Sen. Chapin Rose

Amends the Election Code. Requires a deputy registrar to return completed voter registration materials to the proper election authority within 2 business days after receipt until the last day for accepting registrations before an election (now, within 7 days until the 35th day before an election and within 48 hours between the 35th and 28th days before an election). Prohibits the State Board of Elections and the Secretary of State from adopting rules that require otherwise for Secretary of State employees serving as deputy registrars at driver's license facilities. Prohibits the unauthorized copying or dissemination of personal or other information from a voter registration application. Makes violation a Class A misdemeanor.

Amends the Property Tax Code. Provides that, if a board of review or the Property Tax Appeal Board fails to reach a decision within 6 months after receiving the taxpayer's timely filed complaint, then the State automatically defaults under the complaint, and judgment in favor of the taxpayer shall be entered. Provides that the judgment shall be final and unappealable.

Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Provides that any judge, circuit clerk or clerk of court, public official or employee, court reporter, or other person who knowingly and without lawful authority falsifies any public record received or held by any judge or by a clerk of any court commits a Class 3 felony. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act. In a Section concerning estimated taxes, provides that, if a taxpayer is entitled to a refund after the payment of the fourth installment, then he or she may apply the amount of the refund to the first installment due in the next taxable year.

Amends the Clerks of Courts Act. Provides that starting on the effective date of the amendatory Act, a clerk of the circuit court in each judicial circuit shall charge and collect an additional fee in an amount of $25 to be paid by the defendant upon a judgment of guilty or grant of supervision in any felony, traffic, misdemeanor, local ordinance, or conservation case, other than a case in which the offense is a petty or business offense. Provides that the fee shall be in addition to all other fees and charges of such clerks, and assessable as costs. Provides that the fee shall be remitted monthly by such clerk to the University of Illinois to be retained by the University in a separate account to be expended by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois solely for the purpose of operating and funding the Police Training Institute located at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana campus. Effective July 1, 2011.

Amends the Illinois Public Aid Code. Provides that every electronic benefits transfer ("LINK") card issued on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act by the Department of Human Services for the purpose of enabling the cardholder to obtain food stamp benefits or cash must include on the card's face a photograph of the cardholder. Provides that within 6 months after the effective date of this amendatory Act, the Department shall replace every still-valid card issued before that date with a card that includes on its face a photograph of the cardholder.

Amends the Eminent Domain Act. Makes a technical change in a heading concerning quick-take powers.

Amends the Workers' Compensation Act. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the application of the Act.

Amends the Illinois Public Aid Code. Provides that as a condition of initial eligibility for any benefits under the Code, an applicant must pass a drug screening. Provides that as a condition of continued eligibility for benefits, a recipient must pass random drug screenings as prescribed by the Department of Human Services or the Department of Healthcare and Family Services. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that the special speed limit while traveling through a highway construction or maintenance speed zone applies only when workers are present in the construction or maintenance speed zone. Provides that the prohibition against use of a wireless telephone in a construction or maintenance speed zone applies only when workers are present. Exempts persons who are stopped on a highway in a construction or maintenance speed zone due to traffic congestion from the prohibitions against using a wireless telephone or electronic communication device.