Bill Text: IL HB3043 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act. Requires the Department of Human Services to adopt rules that would permit a personal assistant who provides services to a person enrolled in the Department's Home Services Program to drive, operate, or be in physical control of any motor vehicle owned by the person receiving home services. Restricts a personal assistant's use of the motor vehicle to those uses that are appropriate to effectuate the personal assistant's duties and responsibilities under the Home Services Program. Provides that no personal assistant shall be authorized to drive, operate, or be in physical control of any motor vehicle owned by a person receiving home services unless (i) the personal assistant holds a valid driver's license and (ii) the motor vehicle is covered by a liability insurance policy.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-29 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB3043 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2019-HB3043-Introduced.html

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101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2019 and 2020 HB3043 Introduced , by Rep. Michael D. Unes SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
20 ILCS 2405/3 from Ch. 23, par. 3434
Amends the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act. Requires the Department of Human Services to adopt rules that would permit a personal assistant who provides services to a person enrolled in the Department's Home Services Program to drive, operate, or be in physical control of any motor vehicle owned by the person receiving home services. Restricts a personal assistant's use of the motor vehicle to those uses that are appropriate to effectuate the personal assistant's duties and responsibilities under the Home Services Program. Provides that no personal assistant shall be authorized to drive, operate, or be in physical control of any motor vehicle owned by a person receiving home services unless (i) the personal assistant holds a valid driver's license and (ii) the motor vehicle is covered by a liability insurance policy.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning State government.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities
Act is amended by changing Section 3 as follows:
(20 ILCS 2405/3) (from Ch. 23, par. 3434)
Sec. 3. Powers and duties. The Department shall have the
powers and duties enumerated herein:
(a) To co-operate with the federal government in the
administration of the provisions of the federal
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, of the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act, and of the federal Social
Security Act to the extent and in the manner provided in
these Acts.
(b) To prescribe and supervise such courses of
vocational training and provide such other services as may
be necessary for the habilitation and rehabilitation of
persons with one or more disabilities, including the
administrative activities under subsection (e) of this
Section, and to co-operate with State and local school
authorities and other recognized agencies engaged in
habilitation, rehabilitation and comprehensive
rehabilitation services; and to cooperate with the

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Department of Children and Family Services regarding the
care and education of children with one or more
disabilities.
(c) (Blank).
(d) To report in writing, to the Governor, annually on
or before the first day of December, and at such other
times and in such manner and upon such subjects as the
Governor may require. The annual report shall contain (1) a
statement of the existing condition of comprehensive
rehabilitation services, habilitation and rehabilitation
in the State; (2) a statement of suggestions and
recommendations with reference to the development of
comprehensive rehabilitation services, habilitation and
rehabilitation in the State; and (3) an itemized statement
of the amounts of money received from federal, State and
other sources, and of the objects and purposes to which the
respective items of these several amounts have been
devoted.
(e) (Blank).
(f) To establish a program of services to prevent the
unnecessary institutionalization of persons in need of
long term care and who meet the criteria for blindness or
disability as defined by the Social Security Act, thereby
enabling them to remain in their own homes. Such preventive
services include any or all of the following:
(1) personal assistant services;

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(2) homemaker services;
(3) home-delivered meals;
(4) adult day care services;
(5) respite care;
(6) home modification or assistive equipment;
(7) home health services;
(8) electronic home response;
(9) brain injury behavioral/cognitive services;
(10) brain injury habilitation;
(11) brain injury pre-vocational services; or
(12) brain injury supported employment.
The Department shall establish eligibility standards
for such services taking into consideration the unique
economic and social needs of the population for whom they
are to be provided. Such eligibility standards may be based
on the recipient's ability to pay for services; provided,
however, that any portion of a person's income that is
equal to or less than the "protected income" level shall
not be considered by the Department in determining
eligibility. The "protected income" level shall be
determined by the Department, shall never be less than the
federal poverty standard, and shall be adjusted each year
to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index For All
Urban Consumers as determined by the United States
Department of Labor. The standards must provide that a
person may not have more than $10,000 in assets to be

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eligible for the services, and the Department may increase
or decrease the asset limitation by rule. The Department
may not decrease the asset level below $10,000.
The services shall be provided, as established by the
Department by rule, to eligible persons to prevent
unnecessary or premature institutionalization, to the
extent that the cost of the services, together with the
other personal maintenance expenses of the persons, are
reasonably related to the standards established for care in
a group facility appropriate to their condition. These
non-institutional services, pilot projects or experimental
facilities may be provided as part of or in addition to
those authorized by federal law or those funded and
administered by the Illinois Department on Aging. The
Department shall set rates and fees for services in a fair
and equitable manner. Services identical to those offered
by the Department on Aging shall be paid at the same rate.
Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph,
personal assistants shall be paid at a rate negotiated
between the State and an exclusive representative of
personal assistants under a collective bargaining
agreement. In no case shall the Department pay personal
assistants an hourly wage that is less than the federal
minimum wage. Within 30 days after July 6, 2017 (the
effective date of Public Act 100-23), the hourly wage paid
to personal assistants and individual maintenance home

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health workers shall be increased by $0.48 per hour.
Solely for the purposes of coverage under the Illinois
Public Labor Relations Act, personal assistants providing
services under the Department's Home Services Program
shall be considered to be public employees and the State of
Illinois shall be considered to be their employer as of
July 16, 2003 (the effective date of Public Act 93-204),
but not before. Solely for the purposes of coverage under
the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, home care and home
health workers who function as personal assistants and
individual maintenance home health workers and who also
provide services under the Department's Home Services
Program shall be considered to be public employees, no
matter whether the State provides such services through
direct fee-for-service arrangements, with the assistance
of a managed care organization or other intermediary, or
otherwise, and the State of Illinois shall be considered to
be the employer of those persons as of January 29, 2013
(the effective date of Public Act 97-1158), but not before
except as otherwise provided under this subsection (f). The
State shall engage in collective bargaining with an
exclusive representative of home care and home health
workers who function as personal assistants and individual
maintenance home health workers working under the Home
Services Program concerning their terms and conditions of
employment that are within the State's control. Nothing in

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this paragraph shall be understood to limit the right of
the persons receiving services defined in this Section to
hire and fire home care and home health workers who
function as personal assistants and individual maintenance
home health workers working under the Home Services Program
or to supervise them within the limitations set by the Home
Services Program. The State shall not be considered to be
the employer of home care and home health workers who
function as personal assistants and individual maintenance
home health workers working under the Home Services Program
for any purposes not specifically provided in Public Act
93-204 or Public Act 97-1158, including but not limited to,
purposes of vicarious liability in tort and purposes of
statutory retirement or health insurance benefits. Home
care and home health workers who function as personal
assistants and individual maintenance home health workers
and who also provide services under the Department's Home
Services Program shall not be covered by the State
Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971.
The Department shall adopt rules to permit a personal
assistant who provides services to a person enrolled in the
Department's Home Services Program to drive, operate, or be
in physical control of any motor vehicle owned by the
person receiving home services. A personal assistant's use
of any motor vehicle owned by the person receiving home
services shall be limited to one of those uses, as

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determined by the Department, that are appropriate to
effectuate the personal assistant's duties and
responsibilities under the Home Services Program. No
personal assistant shall be authorized to drive, operate,
or be in physical control of any motor vehicle owned by a
person receiving home services unless (i) the personal
assistant holds a valid driver's license in accordance with
Section 6-101 of the Illinois Vehicle Code and (ii) the
motor vehicle is covered by a liability insurance policy in
accordance with Section 7-601 of the Illinois Vehicle Code.
The Department shall execute, relative to nursing home
prescreening, as authorized by Section 4.03 of the Illinois
Act on the Aging, written inter-agency agreements with the
Department on Aging and the Department of Healthcare and
Family Services, to effect the intake procedures and
eligibility criteria for those persons who may need long
term care. On and after July 1, 1996, all nursing home
prescreenings for individuals 18 through 59 years of age
shall be conducted by the Department, or a designee of the
Department.
The Department is authorized to establish a system of
recipient cost-sharing for services provided under this
Section. The cost-sharing shall be based upon the
recipient's ability to pay for services, but in no case
shall the recipient's share exceed the actual cost of the
services provided. Protected income shall not be

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considered by the Department in its determination of the
recipient's ability to pay a share of the cost of services.
The level of cost-sharing shall be adjusted each year to
reflect changes in the "protected income" level. The
Department shall deduct from the recipient's share of the
cost of services any money expended by the recipient for
disability-related expenses.
To the extent permitted under the federal Social
Security Act, the Department, or the Department's
authorized representative, may recover the amount of
moneys expended for services provided to or in behalf of a
person under this Section by a claim against the person's
estate or against the estate of the person's surviving
spouse, but no recovery may be had until after the death of
the surviving spouse, if any, and then only at such time
when there is no surviving child who is under age 21 or
blind or who has a permanent and total disability. This
paragraph, however, shall not bar recovery, at the death of
the person, of moneys for services provided to the person
or in behalf of the person under this Section to which the
person was not entitled; provided that such recovery shall
not be enforced against any real estate while it is
occupied as a homestead by the surviving spouse or other
dependent, if no claims by other creditors have been filed
against the estate, or, if such claims have been filed,
they remain dormant for failure of prosecution or failure

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of the claimant to compel administration of the estate for
the purpose of payment. This paragraph shall not bar
recovery from the estate of a spouse, under Sections 1915
and 1924 of the Social Security Act and Section 5-4 of the
Illinois Public Aid Code, who precedes a person receiving
services under this Section in death. All moneys for
services paid to or in behalf of the person under this
Section shall be claimed for recovery from the deceased
spouse's estate. "Homestead", as used in this paragraph,
means the dwelling house and contiguous real estate
occupied by a surviving spouse or relative, as defined by
the rules and regulations of the Department of Healthcare
and Family Services, regardless of the value of the
property.
The Department shall submit an annual report on
programs and services provided under this Section. The
report shall be filed with the Governor and the General
Assembly on or before March 30 each year.
The requirement for reporting to the General Assembly
shall be satisfied by filing copies of the report as
required by Section 3.1 of the General Assembly
Organization Act, and filing additional copies with the
State Government Report Distribution Center for the
General Assembly as required under paragraph (t) of Section
7 of the State Library Act.
(g) To establish such subdivisions of the Department as

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shall be desirable and assign to the various subdivisions
the responsibilities and duties placed upon the Department
by law.
(h) To cooperate and enter into any necessary
agreements with the Department of Employment Security for
the provision of job placement and job referral services to
clients of the Department, including job service
registration of such clients with Illinois Employment
Security offices and making job listings maintained by the
Department of Employment Security available to such
clients.
(i) To possess all powers reasonable and necessary for
the exercise and administration of the powers, duties and
responsibilities of the Department which are provided for
by law.
(j) (Blank).
(k) (Blank).
(l) To establish, operate, and maintain a Statewide
Housing Clearinghouse of information on available
government subsidized housing accessible to persons with
disabilities and available privately owned housing
accessible to persons with disabilities. The information
shall include, but not be limited to, the location, rental
requirements, access features and proximity to public
transportation of available housing. The Clearinghouse
shall consist of at least a computerized database for the

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storage and retrieval of information and a separate or
shared toll free telephone number for use by those seeking
information from the Clearinghouse. Department offices and
personnel throughout the State shall also assist in the
operation of the Statewide Housing Clearinghouse.
Cooperation with local, State, and federal housing
managers shall be sought and extended in order to
frequently and promptly update the Clearinghouse's
information.
(m) To assure that the names and case records of
persons who received or are receiving services from the
Department, including persons receiving vocational
rehabilitation, home services, or other services, and
those attending one of the Department's schools or other
supervised facility shall be confidential and not be open
to the general public. Those case records and reports or
the information contained in those records and reports
shall be disclosed by the Director only to proper law
enforcement officials, individuals authorized by a court,
the General Assembly or any committee or commission of the
General Assembly, and other persons and for reasons as the
Director designates by rule. Disclosure by the Director may
be only in accordance with other applicable law.
(Source: P.A. 99-143, eff. 7-27-15; 100-23, eff. 7-6-17;
100-477, eff. 9-8-17; 100-587, eff. 6-4-18; 100-863, eff.
8-14-18; 100-1148, eff. 12-10-18.)