State of Illinois
90th General Assembly
Legislation

   [ Search ]   [ Legislation ]   [ Bill Summary ]
[ Home ]   [ Back ]   [ Bottom ]


[ Engrossed ][ House Amendment 001 ]

90_HB2081

      New Act
          Creates   the   Education,   Job   Training,   Placement,
      Retention,  and  Re-Employment    Act.   Provides  that   the
      Illinois  State  Board  of  Education, the Illinois Community
      College Board,  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Community
      Affairs,  the  Illinois  Department  of  Transportation,  the
      Illinois  Department  of  Labor,  the  Department of Veterans
      Affairs, the Prairie State 2000 Authority, the Department  of
      Children  and  Family  Services, the Department of Employment
      Security, the Secretary  of  State,  and  the  Department  of
      Rehabilitation  Services, or the Department of Human Services
      as its  successor  agency,  shall  each  develop  a  plan  to
      accommodate  those  who  will  be  affected by the changes in
      welfare as a result of  the  implementation  of  the  federal
      Personal  Responsibility  and Work Opportunity Reconciliation
      Act of 1996.  Each of these entities  shall  also  study  the
      impact  of  its plan and report to the legislative leaders of
      the General Assembly and the Governor no later  than  January
      31  each  year  and  make appropriate adjustments to programs
      each year after evaluation.  Effective immediately.
                                                     LRB9005176SMdv
                                               LRB9005176SMdv
 1        AN ACT concerning job training services.
 2        Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
 3    represented in the General Assembly:
 4        Section  1.   This Act may be cited as the Education, Job
 5    Training, Placement,  Retention, and Re-Employment Act.
 6        Section 5.  Legislative findings and purpose.
 7        (a)  The Illinois Department of Public Aid has  developed
 8    a  Plan for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to
 9    replace the Aid to Families with Dependent  Children  program
10    and to implement the federal Personal Responsibility and Work
11    Opportunity Act of 1996.
12        (b)  The  new  Department  of  Human Services is the lead
13    agency in this endeavor. Its mission is to  "enable  Illinois
14    residents    to    achieve   maximum   self-sufficiency   and
15    independence   by   providing   integrated    family-oriented
16    services,   partnering   with   communities,   and  measuring
17    outcomes".
18        (c)  The TANF Plan categorizes  welfare  recipients  into
19    three groups:  Not Job Ready, Job Ready, and Working and sets
20    time  limits  on  receiving assistance for recipients of cash
21    assistance ranging from 24 months, under  the  Targeted  Work
22    Initiative   for   parents   (both  Job  Ready  and  Not  Job
23    Ready)  whose youngest child is age 13 or older, up to  a  60
24    month  lifetime  limit  for  all  Illinois families (both Job
25    Ready and Not Job Ready)  and their children.
26        (d)  The clock on all of these time limits will begin  to
27    run  as  to  all  recipients of  cash assistance in August of
28    1997.
29        (e)  The TANF  Plan  addresses  job  training  and  other
30    services  necessary  to move both Job Ready and Not Job Ready
31    welfare recipients into the workforce by planning  on  asking
                            -2-                LRB9005176SMdv
 1    each  area  of  the State "to develop, coordinate, and target
 2    resources needed to serve the population  in  the  area....to
 3    develop a local service delivery plan".
 4        (f)  This  Act   targets some of Illinois' extensive  job
 5    training, placement, retention and  re-employment   resources
 6    necessary to the accomplishment of the aims of the TANF Plan,
 7    in  order to assure that adequate resources will be available
 8    and in place  in  communities  to  implement  plans  to  move
 9    families from welfare to work starting in  August of 1997.
10        Section  10.   Applicability.   This  Act  applies to the
11    following:  the  Illinois  State  Board  of  Education,   the
12    Illinois  Community College Board, the Department of Commerce
13    and   Community   Affairs,   the   Illinois   Department   of
14    Transportation,  the  Illinois  Department  of   Labor,   the
15    Department  of  Veterans  Affairs,  the  Prairie  State  2000
16    Authority,  the  Department  of Children and Family Services,
17    the Department  of  Employment  Security,  the  Secretary  of
18    State,  and the Department of Rehabilitation Services, or the
19    Department of Human Services as its successor agency, each of
20    which  is  currently  in  receipt  of  substantial   funding,
21    including  State  general revenue funds, for adult education,
22    job training, and related services.
23        Section 15.  Definitions.
24        "Additional barriers to employment"  means,  but  is  not
25    limited to, alcoholism or substance abuse history, a criminal
26    record,  current  or  recent  history  of  being  a victim of
27    domestic violence, history of incest or other abuse,  partial
28    disability  or  health  or  mental health problems, or having
29    been in receipt of cash welfare benefits or unemployed for  a
30    period in excess of five years.
31        "Affected  agency"  means each agency of State government
32    to which this Act  applies, as set forth in Section 10.
                            -3-                LRB9005176SMdv
 1        "Community-based    providers"    means    not-for-profit
 2    organizations with local boards  of  directors  that  provide
 3    some or all of the job services defined herein.
 4        "Education  and  job training services" means instruction
 5    in literacy, English as a Second Language,  Adult  Basic  and
 6    Secondary   Education,   General   Equivalency  Degree  (GED)
 7    preparation,   job   readiness,   interviewing   and   resume
 8    preparation, job seeking, soft skills, and vocational  skills
 9    and apprenticeship training in the classroom and on-the-job.
10        "Job placement services" means  identifying jobs in which
11    there  are  open  positions  and  which  correspond  with the
12    education, training, and experience of the people enrolled in
13    the  affected agency's job training program, coordination  of
14    client  referrals  to  identified  employers,   assistance in
15    making application for open jobs,  and  follow-up  assistance
16    with clients through the application process.
17        "Job retention counseling and services" means counseling,
18    direct  services,  and  coordination  of services designed to
19    help newly employed workers  keep  their  jobs,  through  job
20    counselors,  job  support  groups, and job mentors who assist
21    these workers in resolving problems that arise on their  jobs
22    as  well as with personal or practical problems, such as with
23    transportation or day care, that could affect  their  ability
24    to keep their jobs.
25        "Job services" means education and training services, job
26    placement   services,   job   retention  and  counseling  and
27    services, and re-employment services as defined in this Act.
28        "Re-employment services" means job training and placement
29    services designed to help individuals  who  have  lost  their
30    jobs or who are employed to find new jobs quickly.
31        "Soft   skills   training"   means  training  related  to
32    punctuality, proper work  attire,  work  habits,  appropriate
33    on-the-job  problem  solving  and  conflict  resolution,  and
34    understanding and abiding by employer rules.
                            -4-                LRB9005176SMdv
 1        "Welfare  recipients"  means  persons  who  are receiving
 2    welfare  or  have  received  welfare  assistance  within  the
 3    previous two years, and  non-custodial  parents  of  children
 4    receiving  welfare  assistance who are unemployed or employed
 5    at the poverty level or below.
 6        Section 20.  Duties of affected agencies.
 7        (a)  Each affected agency  shall  immediately  develop  a
 8    plan which:
 9             (1)  identifies  all  budgeted  resources  currently
10        being  used for education  and job training services, job
11        placement  services,   job   retention   and   counseling
12        services, and re-employment services;
13             (2)  notwithstanding  any  other  provision of State
14        law, in addition to current budgeted amounts used for job
15        services for welfare recipients, targets for job services
16        for welfare recipients no less than an additional 10%  of
17        the total sum budgeted within the affected agency for job
18        services for all populations.
19             (3)  includes  programming  for  welfare  recipients
20        with additional barriers to employment;
21             (4)  adds,  to  programs  where  it is not currently
22        included,  job  readiness,  soft  skills,  job  retention
23        services, and re-employment services to its  offering  of
24        job services;
25             (5)  specifies  how  it will work with, at the local
26        level,  business  and  industry  to  correspond  its  job
27        service  programming  with  their  specific  local  labor
28        demands,  in  the  context  of  employers'  openings  and
29        available job titles and the education and skills  needed
30        for those job titles;
31             (6)  seeks  waivers  of  any   federal   laws   that
32        interfere  with  the    accomplishment  of  targeting job
33        service resources; and
                            -5-                LRB9005176SMdv
 1             (7)  shall be implemented by providing  the  10%  of
 2        additionally  targeted job services to welfare recipients
 3        by July 1, 1997.
 4        (b)  In carrying out their duties under  this  Act,  each
 5    affected   agency  shall  make  maximum  use  of  experienced
 6    community-based providers of job services by contracting with
 7    these providers to provide  these  services  to  the  maximum
 8    extent that the capacity of these providers allows.
 9        Section 25.  Performance-based programming; evaluations.
10        (a)  All job services provided by affected agencies shall
11    be  subject  to  performance-based  evaluations,  whether the
12    services are provided directly  by  the  affected  agency  or
13    through contracts.
14        (b)  Each   affected  agency  shall  be  responsible  for
15    setting minimal outcomes for each program it operates and for
16    collecting and collating outcome data for each of its program
17    sites.  Separate minimal outcomes shall be developed for:
18             (1)  programs that serve people with a  steady  past
19        work history;
20             (2)  programs  that  serve  people  who  are welfare
21        recipients; and
22             (3)  programs  that  serve  people  with  additional
23        barriers to employment.
24        (c)  Each affected agency shall require each program site
25    within its jurisdiction to submit to it on an  annual  basis,
26    for each of the three populations described in subsection (b)
27    of  this  Section,  broken  down by demographic groups served
28    (which shall include persons on welfare, persons  on  welfare
29    within   the   last  two  years,  and  persons  who  are  the
30    non-custodial parents described in this Act, and  each  other
31    discrete demographic population served, whether by mandate or
32    program  design), and further broken down by race and gender,
33    the following:
                            -6-                LRB9005176SMdv
 1             (1)  the number  of  persons  who  entered  the  job
 2        training program;
 3             (2)  the  number  of  persons  who completed the job
 4        training program;
 5             (3)  the number who obtained employment  within  two
 6        months of  completion and their average and median wages;
 7             (4)  the  number  who obtained employment within six
 8        months of  completion and their average and median wages;
 9             (5)  the number from  paragraphs  (3)  and  (4)  who
10        retained their initial jobs after 12 months; and
11             (6)  the number from paragraphs (3) and (4) who lost
12        their jobs within the first year, and of those the number
13        who were re-employed, and their average and median number
14        of weeks between jobs, and their average and median wages
15        after re-employment.
16        (c)  Each affected agency shall demonstrate the extent to
17    which  its job services are being provided by community-based
18    providers
19        (d)  Each affected agency shall provide a summary of  the
20    data  it has collected from its program sites to the Governor
21    and the 4  leaders  of  the  General  Assembly,  which  shall
22    include  a  ranking  by outcomes of each program site (broken
23    down by those with a work  history,  those  on  welfare,  and
24    those with additional barriers to employment),  no later than
25    January 31 of each year.
26        (e)  Each  affected  agency  shall  annually evaluate its
27    programs and contracting policies either to improve or cancel
28    the programs and services that are provided by program  sites
29    that either do not meet the agency's minimal outcomes or fall
30    within   the   lower  40%  of  overall  outcomes  (separately
31    considering programs  and  services  serving  people  with  a
32    steady work history, on welfare, and with additional barriers
33    to employment).
                            -7-                LRB9005176SMdv
 1        Section 99.   Effective date.  This Act takes effect upon
 2    becoming law.

[ Top ]