Rep. Dan Brady

Amends the Workers' Compensation Act. Requires written, signed, and verified notice of an accident to be given to the employer. Provides that, with respect to repetitive trauma or cumulative trauma, notice shall be given within 45 days of the date the condition manifests itself. Specifies contents of the notice. Provides that no defect or inaccuracy in a notice shall be a bar to a proceeding unless the employee proves the defect or inaccuracy was not knowingly and willfully provided or there was good cause for the failure to provide an accurate or non-defective notice.

Amends the Illinois Public Aid Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the amount and nature of medical assistance.

Amends the Election Code. Makes a technical change in a Section of the campaign finance Article concerning definitions.

Amends the Property Tax Code concerning the Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze Homestead Exemption. Sets forth provisions for calculating the base amount for a new residence if the taxpayer changes residences. Effective immediately.

Amends the Election Code. Provides that contributions to a political action committee made through dues, levies, or similar assessments paid by any natural person, corporation, labor organization, or association in a calendar year may not exceed $500 (now, may not exceed the limits set forth in the Section). Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Funeral or Burial Funds Act and the Illinois Pre-Need Cemetery Sales Act to transfer all authority given to the Comptroller under the Acts to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Replaces all references to "Comptroller" with "Department". Effective immediately.

Amends the Humane Care for Animals Act. Provides that, upon being furnished with a notice of violation, a violator may not, without the written consent of an investigator or law enforcement official, intentionally relocate an animal from the property where the violator resides or the property where the violation occurred, unless (i) doing so is necessary to render veterinary care to the animal or to protect the animal from an imminent disaster or emergency or (ii) the case against the violator has been closed. Defines "relocate an animal". Authorizes Department of Agriculture investigators and approved humane investigators to seek compensation from a violator for medical expenses incurred as a result of the investigation of a founded complaint. Provides that, once an animal is the subject of a notice of violation or impoundment, the violator or individual caring for the animal that is the subject of the notice must, until the closure of the case, present the animal to any investigator or law enforcement official who, in the course of conducting the investigation, deems it necessary to examine the animal. Creates penalties for violations. Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Makes it an aggravated assault if a person, when committing an assault, knows the individual assaulted to be an investigator of the Department of Agriculture or an approved humane investigator. Makes it an aggravated battery if a person, when committing a battery, knows the individual harmed to be an investigator of the Department of Agriculture or an approved humane investigator. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Municipal Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning liens for removal costs.

Amends the Illinois Public Aid Code. Provides that the Department of Human Services shall pay, subject to appropriation and in accordance with Department standards and rules (rather than standards, rules, and regulations), the actual cost of the funeral and burial or cremation, or the maximum allowable amount for each service, whichever is less, of a deceased public aid recipient if the recipient's estate is insufficient to pay for such costs (rather than such reasonable amounts as may be necessary to meet costs of the funeral, burial space, and cemetery charges). Provides that the Department shall reduce its payments by the amount available from the following sources: the decedent's assets and available resources and the anticipated amounts of any death benefits available to the decedent's estate, and amounts paid and arranged to be paid by the decedent's legally responsible relatives. Eliminates language establishing a minimum allowable amount of not less than $1,000 for Department payment of funeral services and not less than $500 for Department payment of burial or cremation services. Eliminates language requiring the Department on January 1, 2006, July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007 to increase the minimum reimbursement amount for funeral and burial services by a percentage equal to the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers, if any, during the 12 months immediately preceding that January 1 or July 1.

Amends the Cemetery Oversight Act. Provides that a parcel identification number shall be assigned by the Cemetery Oversight Database. Provides a full exemption from the Act for any (i) cemetery authority operating as a family burying ground or religious burying ground, (ii) any cemetery authority that has not engaged in an interment, inurnment, or entombment of human remains within the last 10 years and maintains less than $50,000 in care funds during each annual reporting period, or (iii) any cemetery authority that is less than 2 acres and maintains less than $50,000 in care funds during each annual reporting period. Provides that if a cemetery authority does not qualify for a full exemption and (i) engages in 25 or fewer interments, inurnments, or entombments of human remains for each of the preceding 2 calendar years and maintains less than $50,000 in care funds during each annual reporting period, (ii) operates as a public cemetery, or (iii) operates as a religious cemetery, then the cemetery authority is exempt from this Act but shall be required to comply with certain provisions of this Act. Provides that the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation shall adopt rules to establish the criteria and procedure to grant a waiver to a cemetery authority that does not qualify for a full or partial exemption where application of this Act may result in a financial or other hardship. Provides that no cemetery authority shall enter into a contract to furnish certain specified care for a cemetery, lot, grave, crypt, niche, family mausoleum, memorial, marker, or monument unless (i) the care is furnished solely from the net income derived from funds held in trust or (ii) the contract provides that the principal of the amount paid under the contract shall be used to furnish the care.