Amends the School Code. Allows the school board of any district (other than the Chicago school district) to transfer money from the Tort Immunity Fund to the Educational Fund if certain conditions are met. Effective immediately.
Amends the School Code and the IMRF and Social Security Enabling Act Articles of the Illinois Pension Code to make changes concerning school districts other than the Chicago school district with respect to the purposes for which a district may levy taxes and the maximum rates of those taxes, a newly formed district's authority to levy taxes for certain purposes, interfund transfers, and working cash funds. Amends the State Mandates Act to require implementation without reimbursement. Effective July 1, 2003.
Amends the Property Tax Code. Provides that, notwithstanding any other provision of the Code, if a school district adopts, in a fiscal year, an additional or supplemental budget as a result of the voters in the school district having voted in favor of an increase in the annual tax rate for educational or operations and maintenance purposes or both at an election held after the adoption of the annual school budget adopted in that fiscal year, the county clerk shall include, in the extension of taxes made during that fiscal year, the extension of taxes for the supplemental or additional budget adopted by the school district.
Amends the School Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning boundary changes.
Amends the Illinois Public Aid Code. Requires the Department of Human Services to select 2 child care providers (one in the Chicago metropolitan area and the other downstate) to provide child care services for TANF recipients whose employment requires them to work during non-traditional working hours (defined as any time other than the period from 7:00 a.m. through 6:00 p.m.). Requires the payment of bonuses to those providers, and authorizes the Department to offer other incentives. Requires the Department to also investigate other methods of encouraging providers of child care services to offer such services during non-traditional working hours. Effective immediately.
Amends the Department of Transportation Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Creates the Regional Transportation Task Force to gather information and make recommendations to the Governor and to the General Assembly regarding area transportation programs in northeastern Illinois. Provides procedures for the organization and operation of the task force. Requires the task force to report by November 1, 2004. Repeals the provisions concerning the task force on January 1, 2005. Effective immediately.
Creates the Small Business Ombudsman Act. Creates the Office of the Small Business Ombudsman within the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Provides that the Office is charged with the responsibility of serving as a clearinghouse for State business information. Provides that the Governor must appoint a person to serve as the Small Business Ombudsman. Sets forth the duties and responsibilities of the Office. Amends the Small Business Advisory Act. Provides that the Office, rather than the Department, shall serve as a central clearinghouse notifying the small business community of each agency's rulemakings and changes in requirements, seeking input from the small business community on the changes, and maintaining a central small business advisory Internet web page.
Amends the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that, if a municipality annexes part or all of the territory in which a township operates a sewerage system, the corporate authorities of the municipality shall assume responsibility for that portion of the sewerage system within the annexed territory. Effective immediately.
Appropriates $3,514,300 from the General Revenue Fund to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission for grants and scholarships under the Illinois Scholars Program. Effective July 1, 2004.
Amends the Municipal Code. Provides that the corporate authorities of a municipality may, by ordinance, declare retail theft, as defined by the Criminal Code of 1961, to be unlawful. Provides that this ordinance does not apply to any individual who has previously been convicted of any type of theft, robbery, armed robbery, burglary, residential burglary, possession of burglary tools, or home invasion, or in a case where the theft is of property with a full retail value in excess of $150. Provides that citations issued for violation of the retail theft ordinance must be adjudicated in a court of law and are not subject to adjudication in an administrative adjudication system of the municipality that enacted the retail theft ordinance. Provides that the retail theft ordinance authority is not a limitation on home rule powers. Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Provides that a person who commits an offense of retail theft under Section 11-1-12 of the Illinois Municipal Code is civilly liable to the merchant of the merchandise.
