Amends the School Code. Provides that a transition specialist certificate shall be issued to persons who, through their education and training, have a comprehensive understanding of the requirements for transition planning and of transition services for students with all types of disabilities and are aware of the array of options available to students with disabilities after they exit high school. Provides that before the 2006-2007 academic year, the Board of Higher Education shall, in collaboration with the Interagency Coordinating Council and the Advisory Council on the Education of Children with Disabilities, develop coursework for students who want to qualify for a transition specialist certificate. Provides that those public universities that are teacher training institutions shall implement the coursework developed by the Board beginning with the 2006-2007 academic year. Effective immediately.
Sponsored bills
Amends the Service Member's Employment Tenure Act. Provides that each person scheduled to begin employment with a private employer or with the State of Illinois or a political subdivision who, for the purpose of entering the military service, has left or leaves such scheduled-to-begin-employment status and actually entered the military service and who thereafter (1) receives a certificate or other evidence of honorable discharge or satisfactory completion of military service, (2) is, at the time of such discharge or completion of military service, still qualified to perform the duties of the position of employment which he or she was scheduled to begin, and (3) makes application for re-employment within 90 days after being relieved from such military service, or from hospitalization continuing after discharge for a period of not more than one year, shall be restored by the employer to the position of scheduled-to-begin-employment status which he or she left with the same increases in status, seniority, and wages that were earned during his or her term of military service by employees in like positions who were on the job at the time the returning service member entered the service, or to a position of like seniority, status, and pay, unless the employer's circumstances have so changed as to make it impossible or unreasonable to do so. Extends other protections of the Act to service members who were scheduled to begin employment at the time they entered military service. Effective immediately.
Amends the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the short title Section.
Amends the School Code. Provides that the regional superintendent of schools is authorized to hire private legal counsel to represent him or her in legal matters (instead of the State's Attorney of the county where the regional superintendent's office is located acting as the legal representative). Provides that each county located within the educational service region shall pay a per capita share of the legal fees incurred, based on the number of people in the county according to the most recent U.S. census.
Amends the Public Community College Act. Provides that beginning on July 1, 2005, one of the 11 members appointed to the Illinois Community College Board by the Governor must be a faculty member at an Illinois public community college. Effective July 1, 2005.
Amends the Department of Public Health Powers and Duties Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois and the State Finance Act. Creates the Vince Demuzio Memorial Colon Cancer 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 applicable to colon cancer patients. Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act to create a tax checkoff for the Fund.
Amends the Soybean Marketing Act. Adds 6 at large members to the soybean marketing program operating board of directors. Provides for their election by producers at annual meetings from nominees selected by the operating board.
Creates the Payday Loan Reform Act. Provides that the Division of Financial Institutions of the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation shall license and regulate entities that offer payday loans (loans under which a lender accepts a post-dated check, authorization to debit a consumer's bank account, or an interest in a consumer's wages as security for the loan). Establishes requirements and restrictions applicable to license applications and licensing. Contains provisions regarding: limitations, requirements, and disclosures applicable to loan agreements, terms of loans, finance charges, and renewal of loans; revocation, suspension, and surrender of licenses; information to be available to the public; complaint handling; hearings; books and records; reports; advertising; prohibited acts; bonding; administrative rules; and other matters. Amends the Financial Institutions Code to provide for the administration of the Payday Loan Reform Act. Amends the Consumer Installment Loan Act to provide that the Act does not apply to payday loans. Provides that a violation of the Payday Loan Reform Act constitutes a violation of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. Effective immediately.
Mourns the death of Mary Ellen Orr of Perry.
Amends the School Code. In the Section concerning the school building code, provides that the State Board of Education shall require each school district to prepare an indoor air quality policy. Provides that each school district shall annually notify parents about the policy and the school board's approval of that policy and shall provide a copy of the policy along with the notification. Amends the State Mandates Act to require implementation without reimbursement. Effective immediately.