Rep. Dave Winters

Amends the School Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the State aid formula.

Congratulates Riverview Elementary School of South Beloit on being honored by the Illinois State Board of Education and Northern Illinois University with an Academic Improvement Award.

Urges any municipality in Winnebago County in which riverboat gambling is authorized to share revenue generated from that riverboat gambling with Winnebago County and with other municipalities within Winnebago County.

Amends the Counties Code and the Illinois Municipal Code. Authorizes a county to contract with a private company to be the exclusive provider for waste hauling services in the unincorporated areas of the county. Authorizes a municipality within a county that has entered into a contract with a private company for exclusive waste hauling services to contract with the county to offer those services to the citizens of the municipality. Provides that the residents of a county that has entered into a contract for exclusive waste hauling services and the residents of a municipality that have entered into a contract with such a county for the provision of waste hauling services to its residents shall pay a fee directly to the exclusive provider of waste hauling services. Effective immediately.

Creates the Interagency Coordinating Committee on Transportation Act. Creates the Illinois Coordinating Committee on Transportation to foster the coordination of public and private transportation services and establishes its membership, duties, and powers. Provides that the Governor or his or her designee shall serve as chairperson, and that the Secretary of Transportation and a representative of a community based organization in transportation or their designees, shall serve as vice-chairpersons and be responsible for staff support for the Committee. Effective immediately.

Creates the Hospital Report Card Act. Provides requirements for staffing levels. Requires hospitals to prepare a quarterly report detailing specified information as a condition of licensure. Requires the Department of Public Health to submit a report summarizing the quarterly reports by region to the General Assembly and publish that report on its website. Provides protection for whistleblowers. Provides a private right of action to whistleblowers against their employers. Provides penalties for violations of the Act. Amends the Hospital Licensing Act. Provides that violations of the Hospital Report Card Act are grounds for discipline under the Act.

Creates the Local Legacy Act. Creates the Local Legacy Board and establishes its membership, powers, and duties. Provides that the Board must choose a chairperson, adopt rules necessary to implement the Act, and submit a report to the General Assembly and the Governor by January 1, 2005 and every 2 years thereafter. Creates the Local Legacy Program to fund county-municipal partnerships for the purpose of inventorying and protecting natural areas, farmland, and cultural resources. Requires counties interested in program funds to form a Local Steering Committee composed of county board members, municipal officers, and local residents and provides procedures for Committee oversight of grant requests. Authorizes the Committee to develop criteria and a Resource Protection Plan for prioritizing resources and the use of grant moneys under the Act. Allows a local municipality to object in writing to all or some of the Resource Protection Plan and provides that those counties, municipalities, and units of local government that have adopted a Resource Protection Plan shall receive preferential status for grant moneys under the Act. Creates the Local Legacy Fund as a special fund in the State treasury and specifies the purposes for which the Fund moneys may be used.

Mourns the death of Army Spc. Brandon Rowe of Roscoe who was killed in combat near the Iraqi city of Najaf.