Rep. Kam Buckner

Amends the Environmental Protection Act. Creates the Air Quality Enforcement and Mitigation Fund. Makes a conforming change to the State Finance Act. Provides that the Environmental Protection Agency shall expend 30% of moneys from the Fund for staffing and other functions of the Agency that benefit environmental protection communities and are related to one or more specified purposes. Directs the Agency to establish an Air Quality Community Impact Grant Program to provide grants to nonprofit entities, local health departments, local environmental departments, and school districts to carry out the purposes of the Act. Requires 70% of moneys from the Fund to be expended for grants under the Program for specified purposes in communities affected by violations of the Act. Requires the Agency to adopt rules to implement the Program. Provides that the Agency, in collaboration with environmental interest groups, shall develop a process to identify environmental protection communities. Requires the Agency to post on its website and make publicly available an annual report on the purposes for which grants were awarded under the Program. Contains other provisions. Effective immediately.

Creates the Paint Stewardship Act. Contains the findings of the General Assembly. Provides that manufacturers of architectural paint sold at retail in the State or representative organizations shall submit to the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency a plan for the establishment of a postconsumer paint stewardship program. Requires the program to meet specified requirements. Provides that manufacturers or retailers shall not sell or offer for sale architectural paint to any person in the State unless the manufacturer of a paint brand or representative organization is implementing an approved paint stewardship plan. Prohibits the incineration of leftover architectural paint collected pursuant to an approved paint stewardship plan. Provides that manufacturers or representative organizations shall submit reports with specified requirements. Provides that manufacturers or representative organizations participating in a postconsumer paint stewardship program shall not be liable for any claim of a violation of antitrust, restraint of trade, unfair trade practice, or other anticompetitive conduct arising from conduct undertaken in accordance with the program. Provides for administrative and oversight fees to be paid to the Agency. Provides that manufacturers or representative organizations shall implement the postconsumer paint collection plan within 6 months of the date that the program plan is approved. Contains provisions regarding postconsumer paint from households and small businesses. Contains other provisions.

Amends the Courses of Study Article of the School Code. Provides that every public school shall include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of the civil rights movement in the United States from 1954 to 1968, the natural law and natural rights principles that the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., drew from and that informed his leadership of the civil rights movement, and the tactics and strategies of nonviolent resistance that he championed in response to the Jim Crow laws of that era. Provides that the curriculum shall include an additional unit of instruction studying other acts of discriminatory injustice, such as genocide, elsewhere around the globe. Provides that the State Board of Education shall prepare and make available to all school boards instructional materials that may be used as guidelines for development of the units of instruction. Allows a school board to determine the minimum amount of instructional time required. Effective immediately.

Amends the Public Construction Bond Act. Provides that public construction bonds are required only for those public work construction contracts that are valued over $5,000,000. Authorizes any official, board, commission, agent of the State, or any political subdivision of the State to create a self-insured risk pool for contracts of $5,000,000 or less. Defines "self insured risk pool".

Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that a local authority may, by ordinance or resolution, may impose limitations as the weight, height, or length (rather than only weight) of trucks or other commercial vehicles that operate on highways under the local authority’s jurisdiction. Provides the Department of Transportation may, by ordinance or resolution, may impose limitations as the weight, height, or length (rather than only weight) of trucks or other commercial vehicles that operate on highways under the Department’s jurisdiction. Provides that that an agency or instrumentality of the State of Illinois or any unit of local government shall not be required to widen or otherwise alter any non-designated highway (rather than highways constructed before January 1, 2018) to accommodate truck-tractor-semitrailer combinations regardless of the date of the highway’s construction. Provides that each unit of local government shall (rather than may) report to the Department of Transportation any limitations prohibiting the operation of vehicles imposed by ordinance or resolution in the unit of local government's non-designated highway system. Makes conforming changes.

Amends the Department of Transportation Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Provides that by no later than January 1, 2028, the Department of Transportation shall install direct current electric vehicle charging stations at each rest stop along each interstate highway in this State. Provides that, subject to approval by the United States Secretary of Transportation, the Department may charge an electric vehicle charging fee in an amount no greater than what is necessary to offset the cost to the State in constructing and maintaining the charging infrastructure and procuring electricity.

Amends the Property Tax Code. Makes changes concerning interest penalties for omitted property, forfeited taxes, and delinquent and unpaid taxes. Effective immediately.

Amends the Legislative Information System Act. Provides that the Legislative Information System has the duty to provide closed captioning of House and Senate floor and committee proceedings for video broadcasts of those proceedings that are made available by the System on the General Assembly website.

Amends the Property Tax Code. Makes various changes concerning sales in error. In provisions allowing a sale in error if the assessor, chief county assessment officer, board of review, board of appeals, or other county official has made an error, provides that the error must be material to the tax sale at issue and may not be an error in the description of the physical characteristics, location, or picture of the property. Removes provisions allowing a sale in error when a bankruptcy petition has been filed after the tax sale and before the issuance of the tax deed. Provides that, if the bankruptcy petition is filed prior to the tax sale, then a sale in error is allowed if the property is subject to an automatic stay and the stay is active on the date of the date of that sale. Provides that the $100 fee paid by a tax purchaser for a certificate of purchase is non-refundable. Provides that the notice of the expiration of the period of redemption shall be delivered to the sheriff (or to the coroner or private detective, as applicable) for service not less than 5 months prior to the expiration of the period of redemption. Makes other changes

Amends the Department of Agriculture Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Provides that the Department of Agriculture shall award grants to special access food providers in the State.