Rep. Dan Swanson

Amends the Illinois Power Agency Act. Provides that the Illinois Power Agency may qualify renewable energy credits associated with the electricity generated by a utility-scale wind energy facility or utility-scale photovoltaic facility and transmitted by a high voltage direct current transmission line (instead of a qualifying direct current project) to a delivery point on the electric transmission grid located in the State or a state adjacent to Illinois, if certain conditions are met. Amends the Public Utilities Act. Removes language that allows a qualifying direct current applicant that does not own, control, operate, or manage, within the State, any plant, equipment, or property used or to be used for the transmission of electricity at the time of its application or of the Illinois Commerce Commission's order to file an application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity on or before December 31, 2023. Removes language that allows the Commission to grant a certificate of public convenience and necessity to construct, operate, and maintain a qualifying direct current project. Effective immediately.

Designates Illinois Route 150 from Galesburg Main Street to the intersection of U.S. Route 150 and Illinois Route 17 in Alpha as the "Deputy Sheriff Nick Weist Memorial Highway".

Amends the Humane Care for Animals Act. Provides that no person or owner may knowingly or recklessly beat, cruelly treat, torment, starve, overwork, or otherwise abuse any animal. Provides that it shall be unlawful for any person to willfully or maliciously torture, mutilate, injure, disable, poison, act in a reckless manner as to cause a severe injury or death, or kill any animal used by a law enforcement department or agency in the performance of the functions or duties of the department or agency or when placed in confinement off duty. Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that a person who commits a traffic violation concerning an emergency vehicle and the violation results in the injury or death of another person or a severe injury or death of a police animal, service animal, accelerant detection dog, or search and rescue dog commits a Class 4 felony. Provides that a person commits aggravated driving under the influence if the person was involved in a motor vehicle accident that resulted in a severe injury or death of a police animal, service animal, accelerant detection dog, or search and rescue dog.

Creates the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2021. Provides that any person who knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus or infant is guilty of a Class 4 felony. Provides that a person shall only perform or induce a partial-birth abortion on a viable fetus if: (i) the person is a physician; (ii) the person has a documented referral from another physician not legally or financially affiliated with the person performing or inducing the abortion; (iii) both physicians determine that the life of the mother is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself; and (iv) there is no other medical procedure that would suffice for that purpose. Provides that the maternal grandparents of the fetus or infant, if the mother has not attained the age of 18 years at the time of the abortion, may obtain appropriate relief unless the pregnancy resulted from the plaintiff's criminal conduct or the plaintiff consented to the abortion. Provides that a woman on whom a partial-birth abortion is performed may not be prosecuted under the Act, for a conspiracy to violate the Act, or for an offense under Article 31 of the Criminal Code of 2012, nor may she be held accountable under Article 5 of the Criminal Code of 2012. Effective immediately.

Amends the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act. Provides that the Legislative Ethics Commission shall adopt no rule requiring the Legislative Inspector General to seek the Commission's advance approval before commencing an investigation or issuing a subpoena. Provides that an investigation of the Legislative Inspector General may not be initiated more than 2 years (rather than one year) after the most recent act of the alleged violation or of a series of alleged violations. Provides that if the subject matter of the investigation would constitute a civil offense or crime if proven, then the statute of limitations should be the same as that for the offense or crime. Requires the Legislative Inspector General to notify complainants of receipt of a complaint within 15 business days after receiving such complaint. Provides for the release of founded and unfounded reports. Provides that any respondent who is afforded the opportunity to participate in an investigation, but who refuses to cooperate, forfeits the right to offer redactions or to provide a response to the report to the Commission. Makes conforming and other changes. Effective immediately.

Amends the Property Tax Code. Provides that if a veteran has a service connected disability of 100%, the taxpayer who has been granted a homestead exemption for veterans with disabilities shall no longer be required to reapply for the exemption on an annual basis, and the exemption shall be in effect for as long as the exemption would otherwise be permitted. Makes conforming changes. Effective immediately.

Amends the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act. Provides that a child shall not be considered neglected solely because the child's parent or other person responsible for his or her welfare has a difference of opinion with a medical professional regarding the safety, efficacy, or advisability of various treatment protocols specific to that child. Provides that a child shall not be considered neglected solely because a child's parent or other person responsible for the child's welfare objects to: (i) a recommended vaccination schedule or the dosing schedule for vaccines; (ii) the administration of ophthalmic antibiotics or silver nitrate in newborns; (iii) the administration of, timing of, or route of administration for vitamin K in newborns; or other specified medical care. Provides that requests for minimally invasive diagnostic tests for the child and a diagnosis of or treatment of pediatric acute onset neuropsychiatric syndrome or pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections shall not be considered an indication of neglect. Provides that if a medical professional complies with an objection or request set forth in the amendatory Act by a child's parent or other person responsible for the child's welfare, no liability for any such decision may attach to the medical professional. Amends the Medical Patient Rights Act. Provides that a child's parent or other person responsible for the child's welfare has a right to be free from threats by medical professionals to refer a child to protective services, unless the medical professional has a good faith basis to believe that the child otherwise meets the definition of an abused child or a neglected child as defined under the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act. Requires the Department of Public Health to adopt rules.

Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that veterans who served in active duty status during the Vietnam War but were not deployed to Vietnam for combat are eligible for Vietnam veteran license plates.

Repeals the Reproductive Health Act. Creates the Illinois Abortion Law of 2021 containing the provisions of the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975 before its repeal by Public Act 101-13, as well as provisions defining "viability" to include when, in the medical judgment of the attending physician based on the particular facts of the case before the attending physician, the unborn child has a fetal heartbeat, and defining "fetal heartbeat" as the cardiac activity or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart within the gestational sac. Creates the Partial-birth Abortion Ban Act of 2021 and the Abortion Performance Refusal Act of 2021 containing the provisions of the Partial-birth Abortion Ban Act and the Abortion Performance Refusal Act before their repeal by Public Act 101-13. Amends various Acts by restoring the language that existed before the amendment of those Acts by Public Act 101-13. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that any person convicted of a first offense of aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer is guilty of a Class 2 felony (instead of a Class 4 felony). Provides that any person convicted of a second or subsequent offense of aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer is guilty of a Class 1 felony (instead of a Class 3 felony).