 |
| (3) 12% of the family's countable income, if any, that | 10 |
| is more than 150% of the federal poverty level but not more | 11 |
| than 200% of the federal poverty level. | 12 |
| Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, however, if a | 13 |
| family's countable income is less than 50% of the federal | 14 |
| poverty level, the family's co-payment shall be $1 per week. | 15 |
| Co-payments shall not be increased due solely to a change
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| in the methodology for counting family income.
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| (d-5) The Illinois Department, in consultation with its | 18 |
| Child Care and Development Advisory Council, shall develop a | 19 |
| plan to revise the child care assistance program's co-payment | 20 |
| scale. The plan shall be completed no later than February 1, | 21 |
| 2008, and shall include: | 22 |
| (1) findings as to the percentage of income that the | 23 |
| average American family spends on child care and the | 24 |
| relative amounts that low-income families and the average | 25 |
| American family spend on other necessities of life;
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| (2) recommendations for revising the child care |
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| co-payment scale to assure that families receiving child | 2 |
| care services from the Department are paying no more than | 3 |
| they can reasonably afford; | 4 |
| (3) recommendations for revising the child care | 5 |
| co-payment scale to provide at-risk children with complete | 6 |
| access to Preschool for All and Head Start; and | 7 |
| (4) recommendations for changes in child care program | 8 |
| policies that affect the affordability of child care.
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| (e) (Blank).
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| (f) The Illinois Department shall, by rule, set rates to be | 11 |
| paid for the
various types of child care. Child care may be | 12 |
| provided through one of the
following methods:
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| (1) arranging the child care through eligible | 14 |
| providers by use of
purchase of service contracts or | 15 |
| vouchers;
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| (2) arranging with other agencies and community | 17 |
| volunteer groups for
non-reimbursed child care;
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| (3) (blank); or
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| (4) adopting such other arrangements as the Department | 20 |
| determines
appropriate.
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| (f-5) (Blank). | 22 |
| (g) Families eligible for assistance under this Section | 23 |
| shall be given the
following options:
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| (1) receiving a child care certificate issued by the | 25 |
| Department or a
subcontractor of the Department that may be | 26 |
| used by the parents as payment for
child care and |
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| development services only; or
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| (2) if space is available, enrolling the child with a | 3 |
| child care provider
that has a purchase of service contract | 4 |
| with the Department or a subcontractor
of the Department | 5 |
| for the provision of child care and development services.
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| The Department may identify particular priority | 7 |
| populations for whom they may
request special | 8 |
| consideration by a provider with purchase of service
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| contracts, provided that the providers shall be permitted | 10 |
| to maintain a balance
of clients in terms of household | 11 |
| incomes and families and children with special
needs, as | 12 |
| defined by rule.
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| (Source: P.A. 94-320, eff. 1-1-06; 95-206, eff. 8-16-07; | 14 |
| 95-322, eff. 1-1-08; revised 11-15-07.)
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 16 |
| becoming law.
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