Rep. Rita Mayfield

Creates the McHenry County Children and Family Services Agency Division in the Counties Code (referred to as AJ's Law). Establishes a county children and family services agency in McHenry County for a 5-year period to replace the operations of the Department of Children and Family Services within that county. Provides that the McHenry County children and family services agency shall have all powers and duties of the Department under the Children and Family Services Act and the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act. Provides for the appointment of an executive director and employment of employees. Provides for requirements for operation of the county children and family services agency, including unit-based multidisciplinary teams. Provides for State funding of the agency after submission of a budget to the Department each year. Provides for transfer of power and duties back to the Department should the county children and family services agency cease operators after the initial 5-year period. Effective immediately.

Amends the School Code. Creates the School District Efficiency Commission. Provides for the membership and support of the Commission. Requires the Commission to make recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly on the number of school districts in this State, the optimal amount of enrollment for a school district, and where reorganization and realignment of school districts would be beneficial in this State; specifies the topics on which the recommendations must focus. Provides that, on or before May 1, 2022, the Commission must vote on its recommendations and submit a report to the Governor and the General Assembly. Provides that if the Commission adopts the report recommendations by an affirmative vote of at least 11 of its members, then the Commission's recommendations for reorganization of school districts into unit school districts must be placed on the ballots of the designated school districts in the next general election in the same manner as petitions approved by a regional superintendent of schools, except without financial incentives. Provides that the Commission is dissolved the day after the report is filed with the Governor and the General Assembly. Repeals the provision on February 1, 2023. Makes a conforming change in the Conversion and Formation of School Districts Article. Effective immediately.

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 Senior Citizens and Persons with Disabilities Property Tax Relief Act by reinstituting the pharmaceutical assistance program that was eliminated by Public Act 97-689 and changing the short title to the Senior Citizens and Persons with Disabilities Property Tax Relief and Pharmaceutical Assistance Act. Makes conforming changes in various Acts.

Amends the Compulsory Attendance Article of the School Code. With respect to the exceptions to the compulsory attendance requirement, provides that absence for cause by illness shall include the mental or behavioral health of a student.

Amends the Election Code. Requires (rather than encourages) a school district to close a school or hold a teachers institute day if the school is chosen as a polling place by the county board or board of election commissioners. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act. Provides that no legislator shall receive any income derived from his or her ownership of any gaming-related interest. Requires any legislator holding ownership in a gaming-related interest from which he or she may derive income to divest himself or herself of that interest.

Amends the Employment Article of the Illinois Human Rights Act. Provides that "citizenship status" includes, among other things, the status of being a person who is authorized by the federal government to work in the United States. Provides that it is a civil rights violation for an employer, for purposes of complying with federal employment eligibility requirements, to refuse to honor work authorization based upon the specific status or term of status that accompanies the authorization to work. Effective immediately.

Amends the Chicago School District Article of the School Code. Requires the Chicago Board of Education to establish a school nurse pilot program. Provides that under the program, the Board shall require the top 20% of the lowest performing schools in the school district, as determined by the Board, to employ a school nurse in conformance with certain provisions of the Code concerning school nurses. Requires the Board to implement this program beginning with the 2019-2020 school year. Effective immediately.

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.