Full Text of SB0929 102nd General Assembly
SB0929sam001 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY | Sen. Kimberly A. Lightford Filed: 4/16/2021
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| 1 | | AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 929
| 2 | | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 929 by replacing | 3 | | everything after the enacting clause with the following:
| 4 | | "Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Task | 5 | | Force on
Grandparents Raising their Grandchildren Act. | 6 | | Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds the | 7 | | following: | 8 | | (1) In Illinois, over 200,000 children under the age
| 9 | | of 18 are living with and being cared for by more than | 10 | | 100,000
grandparents. | 11 | | (2) Grandparent caregivers, the majority of whom are
| 12 | | single women ranging in age from 30 to 90 with an average
| 13 | | annual income of $15,000 to $25,000, typically raise one | 14 | | to 2
grandchildren and have been doing so for 5 years or | 15 | | longer. | 16 | | (3) Factors contributing to the growing number of
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| 1 | | grandparents raising grandchildren include, but are not
| 2 | | limited to, alcohol and drug abuse, neglect, abuse,
| 3 | | abandonment, death of a parent, HIV/AIDS, divorce,
| 4 | | unemployment, poverty, parental incarceration, teen | 5 | | pregnancy,
and welfare reform. | 6 | | (4) Due to their assumed caregiving responsibilities,
| 7 | | many grandparents deplete their savings and retirement | 8 | | income
and face severe financial risk and economic strains | 9 | | while
struggling to pay for expenses related to caring for | 10 | | their
grandchildren, such as, but not limited to, food, | 11 | | diapers, clothing, child care, medical treatment, legal | 12 | | assistance, and
housing needs. | 13 | | (5) Many grandparents take custody of and raise their
| 14 | | grandchildren after a harmful incident has been suffered | 15 | | by
their grandchildren that has caused the Department of | 16 | | Children
and Family Services to designate them to be "at | 17 | | risk". | 18 | | (6) Many other grandparents take preventive measures
| 19 | | by choosing to take custody of and raise their | 20 | | grandchildren
prior to their grandchildren suffering a | 21 | | harmful incident when
they recognize that their | 22 | | grandchildren's health, safety, and
welfare are at risk. | 23 | | (7) Grandparents who take custody of their
| 24 | | grandchildren prior to the grandchildren's suffering of a
| 25 | | harmful incident are ineligible for foster care funding | 26 | | and
assistance from the Department of Children and Family |
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| 1 | | Services. | 2 | | (8) The only financial assistance option for this
| 3 | | group of grandparents is "child only" grants from the
| 4 | | Department of Human Services' Temporary Assistance to | 5 | | Needy
Families (TANF) program. | 6 | | (9) The Department of Children and Family Services'
| 7 | | foster care program provides monthly financial assistance | 8 | | that
is 3 to 4 times greater than the TANF "child only"
| 9 | | grants, and it also provides counseling, child care | 10 | | support,
education services, college scholarships, and | 11 | | health services. | 12 | | (10) Grandparents raising grandchildren who are not in
| 13 | | the foster care program are as valuable to the | 14 | | grandchildren and to the State as those who are in the | 15 | | foster care program. | 16 | | (11) A significant function of government is to | 17 | | promote
the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens. | 18 | | Section 10. Task Force on
Grandparents Raising their | 19 | | Grandchildren. | 20 | | (a) The Task Force on
Grandparents Raising their | 21 | | Grandchildren is created and shall be comprised of 10 members | 22 | | of the General Assembly
appointed as follows: | 23 | | (1) Three members of the Senate, one of whom
shall be | 24 | | co-chairperson, appointed by the President of the
Senate. | 25 | | (2) Two members of the Senate appointed by the |
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| 1 | | Minority
Leader of the Senate. | 2 | | (3) Three members of the House of
Representatives, one | 3 | | of whom shall be co-chairperson,
appointed by the Speaker | 4 | | of the House of Representatives. | 5 | | (4) Two
members of the House of Representatives | 6 | | appointed by the
Minority Leader of the House of | 7 | | Representatives. | 8 | | (b) Task Force members shall serve without compensation. | 9 | | The Department on Aging shall provide administrative support | 10 | | to the Task Force. | 11 | | Section 15. Agency reports. The Department on Aging, in | 12 | | collaboration
with the Departments of Children and Family | 13 | | Services, Healthcare and Family Services, and Human Services | 14 | | and any other relevant agencies, shall
issue a report to the | 15 | | Task Force no later than July 1, 2021 that assesses
existing | 16 | | State and federal assistance programs that include the
| 17 | | following: | 18 | | (1) a review of all guaranteed benefits and other
| 19 | | available support provided to grandparents through the
| 20 | | Department of Children and Family Services' foster care
| 21 | | program, including counseling, child care support, | 22 | | education services, college scholarships, and health | 23 | | services; the Children's Health Insurance Program; the
| 24 | | Covering ALL KIDS Health Insurance program; and other | 25 | | relevant programs; |
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| 1 | | (2) a review of all guaranteed benefits and other
| 2 | | available support provided to grandparents through the
| 3 | | Department of Human Services' Temporary Assistance for | 4 | | Needy Families (TANF) program and other relevant
programs; | 5 | | (3) a review of all other means of grandparent-related
| 6 | | support provided by State-funded and federally funded
| 7 | | programs; and | 8 | | (4) the estimated cost to the State if grandparents
| 9 | | were not willing to or refused to take custody of and raise
| 10 | | their grandchildren. | 11 | | Section 20. Public hearings. The Task Force shall hold | 12 | | public hearings throughout the
State regarding services needed | 13 | | by and available to
grandparents raising their grandchildren. | 14 | | Section 25. Task Force reports. The Task Force shall issue | 15 | | a report to the General
Assembly no later than January 1, 2022 | 16 | | that makes
recommendations on changes that should be made to | 17 | | services
provided to grandparents raising their grandchildren | 18 | | through
the foster care and TANF "child-only" grant programs.
| 19 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 20 | | becoming law.".
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