Public Act 096-0491
 		





SB2224 Enrolled
LRB096 11427 DRJ 21897 b






    AN ACT concerning aging.

 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
 
represented in the General Assembly:


 
    Section 5. The Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons 
Property Tax Relief and
Pharmaceutical Assistance Act is 
amended  by changing Section 5 as follows:
 



    (320 ILCS 25/5)  (from Ch. 67 1/2, par. 405)



    Sec. 5. Procedure. 

    (a) In general.  Claims must be filed after January 1, on 
forms prescribed
by the Department.  No claim may be filed more 
than one year after December 31
of the year for which the claim 
is filed except that claims for 1976 may be
filed until 
December 31, 1978.  The pharmaceutical assistance 
identification
card provided for in subsection (f) of Section 4 
shall be valid for a period
not to exceed one year.  On and 
after January 1, 2002, however, to enable the
Department to 
convert coverage for a pharmaceutical assistance program

participant to a State fiscal year basis, a card shall be valid 
for a longer or
shorter period than 12 months, depending on the 
date a timely claim is filed
and as determined by the 
Department.  All applicants for benefits under this
program 
approved for benefits on or after July 1 but on or before 
December 31
of any State fiscal year are eligible for benefits 
through June 30 of that
State fiscal year.  All applicants for 
benefits under this program approved for
benefits on or after 
January 1 but on or before June 30 of any State fiscal
year are 
eligible for benefits through June 30 of the following State 
fiscal
year.

    (b) Claim is Personal.  The right to file a claim under this 
Act
shall be personal to the claimant and shall not survive his 
death, but
such right may be exercised on behalf of a claimant 
by his legal
guardian or attorney-in-fact.  If a claimant dies 
after having filed a
timely claim, the amount thereof shall be 
disbursed to his surviving spouse
or, if no spouse survives, to 
his surviving dependent minor children in
equal parts, provided 
the spouse or child, as the case may be, resided with
the 
claimant at the time he filed his claim.  If at the time of 
disbursement
neither the claimant nor his spouse is surviving, 
and no dependent minor
children of the claimant are surviving 
the amount of the claim shall
escheat to the State.

    (c) One claim per household.  Only one member of a household 
may file
a claim under this Act in any calendar year; where 
both members of a
household are otherwise entitled to claim a 
grant under this Act, they
must agree as to which of them will 
file a claim for that year.

    (d) Content of application form.  The form prescribed by the

Department for purposes of paragraph (a) shall include a table,

appropriately keyed to the parts of the form on which the 
claimant is
required to furnish information, which will enable 
the claimant to
determine readily the approximate amount of 
grant to which he is
entitled by relating levels of household 
income to property taxes
accrued or rent constituting property 
taxes accrued.

    (e) Pharmaceutical Assistance Procedures.  The Department 
shall establish
the form and manner for application, and 
establish by January 1, 1986 a
procedure to enable persons to 
apply for the additional grant or for the
pharmaceutical 
assistance identification card on the same application form.

The Department shall determine eligibility for pharmaceutical 
assistance using
the applicant's current income.  The 
Department shall determine a person's
current income in the 
manner provided by the Department by rule.

    (f) A person may not under any circumstances charge a fee 
to a claimant under this Act for assistance in completing an 
application form for a property tax relief grant or 
pharmaceutical assistance under this Act. 
(Source: P.A. 91-533, eff. 8-13-99; 91-699, eff. 1-1-01; 
92-131, eff.
7-23-01; 92-519, eff. 1-1-02.)

 

    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 
becoming law.