Rep. Esther Golar

Amends the Public Community College Act. Provides that as of July 1, 2011, a community college district must maintain a minimum required combined in-district tuition and universal fee rate per semester credit hour equal to 70% of the State-average combined rate, as determined by the State Board, or the total revenue received by the community college district from combined in-district tuition and universal fees must be at least 30% of the total revenue received by the community college district, as determined by the State Board, for equalization funding. Effective July 1, 2010.

Amends the Election Code. Requires election authorities to conduct grace period registration, grace period voting, and early voting on public university, college, and community college campuses within their jurisdictions. Effective immediately.

Amends the Board of Higher Education Act. Provides that beginning with the 2011-2012 academic year, the Board of Higher Education shall award institutional grants, subject to appropriation, to public institutions of higher education to assist efforts in strengthening the retention and graduation rates of their nontraditional student population. Provides that grants shall be awarded according to a formula based on specified factors. Provides that the Board shall make awards to eligible institutions for special services, programs needed, or for the performance of other tasks to meet the State's higher education needs. Effective July 1, 2011.

Amends the Illinois Housing Development Act to authorize the Illinois Housing Authority to establish and administer a foreclosure prevention counseling program using moneys in the Foreclosure Prevention Counseling Fund, appropriated for that purpose, to make grants to HUD-certified housing counseling agencies to support pre-purchase and post-purchase home ownership education and foreclosure prevention counseling. Amends the State Finance Act to create the Foreclosure Prevention Counseling Fund from moneys received from the foreclosure prevention surcharge collected under the Residential Mortgage License Act of 1987. Provides that 75% of the moneys in this Fund shall be used for housing counseling outside Chicago and 25% of the moneys shall be used for such counseling in Chicago. Amends the Residential Mortgage License Act of 1987 to increase the investigation and application fees from $2,700 to $3,000. Effective immediately.

Amends the Beer Industry Fair Dealing Act. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the short title.

Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Creates the offense of using a hate symbol to intimidate or harass. Provides that a person commits the offense who without written authorization and with the intent to intimidate or harass any other person or group of persons based on religion, national origin, alienage, color, race, sex, sexual orientation, physical disability, or mental disability: (1) hangs or otherwise displays a hangman's noose or a simulation thereof on any public property or private property; (2) etches, paints, draws, or otherwise displays a Nazi swastika, commonly exhibited as the emblem of Nazi Germany or a simulation thereof; or (3) burns or desecrates a cross or other religious symbol knowing it to be a religious symbol on any public property or private property. Provides that a first offense is a Class 3 felony and a second or subsequent offense is a Class 2 felony.

Creates the Purchase of Care and Grant Adjustment Act. Applies to purchase of care contracts and grant agreements between specified State agencies and private community-based providers. Requires annual rate adjustments in accordance with the non-seasonally-adjusted Employment Cost index. Effective January 1, 2010.

Amends the Charter Schools Law of the School Code. In a provision allowing a charter to be revoked or not renewed, provides that if the charter school committed a material violation of any of the conditions, standards, or procedures set forth in the charter, failed to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management, or violated any provision of law from which the charter school was not exempted, then the local school board or the State Board of Education as the chartering entity shall notify the charter school in writing of the reason why the charter is subject to revocation or nonrenewal, and the charter school shall submit a written plan to the local school board or State Board to rectify the problem and shall begin implementation of the plan within one calendar year after notification. Provides that if the charter school failed to meet or make reasonable progress toward achievement of the content standards or pupil performance standards identified in the charter, then the charter school must be held to the terms as written in the charter. Provides that if the local school board or State Board as the chartering entity finds that the charter school has not rectified the problem, then the charter must be revoked or not renewed.

Amends the Illinois Act on the Aging. Provides that beginning July 1, 2009, a vendor of home care aide services or personal assistant services is entitled to a rate increase of $1.32 per hour if (i) the vendor uses at least $0.70 of that increase to increase the wages of home care aides and personal assistants and (ii) the vendor uses an additional $0.13 of that increase for health insurance assistance for home care aides and personal assistants. Provides that a vendor that receives this increase must submit to the Department proof that the vendor has increased home care aides' and personal assistants' wages by at least $0.70 per hour and used the additional $0.13 per hour for health insurance assistance for home care aides and personal assistants. Provides that a vendor may submit this proof by either an audited supplemental to the Direct Service Workers cost report or proof of the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. Effective July 1, 2009.

Appropriates $4,500,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the State Board of Education for the Grow Your Own Teacher Education Initiative. Effective July 1, 2009.