Rep. Donald L. Moffitt

Amends the School Code. Provides that the State Board of Education shall implement and administer a Giant Steps Autism Center for Excellence pilot program for the study and evaluation of autism and to provide related training for teachers, paraprofessionals, and respite workers, therapist training, and consultative services. Provides that the State Board of Education is authorized to make grants to school districts and other programs that apply to participate in the Giant Steps Autism Center for Excellence program. Effective immediately.

Amends the Film Production Services Tax Credit Act. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning applications for certification.

Amends the Service Member's Employment Tenure Act. Provides that each person scheduled to begin employment with a private employer or with the State of Illinois or a political subdivision who, for the purpose of entering the military service, has left or leaves such scheduled-to-begin-employment status and actually entered the military service and who thereafter (1) receives a certificate or other evidence of honorable discharge or satisfactory completion of military service, (2) is, at the time of such discharge or completion of military service, still qualified to perform the duties of the position of employment which he or she was scheduled to begin, and (3) makes application for re-employment within 90 days after being relieved from such military service, or from hospitalization continuing after discharge for a period of not more than one year, shall be restored by the employer to the position of scheduled-to-begin-employment status which he or she left with the same increases in status, seniority, and wages that were earned during his or her term of military service by employees in like positions who were on the job at the time the returning service member entered the service, or to a position of like seniority, status, and pay, unless the employer's circumstances have so changed as to make it impossible or unreasonable to do so. Extends other protections of the Act to service members who were scheduled to begin employment at the time they entered military service. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that in a municipality having a population less than 1,000,000, a firefighter who is required to be a paramedic as a condition of employment may be placed on an additional 18-month probationary period. Provides that during the additional period, the firefighter may be discharged without a hearing solely for failure to pass the paramedic examination. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.

Amends the Grain Code. Requires the Department of Agriculture to prescribe or authorize price later contract forms in electronic document format. Effective immediately.

Creates the Helping Heroes Child Care Program Act and amends the State Finance Act. Establishes the Helping Heroes Child Care Program for the purpose of providing vouchers for child care to Illinois families who have one or more parents deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan by the armed services. Provides for the program to be administered by the Department of Human Services, but only if federal funding is made available for that purpose. Provides that any such federal moneys received by the State shall be deposited into the Fund for Child Care for Deployed Military Personnel, which is created as a special fund in the State treasury. Provides for income eligibility criteria to be established by the Department by rule. Provides that a family that received child care assistance before the parent's deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan is eligible only for a voucher for the cost of any additional hours of child care that are necessary by reason of that deployment. Provides that a family is not eligible for a child care voucher if the family receives child care services from the United States military. Repeals the Act on July 1, 2010. Effective immediately.

Urges Congress to take all steps necessary, by means of substantive legislation and by means of appropriation, to provide adequate Impact Aid and Impact Aid supplement funding to the Department of Education and the Department of Defense to ensure that the children of military families attending local public schools receive the same level of educational opportunity available to children in neighboring, non-federally impacted school districts.

Amends the Illinois AgriFIRST Program Act of 2001. Makes a technical change in a Section relating to certification.

Amends the Department of Natural Resources Act. Makes a technical change concerning redesignation of the Department of Natural Resources.

Amends the Grain Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning rules adopted to implement the Act.