Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Repeals a provision providing for the collection of an annual commercial distribution fee on vehicles of the second division weighing more than 8,000 pounds. Makes conforming changes. Effective July 1, 2018.
Amends the Medical Assistance Article of the Illinois Public Aid Code. Provides that the Department of Healthcare and Family Services shall not require any person committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections who is eligible for medical assistance to pay a fee as a co-payment for services.
Amends the General Assembly Compensation Act. Establishes the fiscal year 2019 mileage reimbursement rate and allowance for lodging and meals. Amends the Compensation Review Act. Prohibits cost-of-living adjustments for or during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2018 for State government legislative and executive elected officers and appointees in positions for which the Compensation Review Board previously recommended or determined compensation. Effective immediately.
Amends Public Act 99-524 to make supplemental appropriations. Reduces certain appropriations from the Commitment to Human Services Fund for funeral and burial expenses from $8,775,000 to $575,000. Appropriates $8,200,000 from the Personal Property Tax Replacement Fund for those funeral and burial expenses. Appropriates $18, 635,000 from the Commitment to Human Services Fund to the Department of Human Services for costs associated with the Domestic Violence Shelters and Services Program. Makes conforming changes. Effective immediately.
Amends the Illinois Public Aid Code. Requires the Department of Human Services and the Department of Healthcare and Family Services' Office of the Inspector General to perform the following actions to ensure that applicants submit completed applications for long-term care benefits: (i) provide each applicant with a checklist of information and documents the applicant must submit to complete an application for long-term care benefits; (ii) notify each applicant of the date upon which such information or documents were received by the Department; (iii) update and maintain the Department's computer hardware and software to ensure each applicant receives a timely response to any email sent by the applicant to the Department; and (iv) notify each applicant of the 30-day time period to submit all requested information or documents to the Department.
Amends the Public Utilities Act. Modifies the definition of "water or sewer utility" to remove language specifying water or sewer service provided to 7,500 or fewer customer connections as provided by certain entities. Provides that appraisals of the fair market value of the water or sewer utility that is being acquired shall be performed by 3 appraisers approved (rather than selected) by the Illinois Commerce Commission's Executive Director or designee (rather than the water department manager) and engaged by either the water or sewer utility being acquired or by the large public utility. Allows appraisers to engage one disinterested engineer who is licensed in this State who may be the same engineer that is engaged by other appraisers. Provides that in the Commission's order that approves the large public utility's acquisition of the water or sewer utility, the Commission shall issue its decision establishing, among other requirements, the rates to be charged to customers in the water or sewer utility. Provides that a large public utility may (rather than shall) recommend the district or tariff group of which the water or sewer utility shall become a part of after the acquisition, or may recommend a lesser rate for the water or sewer utility. Provides that from the date of acquisition until the date that new rates are effective in an acquiring large public utility's next rate case, the customers of the acquired water or sewer utility shall pay the approved then-existing rates of the district or tariff group as ordered by the Commission, or some lesser rates as recommended by the large public utility and approved by the Commission. Provides that in an acquiring large public utility's 2 rate cases following an acquisition, the public utility may file a rate tariff for an acquired water or sewer utility that establishes lesser rates than the district or tariff group into which the water or sewer utility is combined. Extends the repeal date of the valuation of water and sewer utilities Section from June 1, 2018 to June 1, 2028. Makes conforming changes. Effective immediately.
Amends the Managed Care Reform and Patient Rights Act. In provisions concerning transition of services, provides that the health care plan shall not modify an enrollee's coverage of a drug during the plan year if the drug has been previously approved for coverage by the plan for a medical condition, the plan's prescribing provider continues to prescribe the drug for the medical condition, and the patient continues to be an enrollee of the health care plan. Provides specific prohibited modifications of drug coverage in the health plan. Provides that the provisions do not prohibit a health care plan from requiring a pharmacist to effect generic substitutions of prescription drugs. Provides that the provisions do not prohibit the addition of prescription drugs to a health care plan's list of covered drugs during the coverage year. Provides that the provisions do not apply to a health care plan as defined in the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971 or medical assistance under the Illinois Public Aid Code. Effective immediately.
Amends the Illinois Athletic Trainers Practice Act. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the short title.
Amends the Children and Family Services Act. Makes post-secondary education tuition and fee waivers available to youth for whom the Department of Children and Family Services has court-ordered legal responsibility, youth who aged out of care at age 18 or older, or youth formerly under care who have been adopted and were the subject of an adoption assistance agreement or who have been placed in private guardianship and were the subject of a subsidized guardianship agreement. Requires applicants to have earned a high school diploma from an accredited institution or a high school equivalency certificate or have met the State criteria for high school graduation before the start of the school year for which they are applying for the waivers. Limits the tuition and fee waivers to persons under the age of 26 and provides that waivers shall be available to a student for at least the first 5 years the student is enrolled in a community college, university, or college maintained by the State. Provides that the age requirement and 5-year cap on tuition and fee waivers shall be waived and eligibility extended for applicants or students who were unable to enroll in a qualifying post-secondary school or complete an academic term because the student: (i) was called into active duty with the United States Armed Forces; (ii) was deployed for service in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps; or (iii) volunteered in the Peace Corps or the AmeriCorps. Permits the Department to provide the student with a stipend to cover maintenance and school expenses during the academic years to supplement the student's earnings. Requires the Department to develop outreach programs to ensure qualifying youths are aware of the availability of the tuition and fee waivers.
Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Provides that a unit of local government, school district, community college district, or other local taxing body shall provide notice to the public if the unit of local government, school district, community college district, or other local taxing body enters into a severance agreement with an employee or contractor accused of sexual harassment or sexual discrimination. Provides that no more than 72 hours after the unit of local government, school district, community college district, or other local taxing body makes a payment under the severance agreement, the unit of local government, school district, community college district, or other local taxing body shall publish on its Internet website and cause to be published, for a period of not less than 7 days, in the newspaper of general circulation having the largest circulation within the jurisdiction of the unit of local government, school district, community college district, or other local taxing body the following information: (1) the name of the person receiving the payment; (2) the amount of the payment; and (3) the fact that the person receiving the payment has been accused of sexual harassment or sexual discrimination, as the case may be. Effective immediately.
