Amends the School Code. Requires the State Board of Education, in collaboration with regional offices of education, to develop additional improvements to and streamlining and refinement of the teacher certification process.
Creates the Family and Personal Protection Act. Establishes statewide uniform standards for the issuance of permits to carry concealed firearms in this State. Vests in the county sheriff the authority to issue concealed firearms permits to qualified applicants. Requires an applicant to complete a training course in handgun use, safety, and marksmanship. Also requires instruction in the law relating to firearm use. Requires an applicant to be at least 21 years of age. Prohibits an applicant who has been convicted of a felony or has a history of mental illness, addiction, or habitual alcohol use from obtaining a permit. Creates the Citizen Safety and Self-Defense Trust Fund in each county administered by the sheriff. Provides that the moneys in the Fund shall be used to administer the Act. Establishes restrictions on carrying concealed firearms. Establishes standards for the training course and for certifying instructors. Amends the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act. Provides that the Family and Personal Protection Act supersedes an ordinance of a unit of local government inconsistent with that Act. Prohibits a home rule unit from regulating the issuance of permits to carry concealed firearms. Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Exempts from an unlawful use of weapons and aggravated unlawful use of weapons violation persons who carry or possess firearms in accordance with the Family and Personal Protection Act. Effective immediately.
Urges Congress to call a federal Constitutional Convention to propose an Amendment to the federal Constitution to provide explicitly for the constitutionality of public, non-sectarian expressions of personal faith and reverence, including, but not limited to, the current wording of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Amends the Soil and Water Conservation Districts Act. Provides that, for the purpose of cooperating with other entities for conservation purposes within a conservation district, if property is located outside of the district but is administered within the district for the purpose of U.S. Department of Agriculture programs, then that property is deemed to be within the district. Effective immediately.
Amends the State Finance Act. Excludes moneys received by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation under the Illinois Credit Union Act from those moneys required to be deposited into the Financial Institution Fund. Makes certain provisions concerning transfers to the General Revenue Fund inapplicable to (i) any fund established under the Illinois Credit Union Act, the Illinois Banking Act, the Illinois Savings and Loan Act of 1985, or the Savings Bank Act and (ii) the Professions Indirect Cost Fund. Limits transfers and expenditures from those funds to specified purposes. Prohibits the allocation or transfer of additional amounts generated by certain fee increases with respect to or from the Credit Union Fund. Amends the Illinois Banking Act, the Illinois Savings and Loan Act of 1985, and the Savings Bank Act. With respect to the moneys in each of the Bank and Trust Company Fund, the Savings and Residential Finance Regulatory Fund, and the Credit Union Fund, (i) exempts those moneys from assignment or transfer except for unappropriated administrative expenses and (ii) provides that the moneys remain the property of and must be held in trust for the financial institutions from which they were collected. For FY08, requires the Commissioner of Banks and Real Estate (now, the Director of the Division of Banks and Real Estate) to adopt rules to adjust regulatory fee rates in the specified manner. Amends the Illinois Credit Union Act. Provides that the regulatory fee paid by a credit union to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation shall be the lesser of (i) the rate pursuant to the regulatory fee schedule or (ii) a rate established in a manner proportionately consistent with the rates in the regulatory fee schedule and that would fund the actual administrative and operational expenses of the Credit Union Section. Increases rates in the regulatory fee schedule for credit unions with total assets over $5,000,000. Requires the Director of Financial and Professional Regulation to adjust the fee schedule for the next fiscal year. Provides that the fee schedule may be increased by no more than 5% annually if necessary to defray the actual (now, estimated) administrative and operational expenses of the Credit Union Section (now, the Department). Prohibits any increase in the fee schedule if the amount remaining in the Credit Union Fund at the end of the fiscal year is equal to or greater than 25% of the actual administrative and operational expenses for the preceding fiscal year. Requires the Director to base the regulatory fee for the next fiscal year on the credit union's total assets as of December 31 of the preceding calendar year. Beginning on July 1, 2005, requires a credit union to pay the regulatory fee in quarterly installments due and payable on the due date for the call report for the preceding quarter (now, a credit union is required to pay the regulatory fee in full no later than March 1 of each calendar year). Provides for a regulatory fee cap of $125,000 (now, $187,500). Effective immediately.
Amends the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act. Provides that if the receipt of a firearm does not violate federal or State law, the Department of State Police shall destroy all records of the dial up telephone system with respect to the call to the Department of State Police concerning whether a transferee of a firearm is eligible to acquire or possess a firearm, other than the identifying number and the date the number was assigned, and all records of the system relating to the person or the transfer within 24 hours. Provides that if the transfer of a firearm is denied by the Department of State Police, the Department of State Police may keep the records of a denial until the denial is appealed and overturned, or as long as necessary for a criminal prosecution. Provides that the Department of State Police may not retain, copy, or distribute any information previously collected under the dial up system. Effective immediately.
Amends the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act. Provides that if the receipt of a firearm does not violate federal or State law, the Department of State Police shall destroy all records of the dial up telephone system with respect to the call to the Department of State Police concerning whether a transferee of a firearm is eligible to acquire or possess a firearm, other than the identifying number and the date the number was assigned, and all records of the system relating to the person or the transfer within 60 days. Provides that if the transfer of a firearm is denied by the Department of State Police, the Department of State Police may keep the records of a denial until the denial is appealed and overturned, or as long as necessary for a criminal prosecution. Provides that the Department of State Police may not retain, copy, or distribute any information previously collected under the dial up system. Effective immediately.
Amends the State Finance Act. Repeals a Section concerning the administrative charge-back provisions. Effective immediately.
Creates a Workers' Compensation Reform Task Force.
Creates the Rural Technology Development Zone Act. Allows the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to designate 3 rural areas in the State as rural technology development zones. Provides that the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall submit a report to the General Assembly outlining the progress in improving wireless telecommunications and Internet access within rural technology development zones. Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act to provide a tax credit for investments in technology infrastructure required to provide wireless telecommunications and Internet access in rural technology development zones. Effective immediately.
