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90_SB1733
New Act
20 ILCS 415/ 8b.7-1 new
90HB1633, Sec. 45-70
30 ILCS 505/9.07 new
Creates the Welfare to Work Partnership for Jobs Act.
Requires State agencies to notify the Department of Human
Services of all job openings in the agency. Allows the
Department to find certain positions exempt from the
requirements of the Act. Requires qualified recipients of
public aid to be given a job preference by State agencies.
Requires the Department to submit certain information to the
General Assembly and the Governor. Amends the Personnel
Code, the Illinois Procurement Code (if House Bill 1633 of
the 90th General Assembly becomes law) and the Illinois
Purchasing Act (if House Bill 1633 of the 90th General
Assembly does not become law) to provide that qualified aid
recipients shall receive a preference. Effective
immediately.
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1 AN ACT concerning jobs for public aid recipients.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5 Welfare to Work Partnership for Jobs Act.
6 Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
7 "Aid recipient" means (i) a person financially eligible
8 to receive cash assistance under Temporary Assistance to
9 Needy Families, Transitional Assistance, or any other cash
10 assistance program administered by the Department of Human
11 Services; (ii) a person financially eligible for cash
12 assistance under Article VI of the Public Aid Code, whether
13 receiving assistance or not, an Earnfare participant, or an
14 unemployed or employed person who is earning less than the
15 poverty level who is also married to the parent of a child
16 receiving cash assistance or who is the legally adjudicated
17 father of a child receiving cash assistance; or (iii) a
18 person who, within the previous 60 months, has been found
19 eligible and placed for training or employment under the
20 United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's
21 Section 3 program or under any other local, State, or federal
22 government program that creates training or hiring
23 preferences or priorities for low income persons and who was,
24 at the time of entry into the program, an aid recipient as
25 defined under items (i) or (ii) of this paragraph.
26 "Contracts for personal services" means the same as in
27 Section 14 of the State Finance Act.
28 "Covered contract" means a contract, aid, or grant
29 between the State and other entity or entities, whether
30 private, public, or not-for-profit, regardless of the purpose
31 of the contract, aid, or grant. "Covered contract" includes
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1 contracts, aid, and grants between those entities and their
2 contractors and subcontractors only if the contract or grant
3 is payable by the State in an amount in excess of $250,000 or
4 a subcontract is for an amount in excess of $100,000.
5 Recipients of contracts, aid, and grants may not divide
6 contracts or spread out the work to be undertaken to avoid
7 having a covered contract.
8 "Covered employee" means a person who is found eligible
9 for employment and hired under this Act.
10 "Covered employer" means an employer receiving a covered
11 contract payment and subject to the requirements of this Act.
12 "Covered position" means a State-funded position of
13 employment, whether civil service or under a contract for
14 personal services, that the Department of Human Services has
15 not found exempt under Section 25 of this Act.
16 "Department" means the Department of Human Services.
17 "Qualified aid recipient" means an aid recipient who
18 meets each of the qualifications, including education,
19 training, and experience, if any, that have been established
20 by the employer for a position.
21 "State agencies" means all State departments, boards,
22 commissions, authorities, councils, officers, bureaus, units,
23 colleges and universities, whether executive, legislative, or
24 judicial.
25 Section 15. Disclosure of potential covered positions.
26 Simultaneously with posting its positions or putting a
27 position out for hire by contract, each State agency shall
28 provide the Department of Human Services with a copy of a job
29 announcement specifying the job description and
30 qualifications of each position that is newly created, is
31 open, or is otherwise posted for hire or for hire under
32 contract. This requirement does not apply when the position
33 is one that is subject to recall by a laid-off employee or
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1 employees.
2 Section 20. Duties of the Department of Human Services.
3 The Department of Human Services shall administer the
4 portions of this Act relating to reviewing positions,
5 eligibility determinations, and recruitment, screening, and
6 referral of aid recipients to covered positions and positions
7 under covered contracts.
8 Section 25. Review of Positions.
9 (a) The Department shall review each position
10 announcement provided to it by State agencies to determine if
11 there currently are any potentially qualified aid recipients
12 who could apply for the position.
13 (b) If the Department determines there are no qualified
14 aid recipients or too few potentially qualified aid
15 recipients to identify readily, the Department shall provide
16 the State agency with a notice exempting that position from
17 the provisions of this Act. The Department may permanently
18 or temporarily exempt a position.
19 (c) If the position is permanently exempted, the State
20 agency need not provide the Department with position
21 announcements for that position in the future. However, the
22 Department may, at any time, revoke its exemption of any
23 position and from the point of that revocation forward, the
24 State agency shall again provide the Department with
25 announcements of that position.
26 (d) If the position is temporarily exempted, the
27 provisions of this Act do not apply to the position, but the
28 State agency must provide announcements to the Department of
29 future openings for that position.
30 (e) If the position is not determined by the Department
31 to be exempted, it is a covered position under this Act.
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1 Section 30. Eligibility determinations. Upon the
2 request of a person who believes that he or she is an aid
3 recipient within the meaning of this Act, or the request of a
4 State agency or covered employer on behalf of that person,
5 the Department shall make a determination of whether the
6 person is an aid recipient within the meaning of this Act and
7 shall provide the necessary written proof of aid recipient
8 status to the aid recipient and to any other person, in
9 including the party making request on behalf of the aid
10 recipient, if the aid recipient authorizes it in writing.
11 Section 35. Recruitment, screening and referrals to
12 training and for jobs.
13 (a) In order to facilitate a steady stream of
14 potentially qualified aid recipients into positions available
15 under this Act, the Department shall:
16 (1) work with public, private, and not-for-profit
17 job training programs and certified joint apprenticeship
18 training programs to develop and make use of training
19 programs to facilitate channeling aid recipients into
20 the training programs that correspond with, and will
21 qualify them for, covered positions and positions under
22 covered contracts;
23 (2) coordinate the recruitment, screening, and
24 referrals for placement of aid recipients in education
25 and training programs that correspond with the job
26 qualifications and requirements of covered positions and
27 positions under covered contracts;
28 (3) coordinate the recruitment, screening, and
29 referrals of potentially qualified aid recipients to
30 employers for open covered positions and positions under
31 covered contracts;
32 (b) The Department shall maintain an equal balance in
33 its referrals of potentially qualified aid recipients to
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1 training programs and to employers for covered positions and
2 positions under covered contracts as between those who
3 qualify under item (i) of the definition of aid recipient in
4 Section 10 of this Act, or who originally qualified under
5 item (i) but who are now qualified under subparagraph (iii),
6 and those who qualify under item (ii) of the definition of
7 aid recipient, or who originally qualified under item (ii)
8 but who are now qualified under item (iii).
9 (c) Support services, including transportation
10 assistance, uniforms, tools, and supplies, that are otherwise
11 provided to aid recipients under item (i) of the definition
12 of aid recipient shall be provided also, in the same manner
13 and measure, to those aid recipients under item (ii) of the
14 definition of aid recipient.
15 (d) The duties of the Department specified in this
16 Section may be carried out, in whole or in part, under
17 contracts entered into by the Department with units of local
18 government or by not-for-profit community based
19 organizations.
20 Section 40. Hiring without referrals authorized. Any
21 aid recipient who believes he or she is a qualified aid
22 recipient may apply, without a referral by the Department,
23 for jobs under this Act. For any covered position, whether
24 previously determined by the Department to be a covered
25 position or not, where the State agency finds the applicant
26 to be a qualified aid recipient, the applicant shall be
27 provided the preference this Act affords. For any position
28 under a covered contract, the employer may count, under the
29 requirements imposed under this Act, any aid recipient hired,
30 whether referred by the Department or not.
31 Section 45. Hiring requirements relative to covered
32 positions.
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1 (a) Verification that an applicant for a position is an
2 aid recipient shall be made by the State agency by copying
3 the applicant's public aid card or any other proof of aid
4 recipient status that has been provided to the aid recipient
5 or employer by the Department.
6 (b) The State agency with the open position shall make
7 the determination of whether an aid recipient who applies for
8 the position is a qualified for hire.
9 (c) The State agency shall provide qualified aid
10 recipients with a hiring preference for civil service
11 positions under Section 8b.7-1 of the Personnel Code and for
12 personal service contract positions under Section 9.07 of the
13 Illinois Purchasing Act (if House Bill 1633 of the 90th
14 General Assembly does not become law) or Section 45-70 of the
15 Illinois Procurement Code (if House Bill 1633 of the 90th
16 General Assembly becomes law).
17 (d) The minimum qualifications for hire and the wages,
18 days per week, hours per day, shifts of employment, and terms
19 and conditions of employment of a qualified aid recipient who
20 is hired under this Act shall be the same as for other
21 members of the employer's workforce doing the same or similar
22 work and shall be subject to the same State and federal laws.
23 (e) Nothing in this Act prevents a State agency from
24 counting a person hired under this Act, who is also a
25 protected female or minority, toward that any of employer's
26 affirmative action obligations.
27 (f) Nothing in this Act diminishes the full authority
28 and prerogative of State agencies to determine independently
29 an aid recipient's qualifications and to make independently
30 all hiring decisions, based on merit, under this Act.
31 Section 50. Reports. The Department of Human Services
32 shall track the number of aid recipients hired under this Act
33 and develop a compilation, by State agency, on a quarterly
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1 basis. The Department shall also track the number of aid
2 recipients hired in subsidized and in unsubsidized jobs
3 (exclusive of tax credits) in the private sector on the same
4 quarterly basis. The Department shall also prepare an
5 analysis of the number of aid recipients who have been found
6 "job ready" and are seeking employment and show how many aid
7 recipients, for each of the following periods of time, have
8 been seeking employment: 3 months, 6 months, one year, 2
9 years or more. The Department shall also prepare an analysis
10 of how many aid recipients are working in unsubsidized jobs
11 and not in an education or training program. The Department
12 shall also prepare a report showing the total number of
13 employers with whom it has established a job referral
14 relationship for TANF recipients and shall break this list
15 down by county. All of this information shall be provided to
16 the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Minority
17 Leader of the House of Representatives, the President of the
18 Senate, and the Minority Leader of the Senate and the
19 Governor and shall be made available to the public.
20 Section 55. Covered contract; 25% of TANF caseload "job
21 ready". If the Department of Human Services reports show
22 that more than 25% of the TANF caseload found to be "job
23 ready" has been searching for work for 6 months or more and
24 that the combined pool of private employer positions and
25 State covered positions for which the Department can make
26 referrals does not equal or exceed that number searching for
27 work, then this Section shall take apply. Each covered
28 contract shall contain provisions incorporating all of the
29 following:
30 (1) Qualified aid recipients shall be recruited by
31 covered employers for jobs created under covered
32 contracts.
33 (2) In order to facilitate compliance with this Act,
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1 a covered employer shall notify the Department of Human
2 Services of jobs that are open under the covered contract
3 for which aid recipients may be qualified in order to
4 receive referrals of aid recipients by the Department.
5 (3) The covered employer shall verify that an
6 applicant for a position is an aid recipient and shall
7 maintain a record of the aid recipient's status of by
8 copying for its records the applicant's public aid card
9 or any other proof of aid recipient status that has been
10 provided to the aid recipient or employer by the
11 Department of Human Services.
12 (4) The covered employer shall make the
13 determination of whether an aid recipient who applies for
14 the position is a qualified aid recipient. Nothing in
15 this Act implies a diminution of the full authority and
16 prerogative of State agencies to determine independently
17 an aid recipient's qualifications and to make
18 independently all hiring decisions under this Act. No
19 State agency may require an employer to hire an aid
20 recipient who is not qualified for the position for which
21 the aid recipient is applying.
22 (5) Hiring of an aid recipient under a covered
23 contract shall entitle the employer to direct assistance
24 in securing any adult education, on-the-job training ,
25 and job retention services that the Department of Human
26 Services may provide to enable the employee to succeed on
27 the job and shall entitle the employer to the
28 Department's assistance in understanding and applying for
29 all tax credits and subsidies for which the employer may
30 be entitled.
31 (6) The minimum qualifications for hire and the
32 wages, days per week, hours per day, shifts of
33 employment, and terms and conditions of employment of a
34 covered employee shall be the same as for other members
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1 of the employer's workforce doing the same or similar
2 work and shall be subject to the same State and federal
3 laws.
4 (7) Covered employees shall abide by all health and
5 safety rules and all laws imposed on a covered employer's
6 workforce.
7 (8) This Act does not require covered employers to
8 provide any additional or separate training or
9 apprenticeship programs for aid recipients that the
10 employer would not otherwise provide to other workers in
11 the same or similar jobs at the same or similar level of
12 experience.
13 Section 800. The Personnel Code is amended by adding
14 Section 8b.7-1 as follows:
15 (20 ILCS 415/ 8b.7-1 new)
16 Sec. 8b.7-1. Welfare to Work Partnership for Jobs;
17 preference. For the purpose the Welfare to Work Partnership
18 for Jobs Act, the preference for a qualified aid recipient
19 shall only be given after the application of veterans
20 preferences under Section 8b.7 of this Act unless the
21 applicant is entitled to both a veteran's preference and a
22 qualified aid recipient preference. If an applicant is
23 entitled to both preferences, that applicant shall take
24 precedence. When qualified aid recipients are on eligible
25 lists on the basis of category rankings such as superior,
26 excellent, well-qualified, and qualified, they shall be
27 preferred over non-veterans in the same category who are not
28 qualified aid recipients. Notwithstanding Section 8b.5 of
29 this Act, when a list is prepared by numerical rankings and a
30 qualified aid recipient is one of the top 3 candidates on the
31 list, the qualified aid recipient shall be appointed.
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1 Section 805. If and only if House Bill 1633 of the 90th
2 General Assembly becomes law, the Illinois Procurement Code
3 is amended by adding Section 45-70 as follows:
4 (90HB1633, Sec. 45-70)
5 Sec. 45-70. Contracts for personal services. All
6 contracts for personal services, as defined in Section 14 of
7 the State Finance Act, shall be subject to the preference for
8 qualified aid recipients under the Welfare to Work
9 Partnership for Jobs Act. Qualified aid recipients shall be
10 awarded the contract over those similarly qualified for the
11 contract.
12 Section 810. If and only if House Bill 1633 of the 90th
13 General Assembly does not become law, the Illinois Purchasing
14 Act is amended by adding Section 9.07 as follows:
15 (30 ILCS 505/9.07 new)
16 Sec. 9.07. Contracts for personal services. All contracts
17 for personal services, as defined in Section 14 of the State
18 Finance Act, shall be subject to the preference for qualified
19 aid recipients under the Welfare to Work Partnership for
20 Jobs Act. Qualified aid recipients shall be awarded the
21 contract over those similarly qualified for the contract.
22 Section 999. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
23 becoming law.