Rep. Brandon W. Phelps

Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that surcharges collected and deposited into the State Police Vehicle Fund for registration of motor vehicles, autocycles, motorcycles, motor driven cycles, and pedalcylces shall be for the acquisition of vehicles for enforcement of traffic laws and promotion of safety of highways, roads, and streets. Makes a conforming change in the State Property Control Act. Effective immediately.

Amends the Unemployment Insurance Act. Provides that the additional penalty for fraudulently obtaining benefits is 125% (instead of 15%) of the amount fraudulently obtained. Provides that the amounts collected shall be paid into the State's account in the Unemployment Trust Fund (instead of shall be treated in the same manner as benefits recovered from an individual). Effective immediately.

Amends the Coal Mining Act. Provides that a mine operator must provide the number of self-contained self-rescuer devices as required by the mine's approved Mine Safety and Health Administration Emergency Response Plan. Removes language concerning plan requirements submitted for approval to the Mining Board. Provides that rescue chambers must be provided and located within 1,000 (rather than 3,000) feet from the nearest working face of each working section of a mine. Provides that outby rescue chambers must be provided at distances and locations approved in the mine's approved Mine Safety and Health Administration Emergency Response Plan. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.

Amends the Public Utilities Act. Adds provisions to the Telecommunications Article concerning the transition of Large Electing Providers to Internet Protocol-based networks and service. Provides that beginning July 1, 2017, a Large Electing Provider may cease to offer and provide a telecommunications service to an identifiable class or group of customers, other than voice telecommunications service to residential customers, upon 60 days' notice to the Commission and affected customers. Provides that beginning July 1, 2017, a Large Electing Provider, may cease to offer and provide voice telecommunications service to an identifiable class or group of residential customers subject to compliance with specified requirements. Repeals language that provides for the repeal of the Telecommunications Article of the Public Utilities Act on July 1, 2017. Removes the December 31, 2020 expiration date for an Illinois Commerce Commission-issued authorization to offer or provide cable or video service. Repeals language that provides for the repeal of specified Sections of the Cable and Video Competition Article of the Illinois Public Utilities Act on July 1, 2017. Defines terms and makes other changes. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975. Defines "dismemberment abortion". Provides that no person shall perform, or attempt to perform, a dismemberment abortion on an unborn child unless: (1) the dismemberment abortion is necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant woman; or (2) a continuation of the pregnancy will cause a substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman. Provides that no woman upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted to be performed shall be criminally or civilly liable for performing or attempting to perform a dismemberment abortion. Provides that no nurse, technician, secretary, receptionist, or other employee or agent who is not a physician, but who acts at the direction of a physician, and no pharmacist or other individual who is not a physician, but who fills a prescription or provides instruments or materials used in an abortion at the direction of or to a physician shall be criminally or civilly liable for performing or attempting to perform a dismemberment abortion.

Amends the Regulatory Sunset Act. Extends the repeal of the Illinois Petroleum Education and Marketing Act from January 1, 2018 to January 1, 2028. Amends the Illinois Petroleum Education and Marketing Act. Removes language providing for the expiration of the Illinois Petroleum Resources Board. Effective immediately.

Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Provides that the Department of Corrections shall operate the Hardin County Work Camp located in Cave-In-Rock, Illinois. Effective immediately.

Amends the Wildlife Code. Provides that a person may take deer with a .45 caliber or larger air-powered gun. Defines "air-powered gun" as any implement, designed as a gun that will expel a BB or pellet by spring, gas, or air charged from an external high compression power source.

Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. In provisions concerning authorized fines, provides that the additional fine imposed in sentencing for a criminal or traffic offense concerning wheel and axle loads and gross weights is $15 for the first $330, or fraction thereof, of fine imposed for a violation and $10 for each subsequent $40, or fraction thereof, of fine imposed for a violation following the initial $15 surcharge for the first $330 of fine imposed. Effective immediately.

Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Exempts from a violation of the unlawful use of weapons and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon statutes concerning the carrying of firearms, the carrying or possessing of firearms by wardens, superintendents and keepers of prisons, penitentiaries, jails and other institutions for the detention of persons accused or convicted of an offense, whether or not the firearms are carried while in the performance of their official duty or whether or not they are commuting between their homes and places of employment (currently, if the corrections officer is not a holder of a concealed carry license, he or she may carry a firearm outside his or her land or outside his or her own abode, legal dwelling, or fixed place of business, or outside the land or outside the legal dwelling of another person as an invitee with that person's permission, only while in the performance of his or her official duty, or while commuting between his or her home and place of employment).