Congratulates the congregation of the St. Columba Episcopal Church on the occasion of the church's 50th anniversary.
Congratulates the people of the Village of Hoffman Estates on the fiftieth anniversary of the Village.
Amends the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois, the State Finance Act, the School Code, and the Public Community College Act. Creates the School Wind and Solar Generation Program to fund wind generation projects and solar generation projects for school districts and community college districts. Requires the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to implement and administer the program; allows the Department to award full or partial grants for, without limitation, engineering studies, feasibility studies, research studies, and construction costs. For each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2014, requires the State Comptroller to order transferred and the State Treasurer to transfer $5,000,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the School Wind and Solar Generation Fund, a special fund in the State treasury. Provides that all money in the Fund must be used for the purposes of the program. Allows school districts and community college districts to own and operate solar generation turbine farms (not just wind generation turbine farms) that directly or indirectly reduce energy or other operating costs. Effective immediately.
Amends the School Code. Requires every public elementary school and high school to include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events related to the forceful removal and illegal deportation of almost 2,000,000 Mexican-American U.S. citizens during the Great Depression, beginning in 1929 and ending in the mid-1940's. Allows the State Superintendent of Education to prepare and make available to all school boards instructional materials. Provides that each school board shall itself determine the minimum amount of instruction time that shall qualify as a unit of instruction. Effective January 1, 2010.
Amends the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act. With respect to an executive branch State employee who is the subject of an Executive Inspector General's investigation and whose agency head or ultimate jurisdictional authority agrees with the Inspector General as to disciplinary action against the employee, establishes procedures for providing a redacted version of the Inspector General's summary investigation report to the Executive Ethics Commission, to the employee, and to the public, under certain circumstances.
Amends the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief and Pharmaceutical Assistance Act. Provides that a person may not under any circumstances charge a fee to a claimant for assistance in completing an application form for a property tax relief grant or pharmaceutical assistance under the Act. Effective immediately.
Amends the Department of Human Services Act. Requires the Inspector General to investigate the abuse and neglect of individuals who receive services within mental health facilities, developmental disabilities facilities, and community agencies operated, licensed, funded, or certified by the Department of Human Services, but not licensed or certified by any other State agency. Authorizes the Inspector to investigate these facilities upon an allegation that an employee has mentally abused, physically abused, sexually abused, neglected, or financially exploited an individual. Creates a duty for employees to cooperate with the Inspector's investigations. Grants the Inspector the power to subpoena witnesses and compel the production of documents. Requires employees to report certain allegations. Requires the Inspector, upon completion of an investigation, to issue a report. Requires a facility or agency to file a written response to the report under certain circumstances. Authorizes the Secretary to review the report and to specify other administrative sanctions. Requires the Inspector to report to the Illinois Department of Public Health's healthcare worker registry the identity of and the finding associated with each employee against whom there is a finding of physical abuse, sexual abuse, or egregious neglect. Provides for the notice of and an administrative hearing for persons whose names are to appear on the registry. Changes audit cycle by the Auditor General from every 2 years to an as-needed basis to be determined by the Auditor General. Effective immediately.
Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Provides that a person may bring a civil action in a circuit court for a court's stalking protective order against a person if: (1) the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly engages in repeated and unwanted contact with the other person or a member of that person's immediate family or household thereby alarming or coercing the other person; (2) it is objectively reasonable for a person in the victim's situation to have been alarmed or coerced by the contact; and (3) the repeated and unwanted contact causes the victim reasonable apprehension regarding the personal safety of the victim or a member of the victim's immediate family or household. Creates the offense of violating a court's stalking protective order. Provides that a first offense is a Class A misdemeanor and a second or subsequent offense is a Class 4 felony. Provides that the offense is a Class 4 felony if the defendant had a prior conviction for stalking or aggravated stalking. Effective immediately.
Amends the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. In provisions concerning training grants for skills in critical demand, provides as follows: no employee may be an unauthorized alien; permits on-site grant monitoring visits to verify employment dates and wages; requires applicants to certify employment at an Illinois facility and employee information; and authorizes audits. Effective immediately.
Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Creates the offense of criminal street gang recruitment of a minor. Provides that a person commits the offense when he or she threatens the use of physical force to coerce, solicit, recruit, or induce another person to join or remain a member of a criminal street gang, or conspires to do so, whether or not such threat is communicated in person, by means of the Internet, or by means of a telecommunications device. Provides that the penalty is a Class 1 felony.
