Sen. Cristina Castro

Amends the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act. Provides that the jurisdiction of the Legislative Ethics Commission and the Legislative Inspector General includes current and former members and employees of the General Assembly for events occurring during their terms of office in the General Assembly, or their periods of employment by the legislative branch of the government. Provides that the changes made by this amendatory Act are declarative of existing law. Effective immediately.

Amends the Childhood Hunger Relief Act. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the short title.

Creates the Internet Tax Fairness Act. Contains only a short title provision.

Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act. Allows an income tax credit for each individual taxpayer who is a teacher teaching in a school in Illinois. Provides that the amount of the credit is equal to 50% of the eligible classroom expenses made by the taxpayer during the taxable year, but the credit may not exceed $500. Defines "eligible classroom expenses" as the aggregate amount of nonreimbursed classroom expenses made by the taxpayer during the taxable year less $250. Provides that the credit may not be carried forward or back and may not reduce the taxpayer's liability to less than zero. Effective immediately.

Amends the Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning prohibited inquiries.

Amends the Children and Family Services Act. Makes post-secondary education tuition and fee waivers available to youth for whom the Department of Children and Family Services has court-ordered legal responsibility, youth who aged out of care at age 18 or older, or youth formerly under care who have been adopted and were the subject of an adoption assistance agreement or who have been placed in private guardianship and were the subject of a subsidized guardianship agreement. Requires applicants to have earned a high school diploma from an accredited institution or a high school equivalency certificate or have met the State criteria for high school graduation before the start of the school year for which they are applying for the waivers. Limits the tuition and fee waivers to persons under the age of 26 and provides that waivers shall be available to a student for at least the first 5 years the student is enrolled in a community college, university, or college maintained by the State. Provides that the age requirement and 5-year cap on tuition and fee waivers shall be waived and eligibility extended for applicants or students who were unable to enroll in a qualifying post-secondary school or complete an academic term because the student: (i) was called into active duty with the United States Armed Forces; (ii) was deployed for service in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps; or (iii) volunteered in the Peace Corps or the AmeriCorps. Permits the Department to provide the student with a stipend to cover maintenance and school expenses during the academic years to supplement the student's earnings. Requires the Department to develop outreach programs to ensure qualifying youths are aware of the availability of the tuition and fee waivers.

Creates the Illinois Election Integrity Act. Amends the Election Code. Requires that each election authority (i) conduct an election day audit of a random sample of 10% of votes cast and (ii) provide by contract or employment for the performance by one or more independent auditors of post-election parallel tabulations and audits. Provides for the scope of the audits and the resulting reports. Requires that optical scan technology and direct recording electronic voting systems meet certain federal and independent testing standards. Creates a voluntary tax checkoff for the Fund. With respect to early voting, requires that an election authority using only direct recording electronic voting systems have paper ballots available for voters wishing to use them. Amends the State Finance Act. Creates the Election Integrity Fund as a special fund in the State treasury.

Amends the Environmental Protection Act. Contains provisions requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to create a State beneficiary mitigation plan in accordance with specified consent decrees. Provides that the Agency shall establish the Volkswagen Settlement Task Force. Contains provisions concerning the membership of the Task Force. Provides that the Task Force shall conduct listening sessions, review the requirements of a specified trust agreement, evaluate public comments, and prepare a report of its recommendations for use of the funds received by the State from the trust agreement. Provides that the Task Force shall submit the report to the Governor and the General Assembly by no later than January 1, 2019. Provides that based on information provided by the Task Force, a public comment period, and other specified considerations, the Agency shall create a draft and final version of the State plan. Provides that within 30 days of the effective date, the Environmental Protection Agency shall create a page on its website that provides the public with specified information relating to the specified consent decrees. Effective immediately.

Amends the Park District Code and the Park District Police Act. Provides that the jurisdiction of the police officers of a park district is anywhere within the boundaries of the district (rather than within the parks, boulevards, driveways, and property controlled by the park district). Effective immediately.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency shall provide a written report on April 15 of each year that includes a summary of the projects it has funded, the amount expended for each, and the estimated level of NOx emission reductions.