Rep. Joyce Mason

Amends the Downstate Police and Downstate Firefighter Articles of the Illinois Pension Code. In a provision concerning reductions of disability and survivor's benefits for corresponding benefits payable under the Workers' Compensation and Workers' Occupational Diseases Acts, provides that if a person is entitled to a survivor's benefit as a result of the decedent's sickness, accident, or injury incurred in or resulting from the performance of an act of duty or from the cumulative effects of acts of duty, then there shall be no reduction in the benefits payable to that person under the Article. Amends the State Mandates Act to require implementation without reimbursement by the State.

Amends the Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act. Provides that an employer shall provide 30 minutes of paid break time (rather than reasonable break time) to an employee who needs to express breast milk for her nursing infant child each time the employee has the need to express milk for one year after the child's birth. Provides that the employee may use other paid break time or meal time for any time needed in excess of 30 minutes. Provides that an employer shall provide paid break time (rather than reasonable break time) as needed by the employee unless to do so would create an undue hardship.

Amends the Department of Early Childhood Act. Requires the Department of Early Childhood to establish an Early Childhood Integrated Data System (ECIDS) to make equity driven, inclusive, and data-informed decisions that create a simpler, better, and fairer system for all Illinois children and families. Provides that the Department shall develop public analytic portals and query tools for parents and communities to access aggregated integrated data from the ECIDS system to the extent permitted by State and federal confidentiality requirements.

Amends the Environmental Protection Act. Defines "organic waste". Provides that no person shall conduct an organic waste composting operation, other than a landscape waste composting operation, without an Agency permit. Exempts from this permitting requirement: (1) persons conducting an organic waste composting operation that (i) has no more than 25 cubic yards of source-separated organic waste, composting additives, composting material, or end-product compost on-site at any one time and (ii) is not engaging in commercial activity and (2) persons conducting an organic waste composting operation that meets certain siting and operational requirements.

Amends the Employee Credit Privacy Act. Provides that an employer shall not order or obtain an applicant's social security number, except for the purpose of conducting a background check of the applicant at the time the background check is completed. Provides that the provision does not prohibit an employer from obtaining an employee's social security number after the employee has been hired.

Amends the Environmental Protection Act. Provides gas collection and control system requirements for municipal solid waste landfills, including requirements for gas to be collected from each area in which solid waste has been in place for at least one year, for gas to be drawn toward the gas control devices, for a gas collection and control system to be installed within 12 months of reaching certain thresholds, for gas collection and control design plans to provide for alternative preliminary measures, and for the methane destruction efficiency of flared systems to reach 99%.

Amends the Child Care Act of 1969. Adds a provision that requires the Department of Early Childhood to make appropriate accommodations when an applicant for a license to operate a day care center, day care home, or group day care home requests that the application be offered in a language other than English.

Creates the Household Hazardous Waste Stewardship Act. Requires manufacturers, beginning January 1, 2027, to implement a stewardship program for covered products. Details manufacturer obligations under the stewardship program, including in the context of a stewardship organization comprised of manufacturers. Requires registration by April 1, 2026, and annually, for each manufacturer who sells covered products in the State and each stewardship organization. Details the roles of retailers and collections sites. Outlines stewardship plan components. Provides requirements for the Environmental Protection Agency for stewardship plan approval. Details requirements for a stewardship organization implementing a stewardship plan, as well as other statewide collection requirements. Details reporting requirements. Requires a stewardship organization to pay to the Agency an annual fee of $200,000, split if there is more than one stewardship organization. Provides for responsibilities for the Agency. Provides for immunity from antitrust laws. Provides for rulemaking authority for the Agency. Provides for civil and criminal penalties. Allows collection of covered products by a premium collection service. Makes findings. Defines terms. Effective immediately.

Amends the Department of Agriculture Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Directs the Department of Agriculture to study: (1) the specific actions that can be taken and the practices that can be implemented to mitigate the impacts of drought and climate change on agriculture in the State; (2) the costs, benefits, and feasibility of establishing and implementing financial and technical assistance programs to mitigate the impacts of drought and climate change on agricultural producers in the State; (3) the costs, benefits, and feasibility of using agricultural land management to realize greenhouse gas reductions and maximize carbon sequestration opportunities in the State; (4) the costs, benefits, and feasibility of using floatovoltaics in State waterways; and (5) the costs, benefits, and feasibility of establishing within the Department an Agricultural Drought and Climate Resilience Office for the purpose of providing agricultural producers with the voluntary technical assistance, nonregulatory programs, and incentives necessary to harden the State's agricultural sector to the coming impacts of drought and climate change. Allows the Department to enter into a contract or grant agreement with one or more organizations or institutions with expertise in environmental and agricultural issues for the purpose of completing the tasks delegated to the Department in these provisions. Authorizes the Department, in conducting the required cost-benefit analyses, to take into account the value of ecosystem services. Directs the Department to report its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly within 2 years after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Procurement Code. Contains provisions concerning procurements made by or on behalf of public institutions of higher education for food. Provides that, in the case of certain contracts for the procurement of food, the chief procurement officer must consider (i) good food purchasing core values and (ii) good food purchasing equity, accountability, and transparency. Amends the Local Food, Farms, and Jobs Act. Provides that the Act may be referred to as the Good Food Purchasing Law. Provides that each State agency and State-owned facility shall develop and adopt a multi-year action plan with benchmarks to align food purchasing processes with Good Food Purchasing equity, transparency, and accountability and food purchases with Good Food Purchasing core values. Creates a Good Food Purchasing Task Force. Amends the Food Handling Regulation Enforcement Act. Makes changes concerning food packaging that may include the designation "Illinois-grown", "Illinois-sourced", or "Illinois farm product".