Amends the Children's Product Safety Act. Provides that the Department of Public Health shall be responsible for regulating recall announcements and other information regarding the safety of children's products disseminated on the Internet. Provides that the Department shall provide links to this information on its website.
Amends the Property Tax Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the creation of the Property Tax Appeal Board.
Amends the Children and Family Services Act. Provides that if the Department of Children and Family Services contracts with a private child welfare agency to provide child welfare services or to provide the arrangement of child welfare services, then the private child welfare agency and its employees shall not, as a result of their acts or omissions, be liable for civil damages, unless the acts or omissions constitute willful and wanton misconduct.
Amends the Surface-Mined Land Conservation and Reclamation Act. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning an application for a permit.
Amends the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. Provides that upon leave of court, in any case in which the defendant is charged with the offense of first degree murder and the prosecution seeks the death penalty, or in a first degree murder case in which a term of natural life imprisonment is the only sentence allowed under the law following the defendant's conviction, any party may take the testimony, upon oral examination, of: (1) any person other than a law enforcement officer, victim, or family member who is identified as, or believed to be, an eyewitness to the occurrence that is the subject of the prosecution; (2) any person whom either party intends to call at trial regarding incriminating statements made by the accused to persons other than a law enforcement officer or prosecutor; and (3) any person identified as, or believed to be, an alibi witness. Applies to actions initiated on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act.
Amends the Illinois Act on the Aging by providing that, beginning July 1, 2004, vendors of homemaker, chore, and housekeeping services shall receive a rate increase of $1.16 per hour if at least $0.86 of that increase is used to increase the wages of homemakers and chore housekeepers. Provides that vendors receiving this increase must submit proof to the Department, either (i) by a an audited supplemental to the Direct Service Workers cost report or (ii) by the terms of a collective bargaining agreement, that they have increased homemakers' and chore housekeepers' wages by $0.86 per hour. Effective on July 1, 2004.
Amends the Illinois Act on the Aging. Requires the Director of Aging, in coordination with the Director of Public Aid and the Director of Public Health, to analyze the distribution of housing, health services, and supportive services for seniors in each geographic area of the State and to identify and designate critical access service areas. Provides that, at the end of each State fiscal year, any unspent and unencumbered General Revenue Fund appropriations for long-term care for seniors shall be deposited into the Alternative Long-Term Care Services for Seniors Fund. Provides that moneys in the Fund shall be used to fund specified alternative long-term care services with priority given to the distribution of funds for services in critical access service areas. Amends the State Finance Act to create the Alternative Long-Term Care Services for Seniors Fund as a special fund in the State treasury. Effective immediately.
Amends the Use Tax Act, the Service Use Tax Act, the Service Occupation Tax Act, and the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act. Provides that the rolling stock exemption reverts on July 1, 2005 to its form prior to July 1, 2003. Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act. Provides that the transportation employee credit no longer applies for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2006. Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that the commercial distribution fee shall be reduced each registration year and eliminated beginning with the registration year that begins on July 1, 2005. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.
Creates the Member Initiative Sunshine Act. Prohibits any officer, employee, or agent of the State from expending funds for certain State projects unless funding for that project has first been approved by the Member Initiative Review Panel. Creates the Member Initiative Review Panel consisting of the Governor, the State Comptroller, and the State Treasurer or their designees. Sets forth procedures by which the Panel reviews certain State projects. Requires the Panel to issue a written report concerning the Panel's activities to the Governor and to each legislative leader at the end of each fiscal quarter.
Amends the Professional Engineering Practice Act of 1989. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the short title.
