Public Act 0315 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB1167 Enrolled LRB101 10506 AXK 55612 b

Public Act 101-0315

AN ACT concerning education.

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

Section 5. The Higher Education Student Assistance Act is amended by adding Section 65.105 as follows:

(110 ILCS 947/65.105 new)

Sec. 65.105. Adult vocational community college scholarship.

(a) The Commission shall, subject to appropriation, establish and administer an adult vocational community college scholarship program.

(b) Beginning with the 2020-2021 academic year, the Commission shall, each year, receive and consider applications for scholarships under this Section. An applicant is eligible for a scholarship under this Section if the Commission finds that the applicant meets all of the following qualifications:

(1) He or she is over the age of 30.

(2) He or she has been unemployed and is actively searching for employment, including being enrolled on the Department of Employment Security's job-search website for at least 6 months prior to the date the application is submitted by the applicant.

(3) He or she is enrolled or accepted for enrollment at his or her local community college organized under the Public Community College Act.

(4) He or she can identify the specific training certificate, credential, or associate degree that he or she is seeking to obtain; the career that the certificate, credential, or degree will help create; and how long it will take the applicant to reach this goal.

Applicants may re-apply for the scholarship under this Section if they can demonstrate continual progress, in terms of grades and attendance, toward the desired certificate, credential, or degree.

(c) The scholarship shall be sufficient to cover the cost of tuition and fees to attend the community college, but in no event shall the scholarship exceed $2,000 per scholarship recipient per academic year.

The total amount of a scholarship awarded by the Commission under this Section to an individual in any given fiscal year, when added to other financial assistance awarded to that individual for that year, shall not exceed the cost of attendance at the community college at which the student is enrolled.

(d) All applications for scholarships to be awarded under this Section shall be made to the Commission in a form as set forth by the Commission. The form of application and the information required to be set forth in the application shall be determined by the Commission, and the Commission shall require eligible applicants to submit with their applications such supporting documents as the Commission deems necessary.

(e) Subject to a separate appropriation made for such purposes, payment of any scholarships awarded under this Section shall be determined by the Commission. All scholarship funds distributed in accordance with this Section shall be paid to the community college on behalf of the recipients. Scholarship funds are applicable toward 2 semesters of enrollment within an academic year. Up to 2% of the appropriation for this scholarship program may be used by the Commission for the costs of administering the scholarship program. If funds appropriated for the program are insufficient to provide grants to each eligible applicant, the Commission may prioritize the distribution of grants based on factors that include an applicant's financial need, duration of unemployment, prior level of educational attainment, or date of application.

(f) The Commission shall adopt all necessary and proper rules not inconsistent with this Section for its effective implementation.

Section 10. The Unemployment Insurance Act is amended by changing Section 1900 as follows:

(820 ILCS 405/1900) (from Ch. 48, par. 640)

Sec. 1900. Disclosure of information.

A. Except as provided in this Section, information obtained from any individual or employing unit during the administration of this Act shall:

1. be confidential,

2. not be published or open to public inspection,

3. not be used in any court in any pending action or proceeding,

4. not be admissible in evidence in any action or proceeding other than one arising out of this Act.

B. No finding, determination, decision, ruling or order (including any finding of fact, statement or conclusion made therein) issued pursuant to this Act shall be admissible or used in evidence in any action other than one arising out of this Act, nor shall it be binding or conclusive except as provided in this Act, nor shall it constitute res judicata, regardless of whether the actions were between the same or related parties or involved the same facts.

C. Any officer or employee of this State, any officer or employee of any entity authorized to obtain information pursuant to this Section, and any agent of this State or of such entity who, except with authority of the Director under this Section, shall disclose information shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor and shall be disqualified from holding any appointment or employment by the State.

D. An individual or his duly authorized agent may be supplied with information from records only to the extent necessary for the proper presentation of his claim for benefits or with his existing or prospective rights to benefits. Discretion to disclose this information belongs solely to the Director and is not subject to a release or waiver by the individual. Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary, an individual or his or her duly authorized agent may be supplied with a statement of the amount of benefits paid to the individual during the 18 months preceding the date of his or her request.

E. An employing unit may be furnished with information, only if deemed by the Director as necessary to enable it to fully discharge its obligations or safeguard its rights under the Act. Discretion to disclose this information belongs solely to the Director and is not subject to a release or waiver by the employing unit.

F. The Director may furnish any information that he may deem proper to any public officer or public agency of this or any other State or of the federal government dealing with:

1. the administration of relief,

2. public assistance,

3. unemployment compensation,

4. a system of public employment offices,

5. wages and hours of employment, or

6. a public works program.

The Director may make available to the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission information regarding employers for the purpose of verifying the insurance coverage required under the Workers' Compensation Act and Workers' Occupational Diseases Act.

G. The Director may disclose information submitted by the State or any of its political subdivisions, municipal corporations, instrumentalities, or school or community college districts, except for information which specifically identifies an individual claimant.

H. The Director shall disclose only that information required to be disclosed under Section 303 of the Social Security Act, as amended, including:

1. any information required to be given the United States Department of Labor under Section 303(a)(6); and

2. the making available upon request to any agency of the United States charged with the administration of public works or assistance through public employment, the name, address, ordinary occupation and employment status of each recipient of unemployment compensation, and a statement of such recipient's right to further compensation under such law as required by Section 303(a)(7); and

3. records to make available to the Railroad Retirement Board as required by Section 303(c)(1); and

4. information that will assure reasonable cooperation with every agency of the United States charged with the administration of any unemployment compensation law as required by Section 303(c)(2); and

5. information upon request and on a reimbursable basis to the United States Department of Agriculture and to any State food stamp agency concerning any information required to be furnished by Section 303(d); and

6. any wage information upon request and on a reimbursable basis to any State or local child support enforcement agency required by Section 303(e); and

7. any information required under the income eligibility and verification system as required by Section 303(f); and

8. information that might be useful in locating an absent parent or that parent's employer, establishing paternity or establishing, modifying, or enforcing child support orders for the purpose of a child support enforcement program under Title IV of the Social Security Act upon the request of and on a reimbursable basis to the public agency administering the Federal Parent Locator Service as required by Section 303(h); and

9. information, upon request, to representatives of any federal, State or local governmental public housing agency with respect to individuals who have signed the appropriate consent form approved by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and who are applying for or participating in any housing assistance program administered by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development as required by Section 303(i).

I. The Director, upon the request of a public agency of Illinois, of the federal government or of any other state charged with the investigation or enforcement of Section 10-5 of the Criminal Code of 2012 (or a similar federal law or similar law of another State), may furnish the public agency information regarding the individual specified in the request as to:

1. the current or most recent home address of the individual, and

2. the names and addresses of the individual's employers.

J. Nothing in this Section shall be deemed to interfere with the disclosure of certain records as provided for in Section 1706 or with the right to make available to the Internal Revenue Service of the United States Department of the Treasury, or the Department of Revenue of the State of Illinois, information obtained under this Act.

K. The Department shall make available to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, upon request, information in the possession of the Department that may be necessary or useful to the Commission in the collection of defaulted or delinquent student loans which the Commission administers.

L. The Department shall make available to the State Employees' Retirement System, the State Universities Retirement System, the Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois, and the Department of Central Management Services, Risk Management Division, upon request, information in the possession of the Department that may be necessary or useful to the System or the Risk Management Division for the purpose of determining whether any recipient of a disability benefit from the System or a workers' compensation benefit from the Risk Management Division is gainfully employed.

M. This Section shall be applicable to the information obtained in the administration of the State employment service, except that the Director may publish or release general labor market information and may furnish information that he may deem proper to an individual, public officer or public agency of this or any other State or the federal government (in addition to those public officers or public agencies specified in this Section) as he prescribes by Rule.

N. The Director may require such safeguards as he deems proper to insure that information disclosed pursuant to this Section is used only for the purposes set forth in this Section.

O. Nothing in this Section prohibits communication with an individual or entity through unencrypted e-mail or other unencrypted electronic means as long as the communication does not contain the individual's or entity's name in combination with any one or more of the individual's or entity's social security number; driver's license or State identification number; credit or debit card number; or any required security code, access code, or password that would permit access to further information pertaining to the individual or entity.

P. (Blank).

Q. The Director shall make available to an elected federal official the name and address of an individual or entity that is located within the jurisdiction from which the official was elected and that, for the most recently completed calendar year, has reported to the Department as paying wages to workers, where the information will be used in connection with the official duties of the official and the official requests the information in writing, specifying the purposes for which it will be used. For purposes of this subsection, the use of information in connection with the official duties of an official does not include use of the information in connection with the solicitation of contributions or expenditures, in money or in kind, to or on behalf of a candidate for public or political office or a political party or with respect to a public question, as defined in Section 1-3 of the Election Code, or in connection with any commercial solicitation. Any elected federal official who, in submitting a request for information covered by this subsection, knowingly makes a false statement or fails to disclose a material fact, with the intent to obtain the information for a purpose not authorized by this subsection, shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.

R. The Director may provide to any State or local child support agency, upon request and on a reimbursable basis, information that might be useful in locating an absent parent or that parent's employer, establishing paternity, or establishing, modifying, or enforcing child support orders.

S. The Department shall make available to a State's Attorney of this State or a State's Attorney's investigator, upon request, the current address or, if the current address is unavailable, current employer information, if available, of a victim of a felony or a witness to a felony or a person against whom an arrest warrant is outstanding.

T. The Director shall make available to the Department of State Police, a county sheriff's office, or a municipal police department, upon request, any information concerning the current address and place of employment or former places of employment of a person who is required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration Act that may be useful in enforcing the registration provisions of that Act.

U. The Director shall make information available to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services and the Department of Human Services for the purpose of determining eligibility for public benefit programs authorized under the Illinois Public Aid Code and related statutes administered by those departments, for verifying sources and amounts of income, and for other purposes directly connected with the administration of those programs.

V. The Director shall make information available to the State Board of Elections as may be required by an agreement the State Board of Elections has entered into with a multi-state voter registration list maintenance system.

W. The Director shall make information available to the State Treasurer's office and the Department of Revenue for the purpose of facilitating compliance with the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program Act, including employer contact information for employers with 25 or more employees and any other information the Director deems appropriate that is directly related to the administration of this program.

X. The Director shall make information available, upon request, to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission for the purpose of determining eligibility for the adult vocational community college scholarship program under Section 65.105 of the Higher Education Student Assistance Act.

(Source: P.A. 99-571, eff. 7-15-16; 99-933, eff. 1-27-17; 100-484, eff. 9-8-17.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2020