Bill Text: IL HB1084 | 2011-2012 | 97th General Assembly | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

Bill Title: Creates the Business Mandate Note Act. Provides that every bill the purpose or effect of which is to directly increase the cost of doing business in the State shall have prepared for it, before second reading in the house of introduction, a brief explanatory statement or note that shall include a reliable estimate of the anticipated impact. Provides that the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall prepare the business mandate note. Provides that the Department shall collect and maintain information on business mandates. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-3)

Status: (Passed) 2012-06-29 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 97-0719 [HB1084 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2011-HB1084-Amended.html

---

Sen. John J. Cullerton

Filed: 5/28/2012

09700HB1084sam003 LRB097 06351 HLH 70259 a
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 1084
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 1084, AS AMENDED,
with reference to page and line numbers of Senate Amendment No.
2, on page 6, immediately below line 9, by inserting the
following:
"Section 10. The Workers' Compensation Act is amended by
changing Section 14 as follows:
(820 ILCS 305/14) (from Ch. 48, par. 138.14)
Sec. 14. The Commission shall appoint a secretary, an
assistant secretary, and arbitrators and shall employ such
assistants and clerical help as may be necessary. Arbitrators
shall be appointed pursuant to this Section, notwithstanding
any provision of the Personnel Code.
Each arbitrator appointed after November 22, 1977 shall be
required to demonstrate in writing and in accordance with the
rules and regulations of the Illinois Department of Central

09700HB1084sam003 - 2 - LRB097 06351 HLH 70259 a
Management Services his or her knowledge of and expertise in
the law of and judicial processes of the Workers' Compensation
Act and the Occupational Diseases Act.
A formal training program for newly-hired arbitrators
shall be implemented. The training program shall include the
following:
(a) substantive and procedural aspects of the
arbitrator position;
(b) current issues in workers' compensation law and
practice;
(c) medical lectures by specialists in areas such as
orthopedics, ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation
counseling;
(d) orientation to each operational unit of the
Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission;
(e) observation of experienced arbitrators conducting
hearings of cases, combined with the opportunity to discuss
evidence presented and rulings made;
(f) the use of hypothetical cases requiring the trainee
to issue judgments as a means to evaluating knowledge and
writing ability;
(g) writing skills;
(h) professional and ethical standards pursuant to
Section 1.1 of this Act;
(i) detection of workers' compensation fraud and
reporting obligations of Commission employees and

09700HB1084sam003 - 3 - LRB097 06351 HLH 70259 a
appointees;
(j) standards of evidence-based medical treatment and
best practices for measuring and improving quality and
health care outcomes in the workers' compensation system,
including but not limited to the use of the American
Medical Association's "Guides to the Evaluation of
Permanent Impairment" and the practice of utilization
review; and
(k) substantive and procedural aspects of coal
workers' pneumoconiosis (black lung) cases.
A formal and ongoing professional development program
including, but not limited to, the above-noted areas shall be
implemented to keep arbitrators informed of recent
developments and issues and to assist them in maintaining and
enhancing their professional competence. Each arbitrator shall
complete 20 hours of training in the above-noted areas during
every 2 years such arbitrator shall remain in office.
Each arbitrator shall devote full time to his or her duties
and shall serve when assigned as an acting Commissioner when a
Commissioner is unavailable in accordance with the provisions
of Section 13 of this Act. Any arbitrator who is an
attorney-at-law shall not engage in the practice of law, nor
shall any arbitrator hold any other office or position of
profit under the United States or this State or any municipal
corporation or political subdivision of this State.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act to the

09700HB1084sam003 - 4 - LRB097 06351 HLH 70259 a
contrary, an arbitrator who serves as an acting Commissioner in
accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of this Act shall
continue to serve in the capacity of Commissioner until a
decision is reached in every case heard by that arbitrator
while serving as an acting Commissioner.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section, the
term of all arbitrators serving on the effective date of this
amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly, including any
arbitrators on administrative leave, shall terminate at the
close of business on July 1, 2011, but the incumbents shall
continue to exercise all of their duties until they are
reappointed or their successors are appointed.
On and after the effective date of this amendatory Act of
the 97th General Assembly, arbitrators shall be appointed to
3-year terms by the full Commission, except that initial
appointments made on and after the effective date of this
amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly shall be made as
follows:
(1) All appointments shall be made by the Governor with
the advice and consent of the Senate.
(2) For their initial appointments, 12 arbitrators
shall be appointed to terms expiring July 1, 2012; 12
arbitrators shall be appointed to terms expiring July 1,
2013; and all additional arbitrators shall be appointed to
terms expiring July 1, 2014. Thereafter, all arbitrators
shall be appointed to 3-year terms.

09700HB1084sam003 - 5 - LRB097 06351 HLH 70259 a
Upon the expiration of a term, the Chairman shall evaluate
the performance of the arbitrator and may recommend to the
Governor that he or she be reappointed to a second or
subsequent term by the Governor with the advice and consent of
the Senate the full Commission.
Each arbitrator appointed on or after the effective date of
this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly and who has
not previously served as an arbitrator for the Commission shall
be required to be authorized to practice law in this State by
the Supreme Court, and to maintain this authorization
throughout his or her term of employment.
All arbitrators shall be subject to the provisions of the
Personnel Code, and the performance of all arbitrators shall be
reviewed by the Chairman on an annual basis. The changes made
to this Section by this amendatory Act of the 97th General
Assembly shall prevail over any conflict with the Personnel
Code. The Chairman shall allow input from the Commissioners in
all such reviews.
The Commission shall assign no fewer than 3 arbitrators to
each hearing site. The Commission shall establish a procedure
to ensure that the arbitrators assigned to each hearing site
are assigned cases on a random basis. No arbitrator shall hear
cases in any county, other than Cook County, for more than 2
years in each 3-year term.
The Secretary and each arbitrator shall receive a per annum
salary of $4,000 less than the per annum salary of members of

09700HB1084sam003 - 6 - LRB097 06351 HLH 70259 a
The Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission as provided in
Section 13 of this Act, payable in equal monthly installments.
The members of the Commission, Arbitrators and other
employees whose duties require them to travel, shall have
reimbursed to them their actual traveling expenses and
disbursements made or incurred by them in the discharge of
their official duties while away from their place of residence
in the performance of their duties.
The Commission shall provide itself with a seal for the
authentication of its orders, awards and proceedings upon which
shall be inscribed the name of the Commission and the words
"Illinois--Seal".
The Secretary or Assistant Secretary, under the direction
of the Commission, shall have charge and custody of the seal of
the Commission and also have charge and custody of all records,
files, orders, proceedings, decisions, awards and other
documents on file with the Commission. He shall furnish
certified copies, under the seal of the Commission, of any such
records, files, orders, proceedings, decisions, awards and
other documents on file with the Commission as may be required.
Certified copies so furnished by the Secretary or Assistant
Secretary shall be received in evidence before the Commission
or any Arbitrator thereof, and in all courts, provided that the
original of such certified copy is otherwise competent and
admissible in evidence. The Secretary or Assistant Secretary
shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed from time

09700HB1084sam003 - 7 - LRB097 06351 HLH 70259 a
to time by the Commission.
(Source: P.A. 97-18, eff. 6-28-11.)".