Rep. Sonya Harper

Creates the Domestic Violence Task Force Act. Creates the Domestic Violence Task Force. Provides that the Task Force shall: (1) conduct a comprehensive review of the process, operation, and enforcement of current domestic violence laws across the State; (2) identify gaps in the process, operation, and enforcement of those laws; (3) develop recommendations to address those gaps; (4) establish a framework for specialized protective networks for victims, treatment options for victims and offenders, and specialty courts for the accumulation of specialized domestic violence skills for courts; and (5) review the need for special consideration for conditions of bail in cases involving domestic violence within the ongoing changes brought on bail reform. Establishes membership and appointment of the Task Force. Provides that the Attorney General shall provide administrative support to the Task Force. Provides that the Attorney General, or the Attorney General's designee, shall be the chair of the Task Force. Provides that the Task Force shall review available research, best practices, and effective interventions to formulate recommendations. Provides that the Task Force shall produce a report detailing the Task Force's findings and recommendations. Provides that the Task Force shall submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly and the Governor on or before September 1, 2022. Repeals the Act on September 1, 2027. Effective immediately.

Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Provides that the Department of Corrections shall make information about the availability of referral services to any other State or local agencies known to a parolee or releasee prior to his or her release from the correctional facility where the parolee or releasee has been residing. Effective immediately. Correctional Note (Dept of Corrections) As the amendment provided for in House Bill 2250 is already current practice, the Department will continue to provide resources to assist persons with their successful reentry efforts. The Department estimates that the requirements of this proposed registration can be managed by current staff at no additional cost to the Department. There are no new incarceration sanctions or enhanced incarceration penalties for the Department associated with these provisions. Therefore population impact on the Department. Fiscal Note (Dept of Corrections) There is no corrections population impact on the Department.

Amends the Criminal Identification Act. Provides that no fee shall be required if the records sought to be expunged or sealed were arrests resulting in release without charging or arrests or charges not initiated by arrest resulting in acquittal, dismissal, or conviction when the conviction was reversed or vacated, except for the expungement or sealing of certain records of minor traffic violations. Eliminates the county fee waiver pilot program that was only applicable in counties of 3,000,000 or more inhabitants that was set to expire on January 1, 2021.

Creates the Racial Impact Note Act. Provides that every bill which has or could have a disparate impact on racial and ethnic minorities, upon the request of any member, shall have prepared for it, before second reading in the house of introduction, a brief explanatory statement or note that shall include a reliable estimate of the anticipated impact on those racial and ethnic minorities likely to be impacted by the bill. Specifies the contents and provides for the preparation of each racial impact note. Amends the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act. Prohibits racial discrimination and harassment by State officers and employees. Provides that each State officer and employee shall annually complete a racial bias, discrimination, and harassment training program approved by the appropriate jurisdictional authority. Expands the jurisdiction of the Executive Ethics Commission to include allegations of racial discrimination and harassment by persons registered under the Lobbyist Registration Act. Provides that the personnel policies of units of local government shall prohibit racial discrimination and harassment. Defines "racial discrimination and harassment". Provides for rulemaking, including emergency rulemaking. Amends the Secretary of State Act. Provides the Secretary of State's Inspector General with jurisdiction to investigate complaints of racial discrimination and harassment by persons registered under the Lobbyist Registration Act. Amends the Lobbyist Registration Act. Prohibits racial discrimination and harassment by persons registered under the Lobbyist Registration Act. Provides that each registered lobbyist shall annually complete a racial bias, discrimination, and harassment training program approved by the Secretary of State. Defines "racial discrimination and harassment". Amends the Illinois Human Rights Act. Requires the Department of Human Rights to establish a racial discrimination and harassment hotline for the anonymous reporting of racial discrimination and harassment in both public and private places of employment, and to provide for reporting by both telephone and Internet. Amends the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act to provide for emergency rulemaking. Effective immediately.

Amends the evidence-based funding provisions of the School Code. Provides that funds received by the Chicago school district for low-income, English learner, and special education resources must be distributed to every school of the district in the appropriate amount specified under the Essential Elements component of the funding formula. Makes technical changes having a revisory function. Effective July 1, 2020.

Amends the Higher Education Student Assistance Act. Allows the Illinois Student Assistance Commission to receive and consider applications for grant assistance for disproportionately underrepresented teachers. Provides that a student qualifies for a disproportionately underrepresented teacher grant if he or she: (i) is a graduate of a public or nonpublic high school; (ii) is a member of a population that is disproportionately underrepresented in the teacher-to-student ratio in the State; (iii) is enrolled or accepted for enrollment at a public or private university in undergraduate studies in teacher education or in an approved educator preparation program; and (iv) intends to obtain an educator license. Sets forth additional provisions of the grant. Effective July 1, 2020.

Amends the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Act. Creates the ICJIA Violence Reduction Fund as a special fund in the State treasury. Provides that moneys in the Fund shall be used for grants by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority to community-based organizations whose primary purpose is violence reduction in disproportionately impacted areas. Provides that the moneys in the Fund shall also be used by the Authority for operational and grant program purposes. Provides eligibility requirements for receiving grant funds. Provides that grants shall be subject to the requirements of the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act. Requires the Authority to adopt rules to implement the grant program. Amends the State Finance Act to provide for the ICJIA Violence Reduction Fund. Defines terms.

Creates the No Representation Without Population Act. Provides that the Department of Corrections shall collect and maintain an electronic record of the legal residence, outside of any correctional facility, and other demographic data for each person entering its custody after January 1, 2019. Provides for the minimum records that the Department shall maintain. Requires the Department to provide certain information to the Secretary of State after the decennial census. Requires the Secretary of State to request similar information from agencies that operate federal incarceration facilities. Requires the Secretary of State to prepare redistricting data to reflect the incarcerated persons at their residential address, rather than the address of the facility in which the person is incarcerated. Provides that for persons for whom a legal residence is unknown or not in the State, and for all persons reported in the census as residing in a federal correctional facility for whom a report was not provided, the Secretary of State to allocate the person to a State unit not tied to a specific determined geographic location, as other residents with unknown addresses are allocated. Requires the data collected to only be used as a basis for determining Legislative and Representative Districts. Prohibits the use of the data for the distribution of State or federal aid. Contains severability provisions. Effective immediately.

Creates the Right to Garden Act. Allows the State or a unit of local government to regulate gardens on residential property unless the statute or regulation has the practical effect of precluding gardens on residential property entirely. Defines the terms "garden" and "residential property". Limits home rule powers. Effective immediately.

Amends the Charter Schools Law of the School Code. Provides that a charter school may not adopt or enforce a policy on promotion that does not promote students to the next higher grade level solely because of unsatisfactory completion of physical fitness requirements or violations of student discipline policies. Effective immediately.