Sen. Ram Villivalam

Amends the Homelessness Prevention Act. Provides that the Department of Human Services shall be mindful of preventing undue administrative burden in the application process for individual tenants in applying for assistance. Provides that program staff shall endeavor to lessen any administrative burden on landlords receiving assistance payments. Amends the Eviction Article of the Code of Civil Procedure. Provides that a defendant shall have an affirmative defense to any action where the plaintiff demands has made a demand for possession that is based on unpaid rent regardless of whether the owner has joined in the action a claim for rent if the defendant, a social services agency, or a government agency offered the owner an application for emergency housing assistance and the owner refused to complete the process to obtain the emergency housing assistance and the defendant would have been eligible for the emergency housing assistance program. Provides that the owner may overcome the affirmative defense only if the court makes a finding that the application for emergency housing assistance would impose a significant administrative burden on the owner. Amends the Illinois Human Rights Act. Defines "source of income". Provides that if a landlord requires that a prospective tenant or current tenant have a certain threshold level of income, then the landlord shall subtract any source of income in the form of a rent voucher or subsidy from the total of the monthly rent prior to calculating if the income criteria have been met. Provides that a landlord shall not apply an income or asset requirement to a tenant with a non-wage source of income that the landlord does not apply to all tenants. Provides that if an income or asset requirement serves to generally exclude participants in a housing or benefits program, that requirement shall be considered presumptively discriminatory. Makes other changes.

Amends the Early Intervention Services System Act. Provides that for State fiscal years 2022 and 2023, the Department of Human Services shall increase reimbursement rates for early intervention services and related services by 4% each State fiscal year. Effective immediately.

Amends the Public Library District Act of 1991. Provides that, no later than one year after the effective date of the amendatory Act and thereafter, a district must maintain staffing levels of at least the number of staff members required by Appendix 3.2 of the "Serving Our Public: Standards for Illinois Public Libraries", Revised Edition (Copyright 1997 by the Illinois Library Association). Amends the State Mandates Act to require implementation without reimbursement. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011. Provides that, in any redistricting plan pursuant to Illinois law for the redistricting or reapportionment of county board districts, such districts shall be drawn to create crossover districts, coalition districts, or influence districts. Provides that the requirements imposed by the Act are in addition and subordinate to any requirements or obligations imposed by the United States Constitution, any federal law regarding redistricting, including, but not limited to, the federal Voting Rights Act, and the Illinois Constitution. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act. Provides that an employee is entitled to recover damages of 5% (rather than 2%) of the amount of any underpayments in wages for each month following the date of payment during which such underpayments remain unpaid. Effective immediately.

Amends the Department of Public Health Act. Provides that the Director of Public Health shall create an award for individual hospitals that achieve an NTSV cesarean birth rate of 23.6% or lower. The Director shall grant this award to hospitals that achieve the target NTSV cesarean birth rate on an annual basis. Amends the University of Illinois Hospital Act and the Hospital Licensing Act. Provides that a hospital shall record and internally report the NTSV cesarean birth rate for each obstetrician-gynecologist who works at the hospital every 6 months. Provides that the hospital shall submit a copy of this report to the Department of Public Health with the names of the providers redacted. Provides that a hospital shall publicly record and report its cumulative NTSV cesarean birth rate on its website every 6 months. Provides that a hospital shall submit a copy of this report to the Department of Public Health. House Floor Amendment No. 1 Deletes reference to: 20 ILCS 2305/7.6 new Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Amends the University of Illinois Hospital Act and the Hospital Licensing Act. Requires hospitals organized or licensed under the Acts to record and internally report the NTSV cesarean birth rate for each obstetrician-gynecologist who works at the hospital every 6 months. Provides that the hospital shall submit a copy of this report annually and upon request to the Department of Public Health with the names of the providers redacted. Defines "NTSV cesarean birth rate". Provides that the amendatory provisions are repealed on January 1, 2030.

Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the short title.

Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that the Secretary of State may issue such additional temporary driver's licenses to an applicant as are necessary to allow the applicant to drive during the pendency of an investigation and determination of all facts relative to such applicant's eligibility for such a license, valid for such a period as is appropriate, but in no event for longer than 90 days each. Effective immediately.

Amends the Motor Fuel Tax Law. Provides that each person who acts (currently, knowingly acts) as a distributor of motor fuel or a supplier of special fuel, or a receiver of fuel without having a license so to do, or who fails or refuses (currently, knowingly fails or refuses) to file a return with the Department of Revenue or make payment to the Department of Revenue shall pay a penalty of $500 for the first occurrence and $1,000 for the second and each subsequent occurrence (currently, the person is guilty of a Class 3 felony). Provides that any person who acts as a motor carrier without having a valid motor fuel use tax license or a valid single trip permit shall pay a penalty of $500 for the first occurrence and $1,000 for the second and each subsequent occurrence (currently, the person is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor for a first offense and a Class 4 felony for each subsequent offense). Provides that a person who fails to file certain quarterly returns shall pay a penalty of $500 for the first occurrence and $1,000 for the second and each subsequent occurrence (currently, the person is guilty of a Class 4 felony for a first offense and a Class 3 felony for each subsequent offense).

Amends the Illinois Procurement Code. Provides that if a bidder has failed to be awarded a contract after 4 consecutive bids to provide the same services to a single agency, the applicable chief procurement officer for that agency shall in writing detail why all 4 bids were rejected. Provides that the chief procurement officer shall submit by certified copy to the bidder the reasoning for the rejection of the bid within the same quarter in which the 4th bid was rejected and prior to 15 days before the next Illinois Procurement Bulletin for that type of bid.