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91_HB3977
LRB9112163DJcd
1 AN ACT to amend the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons
2 Property Tax Relief and Pharmaceutical Assistance Act by
3 changing Section 4.
4 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
5 represented in the General Assembly:
6 Section 5. The Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons
7 Property Tax Relief and Pharmaceutical Assistance Act is
8 amended by changing Section 4 as follows:
9 (320 ILCS 25/4) (from Ch. 67 1/2, par. 404)
10 Sec. 4. Amount of Grant.
11 (a) In general. Any individual 65 years or older or any
12 individual who will become 65 years old during the calendar
13 year in which a claim is filed, and any surviving spouse of
14 such a claimant, who at the time of death received or was
15 entitled to receive a grant pursuant to this Section, which
16 surviving spouse will become 65 years of age within the 24
17 months immediately following the death of such claimant and
18 which surviving spouse but for his or her age is otherwise
19 qualified to receive a grant pursuant to this Section, and
20 any disabled person whose annual household income is less
21 than $14,000 for grant years before the 1998 grant year, and
22 less than $16,000 for the 1998 and 1999 grant years, and less
23 than $20,000 for the 2000 grant year and thereafter and whose
24 household is liable for payment of property taxes accrued or
25 has paid rent constituting property taxes accrued and is
26 domiciled in this State at the time he files his claim is
27 entitled to claim a grant under this Act. With respect to
28 claims filed by individuals who will become 65 years old
29 during the calendar year in which a claim is filed, the
30 amount of any grant to which that household is entitled shall
31 be an amount equal to 1/12 of the amount to which the
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1 claimant would otherwise be entitled as provided in this
2 Section, multiplied by the number of months in which the
3 claimant was 65 in the calendar year in which the claim is
4 filed.
5 (b) Limitation. Except as otherwise provided in
6 subsections (a) and (f) of this Section, the maximum amount
7 of grant which a claimant is entitled to claim is the amount
8 by which the property taxes accrued which were paid or
9 payable during the last preceding tax year or rent
10 constituting property taxes accrued upon the claimant's
11 residence for the last preceding taxable year exceeds 3 1/2%
12 of the claimant's household income for that year but in no
13 event is the grant to exceed (i) $700 less 4.5% of household
14 income for that year for those with a household income of
15 $14,000 or less or (ii) $70 if household income for that year
16 is more than $14,000 but less than $20,000 $16,000.
17 (c) Public aid recipients. If household income in one
18 or more months during a year includes cash assistance in
19 excess of $55 per month from the Department of Public Aid or
20 the Department of Human Services (acting as successor to the
21 Department of Public Aid under the Department of Human
22 Services Act) which was determined under regulations of that
23 Department on a measure of need that included an allowance
24 for actual rent or property taxes paid by the recipient of
25 that assistance, the amount of grant to which that household
26 is entitled, except as otherwise provided in subsection (a),
27 shall be the product of (1) the maximum amount computed as
28 specified in subsection (b) of this Section and (2) the ratio
29 of the number of months in which household income did not
30 include such cash assistance over $55 to the number twelve.
31 If household income did not include such cash assistance over
32 $55 for any months during the year, the amount of the grant
33 to which the household is entitled shall be the maximum
34 amount computed as specified in subsection (b) of this
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1 Section. For purposes of this paragraph (c), "cash
2 assistance" does not include any amount received under the
3 federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.
4 (d) Joint ownership. If title to the residence is held
5 jointly by the claimant with a person who is not a member of
6 his household, the amount of property taxes accrued used in
7 computing the amount of grant to which he is entitled shall
8 be the same percentage of property taxes accrued as is the
9 percentage of ownership held by the claimant in the
10 residence.
11 (e) More than one residence. If a claimant has occupied
12 more than one residence in the taxable year, he may claim
13 only one residence for any part of a month. In the case of
14 property taxes accrued, he shall pro rate 1/12 of the total
15 property taxes accrued on his residence to each month that he
16 owned and occupied that residence; and, in the case of rent
17 constituting property taxes accrued, shall pro rate each
18 month's rent payments to the residence actually occupied
19 during that month.
20 (f) There is hereby established a program of
21 pharmaceutical assistance to the aged and disabled which
22 shall be administered by the Department in accordance with
23 this Act, to consist of payments to authorized pharmacies, on
24 behalf of beneficiaries of the program, for the reasonable
25 costs of covered prescription drugs. Each beneficiary who
26 pays $40 for an identification card shall pay the first $15
27 of prescription costs each month. Each beneficiary who pays
28 $80 for an identification card shall pay the first $25 of
29 prescription costs each month. In addition, after a
30 beneficiary receives $800 in benefits during a State fiscal
31 year, that beneficiary shall also be charged 20% of the cost
32 of each prescription for which payments are made by the
33 program during the remainder of the fiscal year. To become a
34 beneficiary under this program a person must be: (1) (i) 65
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1 years or older, or (ii) the surviving spouse of such a
2 claimant, who at the time of death received or was entitled
3 to receive benefits pursuant to this subsection, which
4 surviving spouse will become 65 years of age within the 24
5 months immediately following the death of such claimant and
6 which surviving spouse but for his or her age is otherwise
7 qualified to receive benefits pursuant to this subsection, or
8 (iii) disabled, and (2) is domiciled in this State at the
9 time he files his or her claim, and (3) has a maximum
10 household income of less than $14,000 for grant years before
11 the 1998 grant year, and less than $16,000 for the 1998 and
12 1999 grant years, and less than $20,000 for the 2000 grant
13 year and thereafter. In addition, each eligible person must
14 (1) obtain an identification card from the Department, (2) at
15 the time the card is obtained, sign a statement assigning to
16 the State of Illinois benefits which may be otherwise claimed
17 under any private insurance plans, (3) present the
18 identification card to the dispensing pharmacist.
19 Any person otherwise eligible for pharmaceutical
20 assistance under this Act whose covered drugs are covered by
21 any public program for assistance in purchasing any covered
22 prescription drugs shall be ineligible for assistance under
23 this Act to the extent such costs are covered by such other
24 plan.
25 The fee to be charged by the Department for the
26 identification card shall be equal to $40 for persons below
27 the official poverty line as defined by the United States
28 Department of Health and Human Services and $80 for all other
29 persons.
30 In the event that 2 or more persons are eligible for any
31 benefit under this Act, and are members of the same
32 household, (1) each such person shall be entitled to
33 participate in the pharmaceutical assistance program,
34 provided that he or she meets all other requirements imposed
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1 by this subsection and (2) each participating household
2 member contributes the fee required for that person by the
3 preceding paragraph for the purpose of obtaining an
4 identification card. Persons eligible for any benefit under
5 this Act due to become 65 in calendar year 1984 or any
6 subsequent calendar year in which a claim is filed are
7 excluded from the benefit prescribed in this subsection (f)
8 for the calendar year in which they become 65.
9 (Source: P.A. 90-650, eff. 7-27-98; 91-357, eff. 7-29-99.)
10 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
11 becoming law.