Rep. Esther Golar

Amends the Higher Education Student Assistance Act. With respect to the Monetary Award Program, provides that if an applicant is eligible for a grant under the Program but is not offered a grant due to insufficient appropriations for the Program, then the applicant is entitled to State reimbursement the following fiscal year in an amount equal to the grant amount he or she would have received had he or she been offered a grant.

Appropriates $2 from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Human Services for its FY16 ordinary and contingent expenses. Effective July 1, 2015.

Amends the Illinois Insurance Code. Provides that a group or individual policy of accident and health insurance must provide coverage for medically necessary preventative physical therapy for insureds diagnosed with multiple sclerosis without any treatment limitation or calendar year maximum. Removes requirements that coverage under this provision be subject to the same waiting period, cost sharing limitation, treatment limitation, calendar year maximum, or other limitation as provided for other physical or rehabilitative therapy benefits.

Amends the Code of Civil Procedure. Provides that a person commits false representation concerning real estate title, a Class 4 felony, when he or she knowingly, as part of any transaction or legal proceeding under the Mortgage Foreclosure Article of the Code, claims an interest in real estate or executes, notarizes, or records a fraudulent real estate document. Provides that a person commits a pattern of making false representations concerning real estate title, a Class 3 felony, by committing false representation concerning title to real estate in 2 or more instances with a similar pattern or purpose which are not isolated incidents within the preceding 4 years and in which the aggregate loss or intended loss is more than $250. Provides that the Attorney General has a private right of action for civil penalties arising from such conduct. Provides that if a person does not correct the false representation within 20 days of a written request to do so, the owner or holder of the beneficial interest in real estate which is the subject of a false representation concerning real estate title may bring a civil action in the circuit court in the county in which the real estate is located to recover damages suffered by the owner or holder of the beneficial interest plus reasonable attorney's fees.

Amends the College Planning Act. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the short title.

Amends the Medical Assistance Article of the Illinois Public Aid Code. Requires the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to develop and implement an algorithm that is based on quality scores and other operational proficiency criteria developed, defined, and adopted by the Department, by rule, to automatically assign Medicaid enrollees served under the Family Health Plan and the Integrated Care Program and those Medicaid enrollees eligible for medical assistance pursuant to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into managed care entities, including Accountable Care Entities, Care Coordination Entities, Children with Special Needs Care Coordination Entities, Managed Care Community Networks, and Managed Care Organizations. Provides that the algorithm developed and implemented shall favor assignment into managed care entities with the highest quality scores and levels of compliance with the operational proficiency criteria established.

Amends the Unemployment Insurance Act. Provides for a reduction in the employer's contribution rate in the amount of 0.1% annually. Provides for a surcharge upon employers in the amount of 0.1% to be deposited into the 21st Century Workforce Development Fund.

Amends the Department of Human Services Act. Provides that nothing in a specified provision of the Act shall prohibit an employee from formally contesting any adverse employment action taken against the employee as a result of a substantiated finding by the Office of the Inspector General; however, such contest shall not prohibit the Inspector General from reporting the employee's name to the health care worker registry. Provides that the fact that an employee may be formally contesting an employer's adverse employment action in another forum shall not prohibit the employee from requesting an administrative hearing to contest the reporting of his or her name to the health care worker registry; that the outcome of an action filed with the Civil Service Commission or pursuant to any collective bargaining agreement shall have no bearing on the Inspector General's obligation to report a substantiated finding of physical abuse, sexual abuse, egregious neglect, or financial exploitation to the health care worker registry, or the outcome of the hearing, if any (rather than no reporting to the registry shall occur and no hearing shall be set or proceed if an employee notifies the Inspector General in writing, including any supporting documentation, that he or she is formally contesting an adverse employment action resulting from a substantiated finding by complaint filed with the Illinois Civil Service Commission, or which otherwise seeks to enforce the employee's rights pursuant to any applicable collective bargaining agreement; that if an action taken by an employer against an employee as a result of a finding of physical abuse, sexual abuse, or egregious neglect is overturned through an action filed with the Illinois Civil Service Commission or under any applicable collective bargaining agreement and if that employee's name has already been sent to the registry, the employee's name shall be removed from the registry).

Amends the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Article of the Illinois Public Aid Code. Provides that the first $100 of child support collected on behalf of a family in a month for one child and the first $200 of child support collected on behalf of a family in a month for 2 or more children shall be passed through to the family and disregarded in determining the amount of the assistance grant provided to the family. Provides that any amount of child support that would be disregarded in determining the amount of the assistance grant shall be disregarded in determining eligibility for cash assistance. Effective immediately.

Amends the General Assembly Organization Act. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the deposit of books, bills, documents, and papers with the Secretary of State.