[ Search ] [ Legislation ] [ Bill Summary ]
[ Home ] [ Back ] [ Bottom ]
| [ House Amendment 001 ] | [ House Amendment 002 ] |
90_HB1460
305 ILCS 5/4-20 new
305 ILCS 5/12-4.32 new
Amends the Public Aid Code. Requires the Department of
Public Aid to implement a family responsibility program for
AFDC recipients to provide education, employability-skills
training, and other services designed to make program
participants self-sufficient. States the legislature's intent
that the family responsibility program serve as the
"alternative program" to replace AFDC that is required under
Public Act 89-6. Requires the Department to submit a plan for
statewide implementation by January 1, 1998 and requires
statewide implementation by July 1, 1998. Effective
immediately.
LRB9000215DJsbA
LRB9000215DJsbA
1 AN ACT to amend the Illinois Public Aid Code by adding
2 Sections 4-20 and 12-4.32.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The Illinois Public Aid Code is amended by
6 adding Sections 4-20 and 12-4.32 as follows:
7 (305 ILCS 5/4-20 new)
8 Sec. 4-20. Family responsibility program.
9 (a) Legislative intent. The purpose of the family
10 responsibility program is to provide short-term comprehensive
11 services that concentrate on moving participants along the
12 continuum from dependence on society through independence to
13 the opportunity to contribute to society. The family
14 responsibility program exists to meet the transitional needs
15 of program participants who need assistance toward achieving
16 independent, productive lives and gaining the responsibility
17 that comes with self-sufficiency. The family responsibility
18 program must be delivered in a manner consistent with the
19 preservation and encouragement of self-worth, both for those
20 who receive the services and for those who deliver the
21 services. It is the legislature's intent that the family
22 responsibility program serve as the "alternative program of
23 mutual responsibility between the Illinois Department and the
24 client" that is required under Section 4-0.5.
25 It is the legislature's intent to implement this Section
26 statewide by July 1, 1998.
27 It is the legislature's intent that the family
28 responsibility program be implemented in its entirety and
29 that the provisions authorizing enhanced benefits not be
30 implemented without specific benefit limitations.
31 (b) Definitions. In this Section:
-2- LRB9000215DJsbA
1 "Bootstrap training" means a process in which an employed
2 person who has been a participant in the family
3 responsibility program continues education through self-study
4 instruction, technical skills training, or other educational
5 endeavors.
6 "Case management" means a method by which the employment
7 counselor or case manager ensures that services are provided
8 based on assessing the needs of the participant and the
9 participant's family, and then arranging, coordinating,
10 monitoring, evaluating, and advocating on behalf of the
11 participant. "Case management" pertains to the development
12 and implementation of the participant's employability plan.
13 "Employability plan" means an agreement developed for
14 each participant that clearly delineates the participant's
15 obligations and the program activities that the participant
16 must complete, as well as the Illinois Department's
17 responsibilities in assisting the participant to comply with
18 the employability plan. The plan shall be signed by the
19 participant and the employment counselor, reviewed at least
20 every 6 months by the participant and the employment
21 counselor to evaluate the plan's effectiveness, and updated
22 on an ongoing basis as needs and circumstances warrant. The
23 employability plan review may not interfere with the
24 participant's work or education program. Except for
25 participants determined appropriate for up-front job search,
26 the employability plan shall be developed before assigning
27 any participant to an activity other than assessment.
28 "Family responsibility program" or "program" means the
29 aid recipient's responsibility program and involves a pact
30 between service deliverers and participants under which
31 enhanced benefits and services are provided in exchange for
32 increased participant responsibility.
33 "Participant" means any person participating in the
34 family responsibility program.
-3- LRB9000215DJsbA
1 "Review panel" means the local panel selected by the
2 Illinois Department to assist in reviewing the sufficiency of
3 the Illinois Department's delivery of enhanced family
4 responsibility program services and the progress of family
5 responsibility program participants.
6 "Workfare" means an employability-skills training
7 program, consisting primarily of unpaid work performed for a
8 public agency or a nonprofit agency, which provides to the
9 participant, in exchange for benefits under the family
10 responsibility program, the opportunity to develop basic work
11 skills, to practice and improve existing skills, to acquire
12 on-the-job experience, and to meet the goal of long-term
13 self-sufficiency. A participant in workfare is not an
14 employee of the State and is not subject to the Workers'
15 Compensation Act.
16 (c) Family responsibility program; general provisions.
17 (1) The Illinois Department shall begin to
18 implement the family responsibility program as soon as
19 possible, but no later than 3 months after it receives
20 necessary federal waivers and sufficient funds.
21 (2) The Illinois Department shall immediately
22 request all waivers of federal law and regulations
23 necessary to implement the program. The Illinois
24 Department may redirect current support funds offered to
25 family responsibility program participants to optimize
26 the effectiveness of the funds in this program, shall
27 report to the chairmen of the appropriate substantive
28 committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives
29 on the waivers that are being used, shall compile data
30 evaluating the use of waivers as part of evaluating the
31 program, and shall recommend annually any program changes
32 that need to be incorporated as progress toward statewide
33 implementation is made.
34 In developing and implementing the program, the
-4- LRB9000215DJsbA
1 Illinois Department shall ensure that the program
2 complies with all applicable federal laws and regulations
3 that have not been waived.
4 (3) The program shall provide an identical array of
5 time-limited, concentrated transitional services as
6 delineated in the employability plan developed for each
7 participant.
8 Participation in the family responsibility program
9 for participants who meet statewide eligibility standards
10 under this Article, as well as in a workfare program,
11 shall be mandatory. Each participant who is assessed as
12 job-ready shall, after an initial 3 weeks of job search,
13 participate in the employability-skills training program
14 for at least 30 hours per week. A participant may,
15 however, be exempted from participation in the
16 employability-skills training program if day care and
17 transportation are not available or if the participant is
18 participating in an allowable federal job-opportunities
19 and basic-skills activity that provides education or
20 training, for at least 30 hours per week or full time, as
21 designated by the education or training institution. The
22 employability-skills training program shall meet all
23 federal requirements.
24 (4) The Illinois Department shall encourage (i)
25 maintaining the currency of immunizations under Sections
26 4-4.1 and 5-21 and (ii) preventive health for the
27 participant family's children and shall provide
28 information on the full range of voluntary public health
29 services as part of the program's integrated services
30 delivery system. The information must be made available
31 at the yearly or periodic redetermination review, and
32 information about the services must be provided during
33 the program's application and orientation process.
34 The Illinois Department shall advise program
-5- LRB9000215DJsbA
1 applicants for aid under this Article of the availability
2 of standard childhood immunizations through the county or
3 multiple-county public health department. At the 6-month
4 review, if the participant fails to submit proof of
5 immunizations, the employment counselor shall notify the
6 review panel. At its scheduled review, the review panel
7 shall take into consideration the failure of the
8 participant to provide proof of immunization. The
9 Illinois Department shall address barriers that render
10 the participant unable to comply with the immunization
11 requirement.
12 The Illinois Department shall conduct the program's
13 application and orientation process on a daily basis and
14 shall strongly encourage noncustodial parents as well as
15 custodial parents to attend.
16 (5) If a participant family ceases to receive aid
17 under this Article because the family moves out of
18 Illinois or becomes ineligible for aid under this Article
19 and the family later begins again to receive aid under
20 this Article, the duration limitation on the monthly
21 payment applies as though the family never ceased to
22 receive aid under this Article. If, however, the family
23 has been ineligible for aid under this Article for at
24 least 36 consecutive months before reapplying for aid
25 under this Article, this paragraph (5) does not apply.
26 (d) Evaluation. The Illinois Department shall conduct,
27 through contract, a comprehensive evaluation of the program
28 operated under this Section. An initial phase of the
29 evaluation must be designed to monitor the extent to which
30 the family responsibility program is being implemented,
31 including validation of estimated program costs and savings
32 related to factors such as child care, other support
33 services, aid under this Article, staffing ratios, and
34 service integration.
-6- LRB9000215DJsbA
1 The initial phase of the evaluation shall provide
2 information on the preliminary outcomes of the program,
3 including rates of job placement and job retention and
4 participant salary levels. The Illinois Department shall
5 report results of the initial evaluation within 18 months
6 after the program begins.
7 Following the initial implementation of the program, a
8 subsequent phase of evaluation shall be conducted to
9 determine the impact of the family responsibility program on
10 participants. The evaluation shall include, but need not be
11 limited to, the following:
12 (1) The effect of the program on post-program
13 levels of earnings and receipt of public assistance.
14 (2) The effect of the program on longer-term job
15 retention and welfare recidivism.
16 (3) Estimates of the impact of the family
17 responsibility program on aggregate expenditures for aid
18 under Article IV, food stamps, aid under Article V, child
19 care, other support services, funds expended under the
20 Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS)
21 program, the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA), and
22 similar publicly-funded programs and services.
23 If the Director determines that procurement procedures
24 for the evaluation will delay the application or approval of
25 any required federal waivers or would otherwise delay initial
26 implementation of the family responsibility program beyond
27 July 1, 1998, the Director may proceed with the procurement,
28 notwithstanding any provisions of the Illinois Purchasing
29 Act. The professional standards of any contractor selected
30 shall, however, be consistent with the provisions of this
31 subsection, and the amount of the contract may not exceed the
32 amounts appropriated for this purpose.
33 (e) Illinois Department's responsibilities. To improve
34 efficiency, the Illinois Department shall promote innovative
-7- LRB9000215DJsbA
1 approaches to the delivery of program services that foster
2 the development of entrepreneurial program efforts among
3 participants. To this end, the Illinois Department shall
4 establish a task force comprised of representatives of the
5 Department of Employment Security, the Department of Commerce
6 and Community Affairs, consumers, business leaders, private
7 industry councils as defined in the Illinois Emergency
8 Employment Development Act, and other appropriate community
9 agencies or organizations that can develop opportunities that
10 emphasize enterprise development for participants in the
11 program.
12 The Illinois Department shall develop a procedure for
13 determining the employability of program participants when
14 they enter the program. Those participants who are found to
15 be job-ready must be referred to job-search programs.
16 Screening criteria may include, but are not limited to, work
17 experience, academic or vocational aptitudes, and length of
18 time on public assistance.
19 Each participant who is not initially referred to a
20 job-search program must be provided with family-centered case
21 management beginning with screening or with an assessment to
22 determine appropriate services, followed by development and
23 implementation of a mutually understood employability plan
24 that includes, but need not be limited to, the provision of
25 necessary education, training, motivation, and other related
26 support services and that culminates in the participant
27 family's self-sufficiency through employment.
28 For staff who deal directly with participants, the
29 Illinois Department shall provide training to encourage a
30 positive staff attitude, an understanding of the goals of the
31 family responsibility program, and the necessary capabilities
32 to accomplish these goals.
33 The Illinois Department shall provide to participants
34 full notification of all benefit limitations and mutual
-8- LRB9000215DJsbA
1 expectations. Full notification must be made a part of the
2 employability plan.
3 The Illinois Department shall expand existing Job
4 Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS) programs and
5 establish bootstrap training programs that include education,
6 training, apprenticeship, and work internships, with priority
7 placed on assisting participants to achieve self-sufficiency
8 by obtaining employment or higher-paying jobs. The Illinois
9 Department may establish a bootstrap training initiative,
10 including formal motivational training, to cultivate positive
11 attitudes, self-esteem, and personal responsibility and to
12 increase the participants' likelihood of achieving
13 self-sufficiency.
14 At least once every 6 months, the case manager shall
15 conduct a review to ensure that the participant is making
16 progress on the employability plan. After the evaluation,
17 the case manager shall advise the participant as to the
18 progress made.
19 The Illinois Department shall work with other units of
20 State and local government, including with housing
21 authorities through innovative, cooperative rent-subsidy
22 programs, toward reducing disincentives to employment and
23 shall conduct public-awareness programs that provide
24 effective community understanding of the new opportunities to
25 achieve self-sufficiency.
26 The Illinois Department may offer, where appropriate,
27 vouchers for the purchase of various types of program
28 services from a menu of appropriate services, which may
29 include child care and transportation.
30 (f) Benefit limitations and enhanced services applicable
31 to all participants. Except as otherwise provided in this
32 Section, aid under this Article may not be received for more
33 than 24 months in any 60-month period by applicants and
34 current recipients, except that those recipients who have
-9- LRB9000215DJsbA
1 received aid under this Article for 36 of the past 60 months,
2 or who are under 24 years old, have no high school diploma or
3 are not currently in high school or a high school equivalency
4 program, and have little or no work history in the past year,
5 may not receive aid under this Article for more than 36
6 months out of any 72-month period.
7 The family responsibility program review panel may
8 approve or disapprove a maximum of 2 extensions of the time
9 limit on receipt of aid under this Article of up to 4 months
10 each. These extensions may be granted only if the
11 participant has substantially met the requirement of the
12 participant's employability plan and has encountered
13 extraordinary difficulties in obtaining employment.
14 Participants who are granted an extension to the benefit time
15 limits remain responsible for meeting all program
16 requirements.
17 The following persons are exempt from the time limits on
18 receipt of aid under this Article contained in this Section:
19 (1) A disabled or incapacitated adult.
20 (2) A full-time caretaker of a disabled dependent
21 person.
22 (3) A caretaker relative whose needs are not
23 included in the grant under this Article.
24 (4) A person who is under 18 years of age who
25 remains in an educational program or is working at least
26 30 hours per week to support his or her family.
27 (5) A parent who has a child who is 6 months of age
28 or younger.
29 (6) A recipient who is 62 years of age or older.
30 Exempted persons generally are not eligible for enhanced
31 program services but may choose to participate if they would
32 have been included in the program except for the exemption.
33 The Illinois Department may provide selected appropriate
34 enhanced services to exempted persons if funds are available.
-10- LRB9000215DJsbA
1 Exempted persons and persons who do not opt for time-limited
2 benefits continue to be eligible for all services and
3 benefits provided in accordance with State and federal law.
4 (g) Review panels. Upon selection of the demonstration
5 project locations, there shall be established at least one
6 review panel for each county to assist in reviewing the
7 sufficiency of the Illinois Department's delivery of enhanced
8 family responsibility program services as required in this
9 Section and the progress of participants. Each review panel
10 shall consist of 7 members and shall include a member of the
11 county welfare services committee, a member of a private
12 industry council as defined in the Illinois Emergency
13 Employment Development Act, a participant or former
14 participant in the family responsibility program, 2 members
15 of the local business community, one member of the education
16 community, and one member representing the general public.
17 The chief administrative officer of the County Department in
18 each county shall submit nominees for each review panel
19 established in that county to the Illinois Department for
20 confirmation. The member of the review panel representing the
21 county welfare services committee shall serve as interim
22 chairperson until a permanent chairperson is elected by the
23 members of the panel.
24 The Illinois Department shall provide support staff and
25 services for the review panels and shall provide all review
26 panel members with intensive training in public assistance
27 issues and the goals of the family responsibility program.
28 Review panels shall operate under the auspices of the
29 county welfare services committees, but all determinations
30 must be made independently of the Illinois Department.
31 Review panel members, while serving on review panels, are
32 agents of the State for purposes of sovereign immunity.
33 The review panels shall do the following:
34 (1) Review every 9 months the cases of participants
-11- LRB9000215DJsbA
1 who are failing to meet the requirements of their
2 employability plans or to meet program requirements.
3 This review shall include an evaluation of the
4 sufficiency of the Illinois Department's efforts to meet
5 its responsibilities under the program.
6 (2) Approve or disapprove applications for the
7 extension of the time limit on aid under this Article
8 pursuant to subsection (f). The Illinois Department's
9 failure to substantially provide sufficient services as
10 specified in the family responsibility program
11 employability plan shall be considered by the review
12 panel in evaluating an application for the extension of
13 the time limit on benefits and may void or modify the
14 time limit on benefits. The participant and the
15 participant's advocate may review and obtain copies of
16 all documents concerning the participant, including
17 documents submitted to the review panel, at least 10 days
18 before the review hearing is held. The participant and
19 the participant's advocate may question the case manager
20 at the review hearing and submit information for
21 consideration by the review committee. The review
22 panel's decision shall be in writing.
23 The participant's case manager shall submit the
24 participant's entire case file and prepare the information
25 presented to the review panel for the participant's review
26 hearing, and the participant may bring an advocate to the
27 review hearing.
28 Review panel members shall serve without compensation but
29 are entitled to receive reimbursement for per diem and travel
30 expenses.
31 Nothing in this Section precludes any participant from
32 seeking a standard fair hearings process review procedure in
33 addition to the review panel proceedings. The participant
34 must be informed of this option by the Illinois Department.
-12- LRB9000215DJsbA
1 (h) County administrator review. In addition to the
2 review conducted by the review panel, the chief
3 administrative officer of the County Department in each
4 county ("the chief county administrator") shall conduct a
5 full durational review of each participant in the county
6 reaching the end of the benefit eligibility period with the
7 option of removing the parent's needs from the grant under
8 this Article and assigning a protective payee in any
9 situation in which grant cancellation would result in the
10 need to move a child into substitute care. After assessing
11 the situation, the chief county administrator shall determine
12 whether to remove the parent's needs from the grant and
13 assign a protective payee or to remove the parent's needs
14 from the grant but continue the grant for the child in the
15 name of the parent. Termination of full benefits under this
16 Article may not occur unless the chief county administrator
17 makes a determination that termination is not likely to
18 result in the child being placed into emergency shelter or
19 foster care.
20 (i) Enhanced services; participant responsibilities.
21 The asset-accumulation limit for each participant family is
22 $5,000 per family, plus a vehicle of reasonable worth needed
23 primarily for self-sufficiency purposes, in order not to
24 discourage the accumulation of assets for purposes such as
25 education, employment, training, improved housing, or the
26 development of a business.
27 To be eligible to participate in the program, the
28 participant must meet statewide eligibility requirements
29 under this Article. Thereafter, in computing a participant
30 family's eligibility for continued program benefits, the
31 following amounts must be disregarded:
32 (1) The first $200 of a participant's monthly gross
33 earnings and 50% of all additional earned income.
34 (2) Amounts earned during the summer by a teenager
-13- LRB9000215DJsbA
1 who has remained in school throughout the previous
2 academic year and who has not yet graduated from high
3 school.
4 (3) The income of a stepparent whose needs are not
5 included in the assistance unit. The duration of the
6 income exclusion allowed under this paragraph may not
7 exceed 6 months.
8 The Illinois Department shall inform participants of the
9 advantages of the earned-income tax credit option that is
10 available as a wage supplement for low-wage working families
11 with children and shall encourage them to take advantage of
12 that credit.
13 A child who is a full-time student in secondary school or
14 vocational training or the equivalent, and who is expected to
15 complete the program by age 19, is eligible for basic
16 benefits under this Article until his or her 19th birthday.
17 A participant family that meets the requirements of
18 Section 9A-11 may receive 12 additional months of
19 transitional child care benefits, in addition to the child
20 care benefits provided under that Section. During those
21 additional months of subsidized child care benefits,
22 participants shall pay a child care fee based on a sliding
23 scale.
24 With respect to aid under Article V, the Illinois
25 Department shall eliminate the periodic reporting requirement
26 and extend benefits for 12 full months for employed
27 participant families who lose their eligibility for aid under
28 this Article due to earnings.
29 Each participant with a school-age child shall have a
30 conference with an appropriate school official of the child's
31 school during each grading period to ensure that the
32 participant is involved in the child's educational progress
33 and is aware of any existing attendance or academic problems.
34 If a participant fails without good cause, as defined by
-14- LRB9000215DJsbA
1 the Illinois Department in rules, to participate in any
2 required family responsibility program activity, the Illinois
3 Department shall impose sanctions against the participant to
4 the fullest extent allowable under federal law. The Illinois
5 Department shall request a waiver from the United States
6 Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, so
7 that, when a participant's benefits under this Article are
8 reduced due to sanctions, that participant's food stamp
9 benefits do not increase because of the reduced benefits.
10 (j) Court-ordered participation. Upon notification that
11 a dependent child's parent who is absent from the home is
12 unemployed or underemployed, the court may order that parent
13 to participate in work experience, job training activities,
14 or education for up to 40 hours per week. A parent who fails
15 without good cause to participate as ordered by the court may
16 be held in contempt.
17 (k) Incentives for employers. To promote job
18 availability for participants who are hard to place at a
19 level equal to or exceeding the average wage at placement,
20 certain incentives to private employers must be provided.
21 The minimum wage level must be defined based on the situation
22 at the time the participant enters the job. The employer
23 incentives apply only to full-time jobs, 40 hours per week.
24 The Illinois Department, if a federal waiver is obtained,
25 may pay employers who employ those participants who are hard
26 to place 70% of the individual participant's benefits under
27 this Article for up to one year to compensate them for
28 intensive training in the skills necessary for the particular
29 position and general skills for retaining employment. The
30 employer shall demonstrate to the Illinois Department's
31 satisfaction that no other employees are displaced due to the
32 employment of the participant.
33 The Illinois Department may establish a work
34 supplementation program to further promote the placement of
-15- LRB9000215DJsbA
1 hard-to-place participants, as provided in Section 482 of
2 Title IV-F of the Social Security Act and as established
3 pursuant to Section 201 of the Family Support Act of 1988,
4 Public Law 100-485.
5 For the purposes of this subsection, a participant is
6 hard to place if, during the preceding 12 months, the
7 participant has been unable to retain any job for at least 3
8 months, has held more than 2 jobs during the preceding 12
9 months, and meets at least one of the following federal
10 criteria for enhanced funding:
11 (1) Has been a recipient of aid under this Article
12 for 36 of the past 60 months.
13 (2) Is under 24 years of age, has no high school
14 diploma or is not currently enrolled in a high school
15 equivalency program, and has little or no work history
16 during the past 12 months.
17 Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to create
18 an obligation for the State to pay any incentive to employers
19 either prospectively or retroactively.
20 (l) Family responsibility program AFDC dependency
21 diversion. The Illinois Department shall fund a program
22 targeted for children "at risk" of dependency on aid under
23 this Article or parenting within the demonstration projects
24 to divert them from future welfare participation. The
25 diversion efforts shall include case management, educational
26 counseling, mentoring programs, educational enrichment
27 programs, and extracurricular activities. The children
28 targeted for this program must be receiving benefits under
29 this Article or residing in public housing projects, and may
30 not be teenage parents or school dropouts or children who
31 have been involved in delinquent activities.
32 The Illinois Department shall establish a public
33 education campaign in collaboration with the local school
34 system to provide students ages 13 to 19 with information
-16- LRB9000215DJsbA
1 regarding the changing welfare system, including the
2 transitional approach of time-limited benefits and the
3 parental responsibility of both boys and girls in being able
4 to support their children themselves as self-sufficient,
5 contributing members of their community.
6 (m) Rulemaking. The Illinois Department shall adopt
7 rules governing the family responsibility program and shall
8 provide programmatic features by rule when appropriate.
9 (n) Reporting. The Illinois Department, in consultation
10 with the Department of Employment Security, the Department of
11 Commerce and Community Affairs, and the State Superintendent
12 of Education, shall provide to the Governor and the General
13 Assembly, by November 1 of each year beginning in 1998, a
14 status report on the operation of the program and in
15 particular on the effectiveness of the family responsibility
16 program in meeting its objectives. Each annual report shall
17 include an analysis of the program's compliance with
18 applicable federal laws and regulations that have not been
19 waived. Each annual report shall also include an analysis of
20 welfare reform initiatives in other states and
21 recommendations for changes in the law or rules governing the
22 program.
23 Within 1 year after the date the program becomes
24 operational, the Illinois Department shall provide a report
25 describing the feasibility of including a child support
26 assurance program as part of the family responsibility
27 program.
28 (o) Awards of recognition. The Illinois Department may
29 provide family responsibility program meritorious success and
30 service awards, incentives, and recognition to program
31 participants and service deliverers.
32 (p) Immunizations. Statewide, the Illinois Department
33 shall advise applicants for aid under this Article of the
34 availability of standard childhood immunizations through the
-17- LRB9000215DJsbA
1 county or multiple-county health department. Within 12
2 months after a determination of eligibility for aid under
3 this Article or at the next scheduled full redetermination,
4 the recipients shall submit to the Illinois Department proof
5 that the children for whom they receive benefits have
6 received their standard childhood immunizations. If a
7 recipient fails to provide this proof of immunization, the
8 Illinois Department shall review the case to determine
9 whether sanctions should be imposed. The Illinois Department
10 shall waive this requirement if the failure to immunize the
11 children is because of religious reasons or other good cause,
12 or upon proof that the immunization sequence has been
13 started.
14 (q) Periods of substantially high unemployment rates.
15 The Illinois Department shall use an unemployment rate
16 threshold established by the Department of Employment
17 Security to provide for suspension of the family
18 responsibility program's duration of benefits time limit
19 during 6-month periods of unemployment rates that are
20 substantially higher than average. No suspensions may occur
21 unless the State's unemployment rate is at least 3 base
22 percentage points above the average for the past 3 years.
23 (305 ILCS 5/12-4.32 new)
24 Sec. 12-4.32. Plan for statewide family responsibility
25 program. On or before January 1, 1998, the Illinois
26 Department shall submit to the Governor and the General
27 Assembly a plan for statewide implementation of the family
28 responsibility program described in Section 4-20 of this Code
29 by July 1, 1998. The plan shall include recommendations for
30 legislative changes necessary for that implementation.
31 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
32 becoming law.