HB2446eng 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB2446 Engrossed LRB094 04235 DRJ 38875 b

AN ACT concerning regulation.

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

Section 5. The Developmental Disability and Mental Disability Services Act is amended by adding Section 2-4.5 as follows:

(405 ILCS 80/2-4.5 new)

Sec. 2-4.5. Autism; community-based residential services; pilot program.

(a) Subject to appropriation, the Department of Human Services shall create a pilot program to provide community-based residential services to individuals with severe autism who are 21 years of age or older. The Department shall contract with providers of alternative residential services to persons with severe autism who would otherwise be served in an institutional setting.

(b) The Department shall be responsible for, but not limited to, providing the following:

(1) Screening of individuals with severe autism who are 21 years of age or older to determine whether these individuals could be served in a residential setting at a cost that does not exceed the cost of caring for them in an institutional setting.

(2) Training and supports for both adults with severe autism and the staff working with those individuals.

(3) Vocational agricultural opportunities for those individuals placed at the designated community-based setting.

(c) The Department shall adopt rules to implement this Section.

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