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91_HB2315eng HB2315 Engrossed LRB9105421SMdv 1 AN ACT concerning employment. 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 Act. 6 Section 5. Legislative findings; purpose. The General 7 Assembly hereby finds that: 8 (a) Poverty and welfare dependence are widespread 9 throughout the State of Illinois. Almost 1,500,000 of its 10 citizens are dependent on the State's public assistance 11 programs for their most basic needs; and over 200,000 12 families, including 500,000 children, rely on cash assistance 13 from the State for all or part of their subsistence needs. 14 (b) Poverty and unemployment diminish individual 15 self-esteem, can undermine family stability, and affect 16 family formation, community security and cohesion. 17 (c) Under the new federal welfare law, the Personal 18 Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 19 1996, cash assistance benefits will be limited to 60 months, 20 and over 100,000 adult heads of households in the Illinois 21 welfare caseload must be employed by the year 2002 or they 22 and their children will be destitute. 23 (d) Voluntary efforts by the private sector to employ 24 welfare recipients are laudable and are to be commended, but 25 the State must also take direct responsibility to ensure that 26 welfare recipients are hired in jobs that will allow them to 27 leave the welfare rolls altogether. 28 (e) The State spends billions of dollars each year to 29 improve its economy and infrastructure, and to deliver 30 services to the people of the State, all of which also serves 31 to provide jobs for its citizens. HB2315 Engrossed -2- LRB9105421SMdv 1 (f) The State can accomplish the objectives of relieving 2 welfare dependency and ensuring economic self-sufficiency as 3 well as the objectives related to carrying out necessary 4 governmental operations at the same time, and with 5 significant savings in State outlays in cash assistance and 6 supportive service dollars. 7 (g) Poverty and welfare dependency can be alleviated by 8 targeting some of the resources of the State and making jobs 9 available to the welfare poor, specifically by bringing 10 qualified poor persons into the State workforce and into the 11 workforces that are generated through State contracts, 12 without causing the displacement of existing workers. 13 (h) Some State jobs that are newly created or that are 14 open through attrition and some jobs created under State 15 contracts, can be filled by qualified welfare recipients 16 without compromising the integrity of the hiring process, 17 contractor profits, collective bargaining agreements, timely 18 completion of projects, or the health and safety of Illinois 19 workers. 20 (i) To the extent that these jobs are filled by welfare 21 recipients, the State accomplishes 4 important governmental 22 objectives simultaneously: (1) the alleviation of welfare 23 dependency, ensuring of economic self-sufficiency, and 24 lifting of individuals and families out of poverty, (2) the 25 stabilization of families and communities that are hardest 26 hit by persistent poverty and unemployment, (3) the 27 accomplishment of the essential work of the State which must 28 be performed through these jobs, and (4) the reduction of 29 State outlays for cash assistance and services for the poor. 30 (j) The State's immediate, direct and significant 31 interest in relieving welfare dependency and the employment 32 of the poor in jobs generated through the expenditure of 33 State funds constitutes the basis of this Act. HB2315 Engrossed -3- LRB9105421SMdv 1 Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act: 2 "Aid recipient" means: 3 (a) a person financially eligible to receive cash 4 assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy 5 Families program, the Transitional Assistance program, or 6 any other cash assistance program administered by the 7 Department of Human Services financed in whole or in part 8 by the State; 9 (b) a person financially eligible for cash 10 assistance under Article VI of the Public Aid Code, 11 whether receiving assistance or not; an Earnfare 12 participant; and an unemployed person or employed person 13 who is earning less than the poverty level in wages and 14 who is also married to the parent of a child receiving 15 cash assistance or the legally adjudicated father of a 16 child receiving cash assistance; and 17 (c) a person who, within the previous 60 months, has 18 been found eligible and placed for training or employment 19 under the United States Department of Housing and Urban 20 Development's Section 3 program, or under any other 21 local, state, or federal government program that creates 22 training or hiring preferences or priorities for low 23 income persons, and who was, at the time of entry into 24 such program an "aid recipient" as defined under 25 paragraph (a) or (b) of this definition. 26 "Contracts for personal services" has the same meaning as 27 under Section 14 of the State Finance Act. 28 "Covered contract" means a contract, aid, or grant 29 between the State and any other entity or entities, whether 30 private, public, or not-for-profit, regardless of the purpose 31 of the contract, aid, or grant, and means contracts, aid, and 32 grants between those entities and their contractors and 33 subcontractors, but only if the contract or grant is payable 34 by the State in an amount in excess of $250,000 or a HB2315 Engrossed -4- LRB9105421SMdv 1 subcontract is for an amount in excess of $100,000. 2 Recipients of contracts, aid, and grants may not divide 3 contracts or spread out the work to be undertaken for 4 purposes of avoiding having a covered contract. 5 "Covered employee" means a person who is found eligible 6 for employment and hired under this Act. 7 "Covered employer" means an employer in receipt of a 8 "covered contract" payment and thus subject to the 9 requirements of this Act with respect to a "covered 10 contract". 11 "Covered position" means a State-funded position of 12 employment, whether civil service or under contract for 13 personal services, that the Department of Human Services has 14 not found exempt under Section 25 of this Act. 15 "Department" means the Department of Human Services. 16 "Qualified aid recipient" means an "aid recipient" who 17 meets each of the qualifications, including education, 18 training, and experience, if any, that have been established 19 by the employer for the position. 20 "State agencies" means all State departments (whether 21 code or otherwise), boards, commissions, authorities, 22 councils, officers, bureaus, units, colleges and 23 universities, and executive, legislative and judicial 24 agencies. 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 HB2315 Engrossed -5- LRB9105421SMdv 1 employees. 2 Section 20. Duties of the Department of Human Services. 3 The Department shall administer that portion of this Act 4 related to reviewing positions, eligibility determinations, 5 recruitment, screening, and referral of aid recipients to 6 covered positions and positions under covered contracts. 7 Section 25. Review of positions. 8 (a) The Department shall review each position 9 announcement provided to it by State agencies to determine if 10 there currently are any potentially qualified aid recipients 11 that could be referred to apply for the position. 12 (b) If the Department determines there are no or too few 13 potentially qualified aid recipients to identify readily for 14 referral for the position, the Department shall provide the 15 State agency with a notice exempting that position from the 16 provisions of this Act. The Department may permanently or 17 temporarily exempt a position. 18 (c) If the position is permanently exempted, the State 19 agency need not provide the Department with position 20 announcements for that position in the future. However, the 21 Department may, at any time, revoke its exemption of any 22 position, and from the point of that revocation forward, the 23 State agency again shall provide the Department with 24 announcements of that position. 25 (d) If the position is temporarily exempted, the 26 provisions of this Act do not apply to the position, but the 27 State agency must provide announcements to the Department of 28 future openings of that position. 29 (e) If the position is not determined by the Department 30 to be exempted, it is a covered position under this Act. 31 Section 30. Eligibility determinations. Upon the HB2315 Engrossed -6- LRB9105421SMdv 1 request of a person who believes that he or she is an aid 2 recipient within the meaning of this Act or the request of a 3 State agency or covered employer on behalf of such a person, 4 the Department shall make the determination of whether the 5 person is an aid recipient within the meaning of this Act and 6 shall provide the necessary written proof of aid recipient 7 status to the aid recipient and to any other person, 8 including the party making request on behalf of the aid 9 recipient, if the aid recipient authorizes it in writing. 10 Section 35. Recruitment, screening, and referrals to 11 training and for jobs under this Act. 12 (a) In order to facilitate a steady stream of 13 potentially qualified aid recipients into positions available 14 under this Act, the Department shall: 15 (1) work with public, private, and not-for-profit 16 job training programs and certified joint apprenticeship 17 training programs to develop and make use of training 18 programs to facilitate channeling aid recipients into 19 such training programs that correspond with, and will 20 qualify them for, open covered positions and positions 21 under covered contracts; 22 (2) coordinate the recruitment, screening, and 23 referrals for placement of aid recipients in education 24 and training programs that correspond with the job 25 qualifications and requirements of covered positions and 26 positions under covered contracts; 27 (3) coordinate the recruitment, screening, and 28 referrals of potentially qualified aid recipients to 29 employers for open covered positions and positions under 30 covered contracts; 31 (b) The Department shall maintain an equal balance in 32 its referrals of potentially qualified aid recipients to 33 training programs, to employers for covered positions, and to HB2315 Engrossed -7- LRB9105421SMdv 1 positions under covered contracts as between those who 2 qualify under paragraph (a) of the definition of "aid 3 recipient" in Section 10 of this Act (or who originally 4 qualified under paragraph (a) but who are now qualified under 5 paragraph (c) of that definition), and those who qualify 6 under paragraph (b) of the definition of "aid recipient" (or 7 who originally qualified under paragraph (b) but who are now 8 qualified under paragraph (c)). 9 (c) Support services, including transportation 10 assistance, uniforms, tools, and supplies, that are otherwise 11 provided to "aid recipients" under paragraph (a) of the 12 definition of "aid recipient" shall be provided, in the same 13 manner and measure, to those "aid recipients" under paragraph 14 (b) of the definition of "aid recipient" in connection with 15 employment related services provided by the Department under 16 this Act. 17 (d) The duties of the Department specified in this 18 Section may be carried out, in whole or in part, under 19 contracts entered into by the Department with units of local 20 government or by not-for-profit community based 21 organizations. 22 Section 40. Hiring without referrals authorized. Any 23 aid recipient who believes he or she is a qualified aid 24 recipient may apply, without a referral by the Department, 25 for jobs under this Act. For any covered position, whether 26 previously determined by the Department to be a covered 27 position or not, if the State agency finds the applicant to 28 be a qualified aid recipient, the applicant shall be provided 29 the preference this Act affords. For any position under a 30 covered contract, the employer may count, under the 31 requirements imposed under this Act, any aid recipient hired, 32 whether referred by the Department or not. HB2315 Engrossed -8- LRB9105421SMdv 1 Section 45. Hiring requirements relative to covered 2 positions. 3 (a) Verification that an applicant for a position is an 4 aid recipient shall be made by the State agency by copying 5 for its records the applicant's public aid card or such other 6 proof of aid recipient status as has been provided to the aid 7 recipient or employer by the Department. 8 (b) The State agency with the open position shall make 9 the determination of whether an aid recipient who applies 10 for the position is qualified for hire. 11 (c) The State agency shall provide qualified aid 12 recipients with a hiring preference in accordance with the 13 requirements for civil service positions under Section 8b.7-1 14 of the Personnel Code, and for personal service contract 15 positions, under Section 45-70 of the Illinois Procurement 16 Code. 17 (d) The minimum qualifications for hire, wages, days per 18 week, hours per day, shifts of employment, and terms and 19 conditions of employment of a qualified aid recipient who is 20 hired under this Act shall be the same as for other members 21 of the employer's workforce doing the same or similar work 22 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 employer's 26 affirmative action obligations that may otherwise be imposed. 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. Contract requirements. Each covered 32 contract shall contain provisions incorporating all of the 33 following requirements: HB2315 Engrossed -9- LRB9105421SMdv 1 (a) Not less than 5% of the hours worked under positions 2 that are paid under a covered contract shall be worked by 3 qualified aid recipients. 4 (b) In order to facilitate compliance with this Act, a 5 covered employer may notify the Department of Human Services 6 of jobs that are opening under the covered contract for which 7 aid recipients may be qualified in order to receive referrals 8 of aid recipients by the Department. 9 (c) The covered employer shall verify that an applicant 10 for a position is an aid recipient, and shall maintain a 11 record of the aid recipient's status by copying for its 12 records the applicant's public aid card or such other proof 13 of aid recipient status as has been provided to the recipient 14 or employer by the Department of Human Services. 15 (d) The covered employer shall make the determination of 16 whether an aid recipient who applies for the position is a 17 qualified aid recipient. Nothing in this Act implies a 18 diminution of the full authority and prerogative of covered 19 employers to determine independently an aid recipient's 20 qualifications and to make independently all hiring decisions 21 under this Act. No State agency may require an employer to 22 hire an aid recipient who is not qualified for the position 23 for which the aid recipient is applying. 24 (e) The number of covered employees in a workforce shall 25 be calculated as follows: the number of total hours worked 26 under the contract are the "worker hours". The number of 27 hours that covered employees have worked under the contract 28 are the "covered employee hours". The "covered employee 29 hours" shall be divided by the "worker hours" and the product 30 shall be no less than 0.05. If the covered contract 31 includes positions that are otherwise reported to the State 32 and federal government only by daily or weekly full time 33 equivalency, then those positions shall be calculated by 34 dividing the full-time equivalent of the covered employees in HB2315 Engrossed -10- LRB9105421SMdv 1 those positions by the total full-time equivalent for those 2 positions. An employer may sponsor a covered worker in an 3 apprenticeship training program or other education or 4 training program, in which case the employer may count the 5 number of hours or days in off-site training or classroom 6 instruction toward the requirements of this Section. 7 (f) A covered employer who is unable to hire at least 5% 8 of its workforce from qualified aid recipients under a 9 covered contract shall certify to the Department of Human 10 Services the circumstances which made meeting the 11 requirements of this Act impossible. Permitted circumstances 12 may include the high percentage of professional, high 13 skilled, or journey level workers needed under the contract, 14 the need to recall out of work employees who are receiving 15 unemployment compensation through the covered employer, or 16 other circumstances outside of the control of the covered 17 employer. If a covered employer has not met the percentage 18 hire requirements under this Act, and did not notify the 19 Department of jobs that have become available under its 20 covered contract, and jobs existed under that contract for 21 potentially qualified aid recipients, the covered employer 22 shall be deemed to have been able to hire the requisite 23 percentage of aid recipients under this Act, and failed to do 24 so. 25 (g) At the request of the covered employer to the 26 Department of Human Services, the requirements of hiring 27 covered employees under this Section may be waived, in 28 advance, by the Department, in whole or in part, in 29 accordance with rules established by the Department, if 30 enough qualified aid recipients are not referred or cannot be 31 hired due to circumstances set forth in subsection (5). To 32 receive this waiver, the covered employer must request the 33 waiver before hiring under the covered contract, and must 34 include in its request for the waiver, job descriptions for HB2315 Engrossed -11- LRB9105421SMdv 1 each of the positions that are subject to hire under the 2 covered contract, and the number of people estimated to be 3 hired for each such job. 4 (h) The minimum qualifications for hire, and the wages, 5 days per week, hours per day, shifts of employment, and terms 6 and conditions of employment, of a covered employee shall be 7 the same as for other members of the employer's workforce 8 doing the same or similar work and shall be subject to the 9 same State and federal laws. 10 (i) Covered employees shall abide by all health and 11 safety rules and laws imposed on a covered employer's 12 workforce. 13 (j) This Act does not require covered employers to 14 provide any additional or separate training or apprenticeship 15 programs for aid recipients that the employer would not 16 otherwise provide to other workers in the same or similar 17 jobs at the same or similar level of experience. 18 (k) Nothing in this Act prevents a covered employer from 19 counting a covered employee, who is also a protected female 20 or minority, toward the employer's affirmative action 21 obligations that may otherwise be imposed. 22 Section 55. Duties of the Department of Labor. The 23 Department of Labor shall ensure that covered employers 24 comply with the provisions of this Act and shall work with 25 the Department of Human Services and the Social Services 26 Advisory Council in promulgating rules for implementation and 27 governance and to effectuate the purposes of this Act, 28 including contractor compliance. In promulgating compliance 29 rules, the Illinois Department of Labor shall create 30 provisions that assure that there will be good faith attempts 31 at negotiation and conciliation, and the affording of the 32 protections of due process of law before any sanctions 33 against a contractor are imposed. HB2315 Engrossed -12- LRB9105421SMdv 1 Section 60. Compliance and Reporting. 2 (a) The Department of Human Services, the Department of 3 Labor, and the General Assembly are jointly empowered to 4 ensure and monitor covered employer and State agency 5 compliance with the provisions of this Act. 6 (b) Each State agency shall annually prepare a report to 7 the Department of Human Services and the General Assembly 8 demonstrating its hiring under this Act. The report shall be 9 submitted to the Department and the minority and majority 10 leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate no 11 later than January 31 of each year. The report shall set 12 forth, for the previous calendar year, the total number of 13 positions filled by the State agency, the number of positions 14 not exempted and thus found to be covered positions by the 15 Department, and the number of positions filled by aid 16 recipients. 17 (c) The Department of Human Services shall collate the 18 reports and shall submit a report to the General Assembly no 19 later than the first day of March of each year, with the 20 totals, broken down by State agency in each category, and the 21 grand totals for the State in each of the three categories. 22 (d) Both the original reports and the summary Department 23 report shall be subject to public inspection, review and 24 copying. 25 (e) Each covered contractor shall annually prepare a 26 single duplicated report that documents its hiring practices 27 under this Act that shall be submitted both to the Department 28 of Labor and the Department of Human Services. The report 29 shall be submitted no later than January 31 of each year. 30 The report shall set forth, for the previous calendar year, 31 for each covered contract, the calculations of total worker 32 hours and covered employee hours and the percentage of 33 covered employee hours, and such other data and information 34 as may be required by rule. HB2315 Engrossed -13- LRB9105421SMdv 1 (f) The Department of Labor shall collate the contractor 2 reports and shall submit a report to the minority and 3 majority leaders of both chambers of the General Assembly no 4 later than the first day of March of each year, with the 5 total worker hours, the total covered employee hours, and the 6 percentage of hours of work by covered employees. The 7 Department of Human Services shall set forth the number of 8 aid recipients who have closed their aid cases or had their 9 aid reduced as a result of positions obtained under this Act, 10 and shall set forth such other data and cost savings as it 11 deems appropriate. 12 (g) The Department's summary reports shall be subject to 13 public inspection, review and copying. 14 Section 905. The Personnel Code is amended by adding 15 Section 8b.7-1 as follows: 16 (20 ILCS 415/8b.7-1 new) 17 Sec. 8b.7-1. Qualified aid recipient preference. For the 18 granting of preferences to "qualified aid recipients" within 19 the meaning of the Welfare to Work Act. The preference shall 20 be given only after the application and provision of veterans 21 preferences under Section 8b.7, unless the applicant is 22 subject to preferences under both veterans and qualified aid 23 recipient designations, in which case those persons shall 24 take precedence. When qualified aid recipients are on 25 eligible lists on the basis of category rankings such as 26 superior, excellent, well-qualified, and qualified, they 27 shall be preferred over nonveterans who are not qualified aid 28 recipients in the same category. Notwithstanding Section 29 8b.5, when a list is prepared by numerical rankings, and a 30 qualified aid recipient is one of the top 3 candidates on the 31 basis of the numerical ranking, the qualified aid recipient 32 shall be appointed, unless one or two of the other candidates HB2315 Engrossed -14- LRB9105421SMdv 1 is a qualified veteran. 2 Section 910. The Illinois Procurement Code is amended by 3 adding Section 45-70 as follows: 4 (30 ILCS 500/45-70 new) 5 Sec. 45-70. Contracts for personal services; qualified 6 aid recipients. All contracts for personal services, as 7 defined under Section 14 of the State Finance Act, shall be 8 subject to the preference of "qualified aid recipients" 9 within the meaning of the Welfare to Work Act, over others 10 who are similarly qualified. 11 Section 999. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 12 becoming law.