Resolves that the Department of Healthcare and Family Services shall (i) work with the Department of Human Services in structuring a single information technology system that recognizes and identifies pregnant women enrolled in Medicaid and in need of prenatal services and (ii) use that system to promote prenatal services to the identified population.
Appropriates $8,200,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Veterans' Affairs for staffing at the Illinois Veterans' Home at LaSalle. Effective July 1, 2008.
Amends the Illinois Pension Code. Requires the General Assembly Retirement System, the State Employees' Retirement System of Illinois, the State Universities Retirement System, the Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois, and the Judges Retirement System of Illinois to automatically enroll its newly eligible employees in a self-managed program of retirement benefits instead of the program of retirement benefits currently offered and allows currently eligible employees to elect to participate in the self-managed program. Provides that a self-managed plan shall authorize a participating employee to accumulate assets for retirement through a combination of employer and employee contributions that may be invested at the employee's direction in mutual funds, collective investment funds, or other investment products and used to purchase annuity contracts. Provides that, to the extent that the changes made by the amendatory Act are determined to be a new benefit increase, the changes are exempt from the 5-year expiration provision. Effective immediately.
Amends the Public Utilities Act. Provides that an electric utility must establish a "net metering" pilot program for its retail customers that own and operate a solar or wind electrical generating facility with a capacity of not more than 40 kilowatts located on the customer's premises and intended to offset part of the customer's electrical requirements. Requires separate pilot programs for residential and business customers. Provides that an electric utility that has conducted a net electrical energy metering pilot program for either its residential or business customers, or both, that was initiated before the effective date of this amendatory Act need only file a report of the results of the program with the Illinois Commerce Commission. Provides that the electric utility must report the results of the pilot program to the Illinois Commerce Commission by July 1, 2008. Requires the Commission to provide a summary and an analysis of the reports to the General Assembly by September 1, 2008. Amends the Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, and Coal Resources Development Law of 1997. Provides that a utility may deduct an amount from collected receipts for expenses incurred to develop, maintain, and administer its net electricity metering pilot program. Extends the scheduled repeal date for the Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, and Coal Resources Development Law of 1997 from December 16, 2007 to December 31, 2008. Effective immediately.
Creates the Health Facilities Planning Board Task Force to study the utility, effectiveness, and efficiency of the Board and to report its findings to the General Assembly by February 1, 2008.
Amends the Illinois Municipal Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning definitions.
Amends the Department of Agriculture Law. Provides that the Department shall not require a premises identification number to exhibit or enter livestock or horses at any fair or exhibition in Illinois, unless required by federal law or regulation, without first receiving approval for such a requirement from the governing board of the fair or exhibition.
Amends the Hospital Licensing Act. Provides that a hospital medical staff's right of self-governance includes: (1) establishing, in medical staff bylaws, rules, or regulations, criteria and requirements for medical staff membership and privileges, and enforcing those criteria and requirements; (2) establishing, in medical staff bylaws, rules, or regulations, clinical criteria and requirements to oversee and manage quality assurance, utilization review, and other medical staff activities including, but not limited to, periodic meetings of the medical staff and its committees and departments and review and analysis of patient medical records; (3) selecting and removing medical staff officers; and other matters. Sets forth requirements for medical staff bylaws. Provides that neither the medical staff nor the hospital governing board may unilaterally amend, change, or otherwise alter adopted medical staff bylaws. Provides that with respect to any dispute arising under these provisions, the medical staff and the hospital governing board shall meet and confer in good faith to resolve the dispute; authorizes the medical staff to seek judicial relief if reasonable efforts have failed to resolve a dispute.
Amends the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971. Permits an employee to switch to a different health insurance program after the annual benefits choice period if a health care provider with whom the employee has a long-term relationship transfers from one program to another program after the Director of Central Management Services has submitted the final program contracts before the benefits choice period. Effective immediately.
Amends the State Property Control Act. With respect to the transfer of books, serial publications, and other library materials to which the Act's transfer procedures do not apply, (i) adds those items that have been withdrawn from the transferring agency's library collection through a regular collection evaluation process and (ii) adds non-profit agencies, whether located in or outside Illinois, to the list of entities to which such items may be transferred. Authorizes an agency with withdrawn books, serial publications, or other library materials to sell those items to the public at library book sales or to book dealers or to offer those items through exchange to book dealers or to organizations. Provides that revenues generated from such sales shall be retained by the agency and used for the purchase of library materials.
