CHICAGO -- Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation Thursday that will require Illinois nursing homes to hire more staff and the state to hire dozens of new inspectors as part of a sweeping overhaul aimed at improving patient safety at the state's nearly 800 nursing homes.

The law's requirements follow a governor's task force initiated after a series of news reports about assaults, rapes and murders at nursing homes. Members of the governor's staff and officials from Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office worked with advocates, legislators, nursing home operators, workers and residents to draft the legislation, they said.

Quinn, surrounded by lawmakers and advocates for the elderly, said Thursday that the legislation "begins a new era of nursing home care in Illinois."

Under the new law, the admissions system for nursing homes must also be revised so that only people who need 24-hour skilled care are admitted.

The state's health department will also hire more inspectors -- as many as 180 new inspectors by 2013, more than doubling their current ranks. Fines and fees for nursing homes would increase. And there will be an increase in required staffing for nursing homes, from 2.5 hours of nursing care per resident each day to 3.8 hours of nursing care each day in 2014.

"Thousands of nursing home residents will be able to age with dignity," said David Vinkler, AARP associate state director.

The reforms are aimed at a pattern of violence in Illinois nursing homes stemming from the state's long reliance on the facilities to house younger adults with serious mental illness.

Illinois has relied on nursing homes to house the young mentally ill more than any other state, an Associated Press analysis found. Elderly residents have been victimized by stronger, younger residents living in close quarters.

The bill would address that potentially dangerous situation by requiring hospitals to initiate criminal background checks before transferring some patients into nursing homes. Anyone identified as a sex offender - or as having been convicted of other serious crimes - would then be required to submit to a fingerprint check.

An expanded fingerprint criminal background check will operate as a pilot program in Cook and Will counties. In those places, all younger residents of facilities with both elderly residents and more than 25 residents diagnosed with serious mental illness would get extensive criminal background checks.

Nursing homes would also find it more difficult to subdue residents inappropriately with psychotropic drugs. Before getting such medication, residents or their representatives would have to give their written consent and listen to a discussion of the risks and benefits of the drugs.

Quinn also signed a law aimed at reducing fraud and abuse in nursing homes by broadening the definition of criminal neglect, requiring greater disclosure by nursing home owners and requiring the prompt reporting of fraud, abuse and neglect.

Both laws go into effect immediately.

Fred Friedman, a former nursing home resident and advocate for the mentally ill, said the legislation is a first step.

"Many of us believe that no one cares about us," Friedman said. "We're going to do our best to fight for ourselves, but we know that we can't do it ourselves. I'm asking everyone ... to continue the fight."