Amends the Education for Homeless Children Act. Changes the definition of "school of origin" from the school that the child attended when permanently housed or the school in which the child was last enrolled to the school last legally attended by the child.
Urges that the acquisition of the EJ&E Railroad by the Canadian National Corporation should be denied by the federal Surface Transportation Board due to the health and safety hazards it will produce for the citizens of affected communities.
Creates the Foreclosure Protection Act. Sets forth the findings of the General Assembly. Sets forth the requirements for foreclosure consulting contracts. Provides for a right of cancellation of foreclosure consulting contracts. Sets forth prohibited acts by foreclosure consultants and criminal penalties. Sets forth standards of unconscionability and specific language requirements for foreclosure consulting contracts. Sets forth certain requirements for equity purchase contracts, including a home owner's right to cancel an equity purchase contract. Provides that a transaction in which a home owner purports to grant a residence in foreclosure to an equity purchaser by an instrument that appears to be an absolute conveyance and reserves to the home owner or is given by the equity purchaser an option to repurchase shall be permitted only when certain conditions have been met. Sets forth prohibited conduct of equity purchasers and criminal penalties. Provides that violations of the Act constitute unfair trade practices subject to penalty under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and amends the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act to include the violations.
Amends the Public Utilities Act. Provides that a water utility official or his or her designee must notify (i) the local fire officials of any hydrant that it finds necessary to take out of service for water main-related work due to emergency repairs or scheduled maintenance, whenever such maintenance work and hydrant out of service condition is expected to last more than 8 hours or if the main will be unattended at any time during the outage and (ii) the dispatcher or designated fire official of any hydrant reported to be inoperable or expected to operate with a rate of water flow less than a normal rate expected for the hydrant as soon as practical, but in no event more than 2 hours, after receiving the notice from an employee, contractor, police department, or other government official, and, under normal conditions, must have the hydrant restored to service within 48 hours. Provides a fine of $100 per day for failure to make the notification or repairs, which shall be paid to the fire department or fire protection district. Allows for enforcement by the fire department or fire protection district. Effective immediately.
Amends the Code of Civil Procedure. Provides that a non-expert's opinion or inference testimony is limited to opinions or inferences that are rationally based on his or her perception, helpful to a clear understanding of his or her testimony or the determination of a fact in issue, and not based on scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge. Sets forth requirements regarding: qualifications, testimony, disclosure, and compensation of expert witnesses; bases of expert opinion testimony; limitations on expert testimony; pre-trial hearings and disclosures concerning expert witnesses; precedents to be followed in interpreting the new provisions; interlocutory appeals of rulings on the admissibility of expert evidence; standards to be followed by reviewing courts in determining the admissibility of expert testimony; severability; and other matters. Applies to actions commenced on or after the effective date of the amendatory Act and pending actions in which a trial has not been scheduled or in which a trial has been scheduled more than 90 days after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Effective immediately.
Amends the Illinois Pension Code. In the Downstate Police Article, provides that, until January 1, 2008, an active member of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund that has less than 8 years of creditable service in a police pension fund under the Article may apply for a transfer of his or her creditable service accumulated in that fund to the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund. In the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Article, provides that, until January 1, 2008, a person who has less than 8 years of creditable service under the IMRF Article who has become an active participant in a police pension fund may apply for a transfer of his or her IMRF creditable service to that police pension fund. Effective immediately.
Amends the Use Tax Act and the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act. Provides that the manufacturing and assembling machinery and equipment exemption also includes production related tangible personal property. Defines "production related tangible personal property" as all tangible personal property used or consumed by the purchaser in a manufacturing facility in which a manufacturing process takes place, including tangible personal property purchased for incorporation into real estate within a manufacturing facility and including, but not limited to, tangible personal property used or consumed in activities such as research and development, preproduction material handling, receiving, quality control, inventory control, storage, staging, and packaging for shipping and transportation purposes. Provides that "production related tangible personal property" does not include (i) tangible personal property used, within or without a manufacturing facility, in sales, purchasing, accounting, fiscal management, marketing, personnel recruitment or selection, or landscaping or (ii) tangible personal property required to be titled or registered with a department, agency, or unit of federal, state, or local government. Effective immediately.
Amends the School Code and the Counties Code. Provides that it is a State's Attorney's duty to notify the State Superintendent of Education upon the conviction of any individual known to possess a certificate issued under the School Code of any of certain offenses or any other felony conviction. In the criminal history records check provisions of the School Code, makes changes concerning the offenses for which a school board may not knowingly employ a person. Provides that no one may be certified to teach or supervise in the public schools who has been convicted of certain offenses (instead of providing that in determining good character, any felony conviction of an applicant may be taken into consideration, but such a conviction shall not operate as a bar to registration). In provisions concerning suspension or revocation of a certificate, provides that the State Superintendent of Education has the exclusive authority to initiate the suspension of up to 5 calendar years or revocation of any certificate (instead of providing that a certificate may be suspended for a period not to exceed one calendar year by the regional superintendent of schools or for a period not to exceed 5 calendar years by the State Superintendent). With respect to certificate suspension and revocation, makes changes concerning an investigation, notice, a hearing, an appeal, and the offenses that are grounds for suspension and revocation. Makes other changes.
Amends the Charter Schools Law of the School Code. Under specified circumstances, allows for a maximum of 5 additional charter schools exclusively for truants or dropouts in Chicago if the limit on the number of charter schools that may operate at any one time in the rest of the State has not been reached. Provides that if any of the additional charter schools are not used exclusively for truants or dropouts, then the State Board of Education shall withhold and the charter school shall forfeit all State funding designated for that school.
Amends the School Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning grants for preschool education programs.
