Amends the Department of State Police Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Repeals a Section concerning the furlough of inmates to State agencies for research. Effective immediately.
Amends the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Act. Provides that the assistant director of personnel shall be appointed by the General Superintendent upon the recommendation of the department head. Effective immediately.
Amends the Health Care Worker Background Check Act to include all employees of licensed and certified long-term care facilities who have or may have contact with residents or have access to the living quarters or the financial, medical, or personal records of residents. Provides that beginning January 1, 2006, each long-term care facility operating in the State must initiate, or have initiated on its behalf, a UCIA criminal history record check for all employees with duties that involve or may involve contact with residents or access to the living quarters or the financial, medical, or personal records of residents. Provides that a health care employer may conditionally employ an applicant for up to 3 months pending the results of a UCIA criminal history record check (now, a health care employer may conditionally employ the applicant to provide direct care for up to 3 months pending the results of the check). Provides that an individual shall not be employed from the time that an employer receives the results of a non-fingerprint check containing disqualifying conditions until the time that the individual receives a waiver from the Department (now, an individual shall not be employed in a direct care position from that time until he or she receives the waiver). Provides that if the individual challenges the results of the non-fingerprint check, the employer may continue to employ the individual if the individual presents convincing evidence to the employer that the non-fingerprint check is invalid (now, the employer may continue to employ the individual in a direct care position if the individual presents convincing evidence that the non-fingerprint check is invalid).
Amends the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. Deletes a provision allowing legally possessed firearms to be returned to a person that completes a sentence for a conviction on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge.
Amends the Community Services Act. Provides that whenever any appropriation, or any portion of an appropriation, for any fiscal year relating to the funding of any State-operated facility operated by the Office of Developmental Disabilities within the Department of Human Services or any mental health facility operated by the Office of Mental Health within the Department is reduced because of any of the following reasons, those moneys must be directed toward providing other services and supports for persons with developmental disabilities or mental health needs: (1) closing of a State-operated facility; (2) reduction in the number of units or available beds in a State-operated facility; or (3) reduction in the number of staff at a State-operated facility. Provides that in determining whether any savings are realized from closure of a State-operated facility or a reduction in the number of units, available beds, or staff, sufficient moneys shall be made available to ensure that there is an appropriate level of staffing and that life, safety, and care concerns are addressed so as to provide for the remaining persons with developmental disabilities or mental illness at State-operated facilities. Provides that the plan for using any savings realized from such a closure or reduction must be shared and discussed with advocates, advocacy organizations, and advisory groups whose mission includes advocacy for persons with developmental disabilities or persons with mental illness. Effective immediately.
Amends the Department of Transportation Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Provides that, upon enactment of a federal transportation bill with a dedicated fund available to states for safe routes for schools, the Department of Transportation shall, in cooperation with the State Board of Education and the Department of State Police, establish and administer a Safe Routes to School Construction Program for the construction of bicycle and pedestrian safety and traffic-calming projects, with construction grants being made available to local governmental agencies. Effective immediately.
Amends the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Provides that the Department shall create and maintain a program that generates awareness among Illinois small manufacturers regarding opportunities to bid for work on federal, State, and local government contracts.
Amends the Department of Public Health Powers and Duties Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois and the State Finance Act. Creates the Autism Research Fund and provides that, from appropriations from the Fund, the Department of Public Health must make grants to public or private entities in Illinois for the purpose of funding research concerning the disorder of autism. Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act to create a tax checkoff for the Fund. Effective immediately.
Amends the Illinois Act on the Aging. Provides that an adult day service contract with the Department shall constitute certification by the Department of the adult day service. Defines "adult day service". Effective July 1, 2005.
Creates the Consular Identification Document Act. Defines "consular identification document" as an official identification card issued by a foreign government through its consular offices to identify a foreign national who is living outside of that nation. Provides that each State agency and officer and unit of local government, when requiring members of the public to provide identification, shall accept a consular identification document as valid identification of a person, with specified exceptions. Provides that a State agency or officer or a unit of local government is not prohibited from requiring: additional information from persons in order to verify a current address or other facts that would enable the State agency or officer or unit of local government to fulfill its responsibilities, with specified exceptions; fingerprints for identification purposes under circumstances where the State agency or officer or unit of local government also requires fingerprints from persons who have a driver's license or Illinois Identification Card; or additional evidence of identification if the State agency or officer or unit of local government reasonably believes that the consular identification document is forged, fraudulent, or altered, or the holder does not appear to be the same person on the consular identification document. Provides that the use by a State agency or officer or a unit of local government of information collected from, or appearing on, a consular identification document is subject to the same privacy and disclosure limitations that apply to the Illinois Identification Card.
