Sen. Robert Peters

Amends the Illinois Human Rights Act. Provides that "employer" includes any person employing one (instead of 15) or more employees within Illinois during 20 or more calendar weeks within the calendar year of or preceding the alleged violation. Provides that "employer" does not include any place of worship with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion to perform work connected with the carrying on by the place of worship of its activities. Senate Committee Amendment No. 1 Adds an effective date of July 1, 2020.

Amends the State Comptroller Act. Creates the Illinois Bank On Initiative to increase the use of Certified Financial Products and reduce reliance on alternative financial products. Provides that the Illinois Bank On Initiative shall be administered by the Comptroller, and the Comptroller shall be responsible for specified ongoing activities of the Initiative. Creates the Illinois Bank On Initiative Commission and provides for membership of the Commission. Provides for requirements and duties of the Commission. Requires the Comptroller and the Commission to annually prepare and make available on the Controller's website a report concerning the progress of the Illinois Bank On Initiative. Provides that the Comptroller may adopt rules necessary to implement provisions concerning the Illinois Bank On Initiative and Commission. Defines terms. Effective immediately. Senate Floor Amendment No. 2 Modifies the membership requirements of the Illinois Bank On Initiative Commission. Modifies the definition of "Certified Financial Product" and defines "financial institution".

Amends the Illinois Public Aid Code. Provides that for purposes of determining eligibility and the amount of assistance under the Code, the Department of Human Services and local governmental units shall exclude from consideration, for a period of no more than 60 months, any financial assistance, including wages, cash transfers, or gifts, that is provided to a person who is enrolled in a program or research project that is not funded with general revenue funds and that is intended to investigate the impacts of policies or programs designed to reduce poverty, promote social mobility, or increase financial stability for Illinois residents if there is an explicit plan to collect data and evaluate the program or initiative that is developed prior to participants in the study being enrolled in the program and if a research team has been identified to oversee the evaluation. Requires the Department to seek all necessary federal approvals or waivers to implement the provisions of the amendatory Act. Effective immediately.

Amends the Homelessness Prevention Act. Changes certain types of assistance grantees shall offer households to prevent homelessness as follows: (1) payment of a rent or mortgage arrearage (rather than payment of a rent or mortgage arrearage in an amount established as necessary to defeat the eviction or foreclosure, but shall in no event be greater than 3 months of rental or mortgage arrears); (2) payment of a security deposit (rather than payment of a rent deposit or security deposit and payment of not more than 2 months rent or mortgage payments); and (3) payment of rent or mortgage. Provides that in no case shall the total assistance for a household be greater than the equivalent of 6 months of rent or mortgage payments. Provides that, on an annual basis, a grantee's administrative costs and case management expenses shall not exceed 15% of the grant amount it receives.

Amends the University of Illinois Trustees Act. Provides that in order to determine residency status of a potential or current student trustee, the student must provide evidence of the student's Illinois domicile for at least the previous 6 months and either (i) evidence of the student's current, valid Illinois driver's license or Illinois Identification Card or (ii) evidence of the student's valid Illinois voter registration (instead of having evidence of the student's Illinois domicile, Illinois driver's license, and Illinois voter registration positively demonstrate residency). Effective January 1, 2020.

Amends the Illinois Act on the Aging. Defines "greatest social need" for the purpose of a specified rule. Makes a conforming change. Amends the Assisted Living and Shared Housing Act. Prohibits unlawful discrimination by an owner, licensee, administrator, employee, or agent of an assisted living establishment of residents in assisted living establishments. Provides that unlawful discrimination does not include an action by an owner, licensee, administrator, employee, or agent that is required by the Act or rules adopted under the Act. Effective immediately.

Amends the State Finance Act. Creates the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Fund as a special fund in the State treasury. Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code to allow for the issuance of decals for Universal special license plates by K9s for Veterans, NFP. Provides for the original fee, renewal fees, and fee distribution for Universal special license plates with decals issued by the K9s for Veterans, NFP.

Amends the Pharmacy Practice Act. Provides that the "practice of pharmacy" includes the administration of injections of long-term antipsychotic medications pursuant to a valid prescription by a physician licensed to practice medicine in all its branches, upon completion of appropriate training, including how to address contraindications and adverse reactions set forth by rule, with notification to the patient's physician and appropriate record retention, or pursuant to hospital pharmacy and therapeutics committee policies and procedures. Senate Committee Amendment No. 1 Provides that following the initial administration of long-acting or extended-release form opioid antagonists by a physician licensed to practice medicine in all its branches, administration of injections of long-acting or extended-release form opioid antagonists for the treatment of substance use disorder, pursuant to a valid prescription by a physician licensed to practice medicine in all its branches, upon completion of appropriate training, including how to address contraindications and adverse reactions, including, but not limited to, respiratory depression and the performance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, set forth by rule, with notification to the patient's physician and appropriate record retention, or pursuant to hospital pharmacy and therapeutics committee policies and procedures. Provides that training by a physician licensed to practice medicine in all its branches must be conducted by an Accreditation Council of Pharmaceutical Education accredited provider (rather than the requirement of completing the appropriate training).

Creates the Mental Health Early Action on Campus Act. Provides for intent, legislative findings, purposes of the Act, and definitions. Provides that to raise mental health awareness on college campuses, each public college or university in this State must complete specified tasks. Provides that the board of trustees of each public college or university must designate an expert panel to develop and implement policies and procedures that (i) advise students, faculty, and staff on the proper procedures for identifying and addressing the needs of students exhibiting symptoms of mental health conditions, (ii) promote understanding of the rules of Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to increase knowledge and understanding of student protections under the law, and (iii) provide training if appropriate. Provides that because peer support programs may be beneficial in improving the emotional well-being of the student population, each public college or university must develop and implement a peer support program utilizing student peers to support individuals living with mental health conditions on campus; specifies best practices for the peer support programs. Provides that each public college or university must form strategic partnerships with local mental health service providers to improve overall campus mental wellness and augment on-campus capacity; specifies what the partnerships must include. Requires the Board of Higher Education to develop a Technical Assistance Center; specifies the duties of the Center. Requires each public college or university to evaluate the required programs under the Act using specified criteria. Effective July 1, 2020. House Floor Amendment No. 2 Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Reinserts the provisions of the introduced bill with the following changes. Provides that 2 years after the effective date of the Act, and once every 5 years thereafter, the Technical Assistance Center must propose to the General Assembly an updated ratio of clinical, non-student staff members to students based on actual ratios in this State and any new information related to appropriate benchmarks for clinician-to-student ratios. Provides that the updated benchmark must represent a ratio of no less than one clinical, non-student staff member to 1,250 students. Removes a provision providing that 5 years after the effective date of the Act, each public college or university must maintain a ratio of one clinical, non-student staff member to 1,000 students. Provides that the monitoring measures of local partnership programs must include the ratio of clinical, non-student staff to student population and the number of linkage agreements and contracts in place based on student population (rather than only the number of linkage agreements and contracts in place based on student population). Provides that the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, in conjunction with the Illinois Community College Board and the Board of Higher Education, must make recommendations to the General Assembly on the amounts necessary to implement the Act. Provides that the initial recommendation must be provided by the Commission no later than December 31, 2019 and any appropriation provided in advance of this recommendation may be used for planning purposes. Provides that no provision of the Act may be funded by student fees created on or after July 1, 2020 (rather than new student fees). Makes other changes. Effective July 1, 2020, except that certain provisions are effective immediately.

Creates the Needle and Hypodermic Syringe Access Program Act. Provides that persons or entities that promote scientifically proven ways of mitigating health risks associated with drug use and other high-risk behaviors may establish and operate a needle and hypodermic syringe access program. Provides objectives for programs established under the Act. Includes language requiring programs to provide specified services. Provides that no employee or volunteer of or participant in a program shall be charged with or prosecuted for possession of specified substances. Provides that law enforcement officers who in good faith arrest or charge a person entitled to immunity under the Act shall not be subject to civil liability for the arrest or filing of charges. Provides that prior to commencing operations under the Act, an organization shall report specified information to the Department of Public Health. Amends the Alcoholism and Other Drug Abuse and Dependency Act. Provides that the Department of Human Services shall give preference for grants and proposals to specified drug overdose prevention programs. Provides that the Department of Human Services shall conduct an evidence-based treatment needs assessment to be submitted to the General Assembly by December 31, 2019. Effective immediately. Senate Floor Amendment No. 1 Deletes reference to: 20 ILCS 301/25-13 new Adds reference to: 720 ILCS 635/1 from Ch. 38, par. 22-50 720 ILCS 635/2 from Ch. 38, par. 22-51 Replaces everything after the enacting clause with the provisions of the introduced bill with the following changes: Renames the Needle and Hypodermic Syringe Access Program Act the Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction Act. Provides that the Department of Human Services' report on drug overdose trends statewide shall provide information on the current substance use disorder treatment capacity within the State. Requires the report to include an inventory of the State's substance use disorder treatment capacity. Provides that the Department may support specified drug overdose projects by facilitating the acquisition of opioid antagonist medication approved for opioid overdose reversal. Provides specified elements the Department may promote in supporting best practices in drug overdose prevention programming. Deletes provisions requiring the Department to give preference for grants to proposals that, in addition to providing life-saving interventions and responses, provide information to drug users on how to access substance use disorder treatment or other strategies for abstaining from illegal drugs. Removes provisions requiring the Department to contract with a third party research organization to conduct a needs assessment of the Illinois substance use disorder treatment system. Makes other changes. Amends the Hypodermic Syringes and Needles Act. Provides that the Act shall not prohibit the sale, possession, or use of hypodermic syringes or hypodermic needles by a staff person, volunteer, or participant in a needle or hypodermic syringe access program. Effective immediately.