Rep. Carol Ammons

Amends the Chicago School District Article of the School Code. With regard to local school council members, provides that the school district shall perform a check of the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website, the Statewide Sex Offender Database, and the Statewide Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Database upon the election or appointment of a local school council member. Provides that if the general superintendent determines at any time that a local school council member or member-elect appears on the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website or the Statewide Sex Offender Database or Statewide Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Database, the general superintendent must notify the local school council member or member-elect of such determination and the local school council member or member-elect must be removed from the local school council by the board of education. Provides that a local school council member must comply with all applicable board rules and policies regarding employees or volunteers. Removes provisions regarding ineligibility for election or appointment of a local school council member based upon certain criminal convictions.

Amends the Property Tax Code. Provides that, in counties with 3,000,000 or more inhabitants, taxpayers of income producing property shall submit income and expense data annually to the chief county assessment officer on or before July 1 of each year. Provides that, in counties of fewer than 3,000,000 inhabitants, the county board may provide by ordinance or resolution that taxpayers of income-producing property shall submit income and expense data annually to the chief county assessment officer on or before March 31 of each year. Contains certain exceptions. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Insurance Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning arbitration of medical malpractice disputes. House Floor Amendment No. 1 Deletes reference to: 215 ILCS 5/155.20 Adds reference to: New Act 215 ILCS 5/355 from Ch. 73, par. 967 215 ILCS 125/4-12 from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 1409.5 Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Creates the Health Insurance Coverage Premium Misalignment Study Act. Sets forth provisions concerning the purpose of the Act and findings. Provides that the Department of Insurance shall oversee a study to explore rate setting approaches that may yield a misalignment of premiums across different tiers of coverage in Illinois' individual health insurance market. Provides that the study shall produce cost estimates for Illinois residents addressing metal-level premium misalignment policy along with the impact of the policy on health insurance affordability and access and the uninsured rates for low-income and middle-income residents, with break-out data by geography, race, ethnicity, and income level. Provides that the study shall evaluate how premium realignment if implemented would affect costs and outcomes for Illinoisans. Provides that the Department shall develop and submit, no later than January 1, 2024, a report to the General Assembly and the Governor concerning the design, costs, benefits, and implementation of premium realignment to increase affordability and access to health care coverage that leverages existing State infrastructure. Amends the Illinois Insurance Code and the Health Maintenance Organization Act. Provides that all individual and small group accident and health policies written in compliance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act must file rates with the Department for approval. Provides that rate increases found to be unreasonable rate increases in relation to benefits under the policy provided shall be disapproved. Requires the Department to provide a report to the General Assembly after January 1, 2023 regarding both on and off exchange individual and small group rates in the Illinois market. Requires that the Department approve or deny rate increases within 60 calendar days after the rate increase is filed with the Department and that a rate increase that is not approved or denied by the Department on the 61st calendar day shall be automatically approved. Provides that no less than 30 days after the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has certified the plans described for the upcoming plan year, the Department shall publish on its website a report explaining the rates for the subsequent calendar year's certified policies.

Amends the Police Officers' Pension Investment Fund Article of the Illinois Pension Code. In a provision concerning the transition board and permanent board of trustees, removes language specifying that provisions of the Lobbyist Registration Act that prohibit persons required to register under the Act from serving on boards or commissions do not apply to members who are representatives of the Illinois Municipal League. Effective immediately. House Floor Amendment No. 2 Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Reinserts the provisions of the introduced bill with the following change. Changes the effective date from immediate to January 1, 2022.

Amends the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act. Provides that a business that intends to establish a new utility-scale solar power facility may apply for a high impact business designation. Amends the Illinois Power Agency Act. Increases the long-term renewable procurement plan goals after the 2025 delivery year. Requires the long-term renewable procurement plan to include the procurement of new renewable energy credits. Provides that the Adjustable Block program shall be designed to be continuously open. Authorizes utilities to recover certain costs related to the Adjustable Block program. Excludes certain costs from a limitation on the costs of the Adjustable Block program. Makes other changes concerning the Adjustable Block program. Amends the Public Utilities Act. Requires the Illinois Commerce Commission to open a proceeding to update the interconnection standards and applicable utility tariffs. Requires the Commission to revise certain standards for interconnection based on specified criteria. Establishes an interconnection working group. Makes changes to provisions concerning net metering and the distributed generation rebate. Requires the Commission, in consultation with the Illinois Power Agency, to study and produce a report analyzing the potential for and barriers to the implementation of energy storage in Illinois. Requires the Agency to include a plan to procure energy from energy storage resources as part of its procurement plan for 2021. Extends a provision concerning a review, reconciliation, and true-up associated with renewable energy resources' collections and costs. Makes other changes. Amends the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act to authorize emergency rulemaking. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act. Provides that an individual taxpayer age 65 or older is entitled to the earned income tax credit without regard to the requirement under the federal Internal Revenue Code that an individual taxpayer without a qualifying child has not attained age 65. Provides that an individual taxpayer age 18 to 24 is entitled to the earned income tax credit without regard to the requirement under the federal Internal Revenue Code that an individual taxpayer without a qualifying child has attained the age of 25. Provides that certain taxpayers using individual tax identification numbers are entitled to the earned income tax credit. Creates the eligible dependent tax credit. Provides that the total amount of credits between the eligible dependent tax credit and the earned income tax credit may not be less than $600. Amends the Earned Income Tax Credit Information Act to delete certain provisions concerning dependent children. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Act on the Aging. Provides that rates and minimum mandated wage increases for homemaker services shall be, at minimum, a rate of $24.96 as of July 1, 2021 to sustain a minimum wage of $15 per hour. Requires rates in subsequent State fiscal years to be no lower than the rates in effect on July 1, 2021. Provides that providers of in-home services shall be required to certify to the Department on Aging that they remain in compliance with the mandated wage increase for direct service workers. Provides that fringe benefits, including, but not limited to, paid time off and payment for training, health insurance, travel, or transportation, shall not be reduced in relation to the rate increases described in the amendatory Act. Effective July 1, 2021.

Amends the Health Care Professional Credentials Data Collection Act. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the adoption and incorporation of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act. House Committee Amendment No. 1 Deletes reference to: 410 ILCS 517/45 Adds reference to: New Act Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Creates the Consumer Choice in Maternal Care for African-American Mothers Pilot Program Act. Requires the Task Force on Infant and Maternal Mortality Among African Americans to partner with community-based maternal care providers to develop rules and regulations for a Medicaid voucher pilot program to expand consumer choice for Black mothers that includes planned home birth services and in-home perinatal and postpartum care services provided by racially concordant nationally accredited certified professional midwives. Requires the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to implement the pilot program no later than January 1, 2023. Provides that the pilot program shall operate for a 5-year period. Requires the Task Force to submit annual reports to the General Assembly, beginning January 1, 2024, and each January 1 thereafter through January 1, 2028, that provides a status update on the pilot program and annual impact measure reporting. Provides that the pilot program shall implement a maternity episode payment model that provides a single payment for all services across the prenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal period which covers the 9 months of pregnancy plus 12 weeks of postpartum. Requires the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to make available to the Task Force all relevant data related to maternal care expenditures made under the State's Medical Assistance Program so that budget-neutral reimbursement rates can be established for bundled maternal care services spanning the prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum phases of a maternity episode. House Committee Amendment No. 2 Provides that the Medicaid voucher pilot program includes home birth services and in-home perinatal and postpartum care services provided by racially concordant nationally accredited certified professional midwives who are licensed and registered in Illinois (rather than racially concordant nationally accredited certified professional midwives). Senate Committee Amendment No. 1 Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Reinserts the provisions of the engrossed bill with the following changes: Requires the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to take all necessary steps to ensure that the State is eligible for, and receives, the maximum federal matching funds available under Title XIX or XXI of the Social Security Act for the purposes of the pilot program. Requires the Department, beginning January 1, 2024, and each January 1 thereafter through January 1, 2028, to report to the General Assembly the expenditures associated with the provision of perinatal care services to pilot program participants who are insured under the State's Medical Assistance Program. Provides that the Department shall report the incidences of low birth weight, preterm birth, hospital admission for neonatal intensive care services, and severe maternal morbidity, pregnancy-related mortality, and neonatal mortality among program participants. Requires the Department to collect and maintain deidentified demographic data for all program participants. Provides that the demographic data collected for any program participant shall include the participant's zip code of residence at the time of program enrollment, parity, maternal race and ethnicity, maternal age at delivery, and weeks' gestation at the time of program enrollment. Requires the Department of Public Health to monitor and evaluate implementation of the alternative health care delivery model provided under the pilot program in accordance with the relevant terms and standards under the Alternative Health Care Delivery Act.

Amends the Language Assistance Services Act. Provides for the use and availability of qualified medical interpreters (rather than interpreters) in health facilities. Defines "qualified medical interpreters". Provides that employees of a health facility have the right to use a qualified medical interpreter for their own communication with a limited English proficient patient if a conversation between the limited English proficient patient and the employee would be jeopardized by the use of a volunteer interpreter. Requires the facility to annually transmit to the Department of Public Health a copy of the updated policy regarding language assistance services and to include a description of the facility's process to ensure adequate and speedy communication between staff and patients with language or communication barriers. Provides that facilities must prepare and maintain a list of contact information for American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter providers or individuals who have been identified as being proficient in sign language, as well as a list of the languages of the population of the geographical area served by the facility. Removes language allowing facilities to consider providing its nonbilingual staff with standardized picture and phrase sheets for use in routine communications with patients who have language or communication barriers. Makes other changes.

Creates the Illinois Hazardous Materials Workforce Training Act. Contains only a short title provision. House Committee Amendment No. 1 Adds reference to: 5 ILCS 100/5-45.8 new 35 ILCS 5/704A Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Creates the Investing in Illinois Works Tax Credit Act. Provides that each owner or operator, as defined in the Illinois Hazardous Materials Workforce Training Act, may apply for a credit against withholding payments due under the Illinois Income Tax Act for each member of its skilled and trained workforce who is also a qualifying graduate. Provides limitations on the credit. Creates the Access to Apprenticeship Act. Provides that no preapprenticeship or apprenticeship program may require a recommendation from a union member or any other person as a condition of acceptance. Amends the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act and the Illinois Income Tax Act to make conforming changes. Creates the Illinois Hazardous Workforce Materials Training Act. Requires workers at high hazard facilities to obtain minimum approved safety training, provided by the Occupational and Safety Health Administration, and to file a certificate of completion with the Department of Labor. Contains enforcement provisions. Provides that the Act does not apply to any owner or operator that has an executed national or local labor agreement in effect pertaining to the performance of construction work at a given facility or site under the terms of the agreement. Requires applicable apprenticeship and training programs, approved by and registered with the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Apprenticeship, providing minimum approved safety training for workers in high hazard facilities and contractors employing workers at high hazard facilities to file an annual report with the Department and the Illinois Works Review Panel. Provides that an owner or operator who violates the requirements of the Act shall be subject to a minimum civil penalty of $10,000 for each violation. Requires all moneys received by the Department as fees and civil penalties under the Act to be deposited into the Illinois Works Fund to be used to recruit, prescreen, and provide preapprenticeship skills training. Contains other provisions. Effective January 1, 2022. House Floor Amendment No. 2 Replaces everything after the enacting clause with the provisions of House Amendment No. 1 with the following changes. In provisions creating the Investing in Illinois Works Tax Credit Act, makes changes to provisions concerning definitions. Provides that each owner or operator may claim an amount equal to $2,500 (rather than may apply for a credit up to 45% of qualified wages paid) against a tax imposed under specified provisions of the Illinois Income Tax Act for each member of its skilled and trained workforce who is also a qualifying graduate. Contains provisions regarding the application process for the credit. Provides that the credit shall not be awarded more than an aggregate of $20,000,000 in total tax credits. Contains provisions regarding penalties and recapture. Makes other changes. In provisions creating the Illinois Hazardous Workforce Materials Training Act, provides that the Illinois Department of Labor (rather than the Attorney General's Workers Rights Bureau, in conjunction with the Department) must certify that an emergency warrants noncompliance with the Act. Makes other changes. In provisions amending the Illinois Income Tax Act, removes changes to the reporting periods upon which the amount computed for maximum credit is based. Makes other changes. Effective January 1, 2022. Fiscal Note, House Floor Amendment No. 2 (Dept. of Labor) There is no fiscal impact to the Department of Labor by the Illinois Works Tax Credit Act and the amendments to the Illinois Income Tax Act. The fiscal impact to the Department of Labor by the Illinois Hazardous Materials Workforce Training Act is estimated as follows: 3 Labor Conciliators (salary, benefits, and expenses): $179,917.93 each; 1 Information Services Specialist (salary, benefits, and expenses): $155,960.06; Total Department of Labor fiscal impact: $695,713.85. State Debt Impact Note, House Floor Amendment No. 2 (Government Forecasting & Accountability) HB 3437, as amended by House Amendment 2, would not change the amount of authorization for any type of State-issued bond, and, therefore, would not affect the level of State indebtedness. Senate Committee Amendment No. 1 Deletes reference to: 35 ILCS 5/704A Adds reference to: 35 ILCS 5/232 new Replaces everything after the enacting clause with the provisions of the engrossed bill with the following changes. In provisions creating the Investing in Illinois Works Tax Credit Act, makes changes to provisions concerning definitions. Provides that for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2023 (rather than for reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2022) an owner or operator may claim as a credit against the tax imposed under specified provisions of the Illinois Income Tax Act an amount equal to the amount of Illinois income tax withheld from the compensation paid to each qualifying employee and paid to the Department of Revenue, not to exceed (rather than equal to) $2,500 per calendar year for each qualifying employee. Provides that for partners and shareholders of Subchapter S corporations, there shall be allowed a credit to be determined in accordance with the determination of income and distributive share of income under specified provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. Removes language providing that specified provisions are exempt from specified provisions of the Illinois Income Tax Act. Makes other changes. In provisions creating the Illinois Hazardous Materials Workforce Training Act, provides the findings of the General Assembly. Makes changes to provisions concerning definitions. Provides that within 3 days after an emergency resulting in a failure to comply with the Act, an owner or operator must notify the Department that such an event occurred and provide documentation supporting its claim that compliance with the Act was impracticable. Makes changes to provisions concerning enforcement and reporting requirements. Requires the Department of Labor to consider the gravity of a violation in determining the amount of the penalty for the violation. Provides that if the Department finds that a contractor or owner or operator failed to pay the prevailing rate of wages to construction workers at a stationary source as required under the Act, the Department shall have the ability to recover unpaid or underpaid wages, plus a 5% monthly penalty, on behalf of and payable to the workers. Makes other changes. Removes language allowing the Department of Labor to adopt emergency rules under the amendatory Act. Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act. Contains provisions regarding the Investing in Illinois Works Tax Credit (rather than amending provisions regarding employers' returns and payments withheld). Provides an effective date of January 1, 2023 (rather than January 1, 2022).