Amends the School Code. Requires each school superintendent to create a program to ensure that students attending the schools that he or she manages cannot access those schools' grounds for at least 12 hours after those grounds are treated with a lawn care product. Requires each district superintendent to appoint a Lawn Care Coordinator whose duty it shall be (i) to implement that program, (ii) to supervise the provision of notice under subdivision (f)(2) of Section 3 of the Lawn Care Products Application and Notice Act, and (3) if the district adopts a pesticide-free turf care program, to supervise that program. Amends the Lawn Care Products Application and Notice Act. Requires applicators for hire to provide additional types of information to customers. Requires the owners or operators of day care centers to provide parents with one of two types of notice before applying pesticide or having pesticide applied to day center grounds (now, only school districts must provide that notice). Requires the Illinois Department of Public Health to inform school boards and the owners and operators of day care centers about these requirements. Requires the Illinois Department of Public Health to report violations to the Department of Agriculture for enforcement. Effective immediately.
Sponsored bills
Amends the Children and Family Services Act. Provides that the Department of Children and Family Services shall develop and implement a program of family preservation services designed to support intact, foster, and adoptive families who are experiencing extreme hardship due to the difficulty of caring for a child with a pervasive developmental disorder. Provides that the Department shall develop and implement a public information campaign to alert public healthcare providers, social service providers, and the general public about these family preservation services. Effective immediately.
Amends the Charter Schools Law of the School Code and the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act. Provides that a charter school shall comply with all provisions of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act; which is declaratory of existing law. Provides that "educational employer" under the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act includes the governing body of a charter school; which is declaratory of existing law.
Amends the Illinois Finance Authority Act. Increases the authorization for certain agricultural assistance by $150,000,000. Authorizes bonds for "renewable energy resources projects" (in addition to clean coal and energy projects), including electric transmission lines and equipment and plants that produce renewable fuels. Allows clean coal projects to include transportation of carbon, clean coal facilities, and SNG facilities. Provides that bond authorization for these purposes is in addition to and not limited by other bond limitations in the Act. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.
Amends the Illinois Migrant Labor Camp Law. Provides that licenses shall be issued prior to operation (instead of upon a calendar year basis). Effective immediately.
Amends the Personnel Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the short title.
Establishes a Joint Committee on the Status of Minorities in Education in order to assess and address the needs of minorities to ensure continued equity in our educational system.
Urges Congress to enact H.R. 676, pending in the 110th Congress, which provides universal health insurance coverage for all individuals residing in the United States and its territories.
Amends the School Code. Adds as commemorative holidays January 15 (to be known as Humanitarian Day and observed as a day of respect for the principles of human and civil rights and to involve the use of the color white as a visual affirmation to practice these principles), April 4 (to be known as Victims of Violence Wholly Day and observed as a day of respect for the principles of non-violence and to involve the use of the color black as a visual affirmation to practice these principles), and August 28 (to be known as Dream Day and observed as a day of respect for the spiritual and moral principles of peoplehood and to involve the use of the colors black and white as a visual affirmation to practice these principles). Requires the study of Black History to include the Gettysburg Address, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech", and President Barack Obama's victory speech. Amends the State Mandates Act to require implementation without reimbursement.
Mourns the death of Larry Hawkins.