Amends the Downstate Teacher Article of the Illinois Pension Code. Provides that provisions concerning the employer's contribution for salary increases in excess of 6% do not apply to payments or stipends the teacher may receive for National Board certification. Effective immediately.
Creates the Nurse Licensure Compact Act. Allows for reciprocity of licensure of licensed practical nurses and registered nurses among the states. Provides for administration of the Compact by the Nursing Act Coordinator. Provides that the licensing board shall participate in a Compact Evaluation Initiative designed to evaluate the effectiveness and operability of the Compact. Provides that the Compact does not relieve employers from complying with statutorily imposed obligations. Provides that the Compact does not supersede existing State labor laws. Amends the Nursing and Advanced Practice Nursing Act to make changes relating to the purposes of the Compact.
Amends the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971, the Counties Code, the Illinois Municipal Code, the School Code, the Illinois Insurance Code, the Health Maintenance Organization Act, the Voluntary Health Services Plans Act, and the Illinois Public Aid Code. Requires health insurers to cover the treatment of congenital craniofacial anomalies. Amends the State Mandates Act to require implementation without reimbursement by the State.
Appropriates $300,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Public Health for personnel and support expenses and grants associated with the Suicide Prevention, Education, and Treatment Act. Appropriates $300,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Public Health for grants to suicide prevention pilot programs. Appropriates $100,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Public Health for additional personnel and support expenses at the Department relating to the administration of the Suicide Prevention, Education, and Treatment Act. Effective July 1, 2006.
Amends the Community Services Act. Provides that a goal of the community services system is to provide recovery oriented services directed toward achieving and maintaining a person's full or partial recovery from the symptoms of mental illness and the attainment of economic self-sufficiency and community integration. Amends the Community Support Systems Act. Provides that local community support system service components include recovery oriented components. Provides that the goal of the local community service system shall include but not be limited to recovery. Provides that mental health recovery oriented services shall be directed toward achieving and maintaining a person's full or partial recovery from the symptoms of mental illness and the attainment of economic self-sufficiency and community integration. Effective July 1, 2005.
Amends the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that code hearing departments in non-home rule municipalities may adjudicate violations of municipal ordinances including building code violations. Provides that adjudicatory hearings shall be presided over by hearing officers and sets forth their powers and duties. Provides that the findings, decisions, and order of the hearing officer shall constitute a final determination for purposes of judicial review and shall be subject to review under the Illinois Administrative Review Law. Contains other provisions. Effective immediately.
Amends the School Code. Requires a school board to provide a copy of each school's emergency evacuation plan for children with disabilities to all first responders who serve the school district. Amends the State Mandates Act to require implementation without reimbursement.
Creates the Location Matters Act. Requires that an applicant applying for State economic development assistance for a business location must provide data on affordable housing and mass transit in its vicinity. Provides that if data submitted by the applicant shows that affordable housing and mass transit are near the proposed work site, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall grant the applicant a preference in awarding economic development assistance. Provides that if affordable housing and mass transit are not present near the proposed work site, the applicant can receive an economic development preference only if it submits to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity a plan showing how the applicant will address the housing and mass transit deficiency. Provides that applicants who fail to submit a satisfactory plan to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity may still receive State economic development assistance. Effective January 1, 2006.
Amends the Child Labor Law. In provisions exempting ice skating rinks owned and operated by a school or unit of local government from the prohibition against a minor under 16 years of age working at a skating rink, expands the exemption to include all ice skating rinks.
Creates the Supreme Court Campaign Reform Act. Provides that candidates for the Supreme Court may apply for a public financing benefit in connection with their campaign. Sets the amount of the public financing benefit at $750,000 for the general primary and general election cycle. Sets requirements for qualifying for the public financing benefits. Limits the amount of private contributions qualified candidates may accept. Limits the amounts that non-participating candidates may accept from private sources during campaign periods to $1,000 in the aggregate. Provides that qualified candidates must be distributed a line of credit from the Illinois Supreme Court Democracy Trust Fund to be used for lawful political expenditures. Provides for the increase of the line of credit if non-complying candidates make certain expenditures. Sets penalties for violations of the Act. Provides that the Illinois Supreme Court may require attorneys to contribute money to the Fund not to exceed $25 annually. Contains other provisions. Amends the Election Code. Provides that a payment for electioneering communications is an "expenditure". Provides that a group that "accepts contributions or makes expenditures during any 12-month period in an aggregate amount exceeding $3,000 for the purpose of electioneering communications" is a political committee. Allows the Board of Elections to impose a fine against a committee that fails to report expenditures that could trigger matching funds under the Supreme Court Campaign Reform Act. Amends the State Finance Act. Creates the Illinois Supreme Court Democracy Trust Fund. Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act. Requires the Department of Revenue to print on its standard individual income tax form a provision by which the taxpayer may make a contribution (not less than $1) to the Illinois Supreme Court Democracy Trust Fund. Amends the Clerk of the Courts Act. Requires circuit court clerks to transfer $1 from each appearance fee paid to the State Treasurer for deposit into the Supreme Court Democracy Trust Fund and, to defray that expense, the county board may, by resolution, require the clerk of the circuit court in the county to charge and collect a Supreme Court Democracy Trust Fund fee of not more than $1, which shall be paid at the time that any appearance fee is paid. Effective immediately.
