Bill Text: IL HB1801 | 2009-2010 | 96th General Assembly | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Amends the Illinois Public Aid Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the purpose of the "Medicaid" Article.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Passed) 2010-01-21 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 96-0867 [HB1801 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2009-HB1801-Enrolled.html

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AN ACT concerning public aid.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Illinois Public Aid Code is amended by
changing Sections 11-15 and 11-20.1 as follows:
(305 ILCS 5/11-15) (from Ch. 23, par. 11-15)
Sec. 11-15. Application requirements.
(1) An application for financial aid shall be filed in
writing by the person requesting aid and, in the case of a
request for family aid, by the head of that family, except as
otherwise permitted in paragraph (2). Applications for aid
under Articles III, IV, and V shall be filed in writing with
any local office of the Department of Human Services the county
department of the county in which the applicant resides in the
manner prescribed by the Illinois Department. Applications for
aid under Article VI shall be filed in writing with the local
governmental unit upon forms approved by the Illinois
Department.
Each applicant shall provide information as to the amount
of property, real and personal, owned by him or her within the
period of time preceding the application as required under
Sections 3-1.3, 4-1.11, and 5-2.1 of this Code. The applicant
shall also furnish information concerning all income, money

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contributions, and other support from any source, and the
beneficiary and the amount or cash surrender or loan value of
all insurance policies held by himself or herself or any member
of his family for whom aid is requested.
(2) An application, in all instances to be in writing, may
be filed in behalf of a person considered to be in need of
financial aid under Articles III, IV, V, or VI only if the
person
(a) has been adjudged to be under legal disability; or
(b) is unable because of minority or physical or mental
disability, to execute the application; or
(c) in the case of need for funeral and burial, died
before an application was filed and the application is
filed not more than 30 days after the person's death,
excluding the day on which the death occurred.
Applications in behalf of persons specified in (a) and (b)
shall be filed by the applicant's legal guardian or, if a
guardian has not been appointed or the applicant has no legal
guardian or the guardian is not available, by a relative or
other person, acceptable under the rules of the Illinois
Department, who is able to furnish the required information.
Applications in behalf of persons specified in (c) shall be
filed by any next of kin of the deceased who is not under legal
disability or, if there are no such next of kin or they are
unknown or unavailable, by a person, acceptable under the rules
of the Illinois Department, who is able to furnish the required

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information.
(3) The application shall contain a written declaration to
be signed by the applicant, or in behalf of the applicant by a
person qualified under paragraph (2), in substantially the
following form, the parenthetical references being applicable
to an application filed by a person in behalf of the applicant:
"I declare under penalties of perjury that I have examined
this form and all accompanying statements or documents
pertaining to the income and resources of myself (the
applicant) or any member of my family (the applicant's family)
included in this application for aid, or pertaining to any
other matter having bearing upon my (the applicant's)
eligibility for aid, and to the best of my knowledge and belief
the information supplied is true, correct, and complete".
(4) If an application for financial aid is filed for a
family, and any person in that family is under 18 years of age,
the application shall be accompanied by the following for each
such person under 18 years of age:
(i) a copy of the person's birth certificate, or
(ii) other reliable proof, as determined by the
Department, of the person's identity and age.
The Illinois Department shall provide information to all
families, orally by an intake worker and in writing when the
application is filed, about the availability and location of
immunization services.
(5) Once an applicant is determined eligible for aid, he or

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she has the right to request to have the case transferred to
another local office of the Department of Human Services for
his or her convenience based on one of the following factors:
the location of his or her employer; the location of his or her
child care provider; access to reliable transportation; or the
location of a social service provider that he or she sees on a
regular basis. Within 5 business days after the request for
transfer, the Department shall transfer the case, assign a
caseworker, make appropriate entries in the computer system,
and issue a written notice to the recipient that includes the
name of and contact information for the caseworker. The
location of the recipient's case may be reconsidered on the
recipient's request or at the time of redetermination of
eligibility.
(Source: P.A. 92-111, eff. 1-1-02.)
(305 ILCS 5/11-20.1) (from Ch. 23, par. 11-20.1)
Sec. 11-20.1. Employment; Rights of recipient and
obligations of Illinois Department when recipients become
employed; Assistance when a recipient has employment or earned
income or both.
(a) When a recipient reports employment or earned income,
or both, or the Illinois Department otherwise learns of a
recipient's employment or earned income, or both, the Illinois
Department shall provide the recipient with:
(1) An explanation of how the earned income will affect

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the recipient's eligibility for a grant, and whether the
recipient must engage in additional work activities to meet
the recipient's monthly work activities requirement and
what types of activities may be approved for that purpose,
and whether the employment is sufficient to cause months of
continued receipt of a grant not to be counted against the
recipient's lifetime eligibility limit.
(2) An explanation of the Work Pays budgeting process,
and an explanation of how the first month's income on a new
job will be projected, and how the recipient should report
the new job to avoid the Department overestimating the
first month's income.
(3) An explanation of how the earned income will affect
the recipient's eligibility for food stamps, whether the
recipient will continue to receive food stamps, and, if so,
the amount of food stamps.
(4) The names and telephone numbers of all caseworkers
to whom the recipient's case or cases are assigned or will
be transferred, an explanation of which type of case each
worker will be handling, and the effective date of the
transfer.
(5) An explanation of the recipient's responsibilities
to report income and household circumstances, the process
by which quarterly reporting forms are sent to recipients,
where and to whom the reports should be returned, the
deadline by which reports must be returned, instructions on

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how to fill out the reports, an explanation of what the
recipient should do if he or she does not receive the form,
advice on how to prove the report was returned by the
recipient such as by keeping a copy, and an explanation of
the effects of failure to file reports.
(6) If the recipient will continue to receive a grant,
an explanation of the recipient's new fiscal month and a
statement as to when the recipient will receive his or her
grant.
(7) An explanation of Kidcare, Family Assist, Family
Care, and the 12 month extension of medical assistance that
is available when a grant is cancelled due to earned
income.
(8) An explanation of the medical assistance the person
may be eligible for when the 12 month extension expires and
how to request or apply for it.
(9) An explanation of the availability of a child care
subsidy to all families below the child care assistance
program's income limit, how to apply for the benefit
through the Child Care Resource and Referral or
site-administered child care program or both, the nature of
the child care program's sliding scale co-payments, the
availability of the 10% earned income disregard in
determining eligibility for child care assistance and the
amount of the parent co-payment, the right to use the
subsidy for either licensed or license exempt legal care,

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and the availability of benefits when the parent is engaged
in an education and training program.
(10) (Blank).
(11) (Blank).
(11a) (Blank).
(12) (Blank).
(13) An explanation of the availability of payment for
initial expenses of employment and how to request or apply
for it.
(14) An explanation of the job retention component and
how to participate in it, and an explanation of the
recipient's eligibility to receive supportive services to
participate in education and training programs while
working.
(15) A statement of the types of assistance that will
be provided to the person automatically or continued and a
statement of the types of assistance for which the person
must apply or reapply.
(16) If the recipient will not continue to receive a
cash grant and the recipient has assigned his or her right
to child support to the Illinois Department, an explanation
of the recipient's right to continue to receive child
support enforcement services, the recipient's right to
have all current support paid after grant cancellation
forwarded promptly to the recipient, the procedures by
which child support will be forwarded, and the procedures

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by which the recipient will be informed of the collection
and distribution of child support.
(17) An explanation of the availability of payments if
the recipient experiences a decrease in or loss of earned
income during a calendar quarter as to which the monthly
grant was previously budgeted based upon the higher income.
(18) If the recipient will not continue to receive a
cash grant, an explanation of the procedures for reapplying
for cash assistance if the person experiences a decrease in
or loss of earned income.
(19) An explanation of the earned income tax credit and
the procedures by which it may be obtained and the rules
for disregarding it in determining eligibility for and the
amount of assistance.
(20) An explanation of the education and training
opportunities available to recipients.
(b) The information listed in subsection (a) shall be
provided to the recipient on an individual basis during an
in-person meeting with a representative of the Illinois
Department. The individual in-person meeting shall be held at a
time which does not conflict with the recipient's work schedule
within 30 days of the date the recipient begins working. If the
recipient informs the Illinois Department that an in-person
meeting would be inconvenient, the Illinois Department may
provide the information during a home visit, by telephone, or
by mail within 30 days of the date the recipient begins

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working, whichever the client prefers.
(c) At the conclusion of the meeting described in
subsection (b), the Illinois Department shall ensure that all
case transfers and calculations of benefits necessitated by the
recipient's employment or receipt of earned income have been
performed, that applications have been made or provided for all
benefits for which the person must apply or reapply, and that
the person has received payment for initial expenses of
employment.
(d) In food stamp cases in which an applicant or recipient
reports earned income, the applicant's or recipient's
employment shall be presumed to be a hardship for purposes of
scheduling an in-person meeting with a representative of the
Illinois Department and an in-person meeting shall be waived.
(Source: P.A. 93-598, eff. 8-26-03.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect on
January 1, 2011.