Sen. Robert Peters

Amends the School Code. In a provision concerning kindergartens, provides that, beginning with the 2023-2024 school year, each school board must establish a kindergarten with full-day attendance (instead of allowing a school board to establish a kindergarten with half-day attendance or with full-day attendance); makes related changes. Repeals another provision concerning kindergartens on July 1, 2023. Effective immediately.

Amends the Probate Act of 1975. Provides that a person who has been convicted of a felony is qualified to act as an executor if: (i) the testator names that person as an executor and expressly acknowledges in the will that the testator is aware that the person has been convicted of a felony; and (ii) the person is otherwise qualified to act as an executor.

Amends the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the short title.

Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Provides that a person is not legally accountable for the conduct of another, unless the statute defining the offense provides otherwise, if he or she was subjected to specified and credible coercion, compulsion, or duress related to domestic abuse as defined in the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986. Provides that a person is not guilty of an offense (deletes other than an offense punishable by death) by reason of conduct that he or she performs under the compulsion of threat or menace of the imminent infliction of death or great bodily harm, if he or she reasonably believes death or great bodily harm will be inflicted upon him or her, or upon his or her spouse or child, if he or she does not perform that conduct. Amends the Code of Civil Procedure. Includes in the relief from judgment provisions if the allegations in the petition establish each of the following by a preponderance of the evidence: (1) the movant was convicted of a forcible felony; (2) the movant's participation in the offense was related to experiencing or the effects of gender-based violence; (3) no substantial evidence or incomplete evidence of gender-based violence against the movant was presented at the movant's sentencing hearing; and (4) the evidence of gender-based violence against the movant is material and noncumulative to other evidence offered at the sentencing hearing, or previous hearing filed on or after the effective date of the amendatory Act, and is of such a conclusive character that it would likely change the sentence imposed by the original trial court. Defines "gender-based violence".

Amends the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Act. Provides that the membership of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority shall include 3 individuals who report having been incarcerated in a Department of Corrections facility and 3 members of the general public (instead of 6 members of the general public). Effective immediately.

Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Provides that Department of Juvenile Justice personnel who are hired by the Department and who participate or assist in the rehabilitative and vocational training of delinquent youths, supervise the daily activities involving direct and continuing responsibility for the youth's security, welfare and development, or participate in the personal rehabilitation of delinquent youth by training, supervising, and assisting lower level personnel who perform these duties must be over the age of 21 and have either a bachelor's or advanced degree from an accredited college or university or have 2 or more years of experience providing direct care to youth in the form of residential care, counseling, case management, or mentoring (rather than just any bachelor's or advanced degree from an accredited college or university). Amends the Illinois Pension Code to make conforming changes. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Works Job Program Act. Provides that contractors or subcontractors may be eligible to earn bid credits for employing apprentices who have completed the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program (previously bid credits were available for public works contracted by the State). Provides that contractors and subcontractors can use bid credits toward future bids for public works projects contracted or funded by the State or an agency of the State in order to increase the likelihood that the contractor and the subcontractors are selected as the contractor for the public works project. Provides that, for contracts and grant agreements executed after the effective date of the amendatory Act, of a specified goal at least half of the labor hours of each prevailing wage classification performed by apprentices shall be performed by graduates of the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program. Provides that the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity may grant a reduction or waiver upon a determination that the contractor or subcontractor has demonstrated that insufficient graduates of the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program are available to meet the requirements. Provides that contractors and subcontractors must submit a certification to the Department and the agency that is administering the contract, or the grant agreement funding the contract, demonstrating that the contractor or subcontractor has not complied with the labor hour goals and did not receive a reduction or waiver. Provides the penalties for failing to comply with the Illinois Works Apprenticeship Initiative. Effective immediately.

Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Includes time served in a county jail as part of the minimum of 60 days of the sentence that must be served before the Director of Corrections may award discretionary earned sentence credit.

Amends the Illinois Works Jobs Program Act. Provides that the Illinois Works Review Panel's examination of workforce demographic data collected by the Illinois Department of Labor must include demographic information about the workforce on public work projects contracted by the State or an agency of the State by contractor, race, gender, trade, hours worked by payroll cycle and annually, whether apprentice or journeyworker, and, if an apprentice, which year of apprenticeship, and whether or not the apprentice is a graduate of the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program. Provides that individual members of the workforce shall be given a unique identifier so that progress and retention can be tracked without sharing personally identifiable information. Creates the Access and Opportunity Committee to monitor and report on the progress of ensuring that all Illinois residents have access to careers in the construction industry and building trades on current State capital projects, including those who have been historically underrepresented in those trades. Includes provisions regarding Committee membership, powers and duties, and meetings.

Amends the Department of Agriculture Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Provides that the Department of Agriculture upon request (previously in cooperation) with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall provide consulting service and standards. Repeals the Displaced Homemakers Assistance Act, the Energy Policy and Planning Act, the Community Health Worker Advisory Board Act, the Electronic Health Records Taskforce Act, and the Des Plaines and Illinois Rivers Act. Makes changes in various Acts in provisions concerning funds; mandates; reports; and task forces. Effective immediately.