Distributed via Email: February 6, 2009

WORK BEGINS IN THE CAPITOL

The members of the 96^th General Assembly began their legislative work this week and will return next week to meet in legislative committees. Governor Patrick Quinn capped off a busy week by meeting with not only the legislative leaders of the Illinois House and Senate, but with the rank and file members of the caucuses. Earlier in the week the Governor had met with the Mayor of Chicago, the members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation, and President Barack Obama.

On Thursday, the Illinois House approved HB 308 (Madigan, D-Chicago) that allows the governor to give his annual budget address on March 18^th instead of Feb. 18^th. The Senate is expected to take up the bill next week. Because of the unique circumstances of Governor Quinn taking office, the legislature wants to allow additional time for the governor to prepare his Fiscal Year 2010 budget outline. Earlier this week, Comptroller Dan Hynes estimated that the state budget deficit stands at $9 billion.

HOUSE STILL ORGANIZING

Though there are bills scheduled for committee hearings next week, the House of Representatives has still not published committee memberships or chairmanships. Since the legislators were sworn into office in January, all new committee assignments must be made by House leadership.

The Senate has appointed committee members and chairpersons. The Senate Education Committee now will be chaired by Senator James Meeks (D-Chicago). Freshman Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) will serve as co-chairman of the committee. Other members are:

For other legislative committees, please go to the following website and click on the committee: http://www.ilga.gov/senate/committees/default.asp

BILLS SCHEDULED FOR COMMITTEE NEXT WEEK

HOUSE ELECTIONS & CAMPAIGN REFORM COMMITTEE
Monday, Feb. 9, 4 p.m., Room 122 B, State Capitol

HB 85 (Lang, D-Chicago) creates a commission appointed by the legislative leaders to study and recommend to the General Assembly a system of voting via the Internet at elections in 2012 and thereafter.

HB 87 (Lang) requires election authorities to provide voter registration in precincts on Election Day.

HB 267 (Davis,W., D-Hazel Crest) provides that grace period registration runs through the day of the election or primary (now, runs until the 14th day before the election or primary).

HB 268 (Davis,W.) provides that an automatically generated telephone communication that (i) is directed at voters and (ii) mentions the name of a candidate at the next election or advocates for or against a public policy position must identify the person or entity paying for the communication.

HOUSE VEHICLE & SAFETY COMMITTEE
Monday, Feb. 9, 5 p.m., Room D-1, Stratton Office Building

HB 72 (D’Amico, D-Chicago) prohibits a person, regardless of age, to use a wireless telephone in a school speed zone or a construction or maintenance speed zone.

HB 156 (Pritchard, R-Hinckley) adds to the provisions of the Illinois Vehicle Code that set forth the school safety purposes for which surcharges imposed for certain violations of the special school zone speed limit may be used by school districts. It provides that those purposes include the Safe Routes to School Program and safety programs within the School Safety and Educational Improvement Block Grant Program (in addition to the existing purposes of school zone safety education and the purchase, installation, and maintenance of caution lights mounted on school speed zone signs).

HB 166 (Coulson, R-Glenview) requires that, beginning July 1, 2010, each school bus that is purchased new shall be equipped with seat safety belts for each passenger and requires the State Board of Education to adopt rules to ensure that school districts require all passengers on those buses to wear seat safety belts.

HOUSE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Tuesday, Feb. 10, 8:30 a.m., Room 114, State Capitol

HB 16 (Flowers, D-Chicago) allows children who have attended preschool and will attain the age of 5 years on or before December 1 of the year of the 2009-2010 school term and each school term thereafter to attend school upon commencement of such term (now, a child must attain age 5 on or before Sep. 1).

HB 17 (Flowers) adds as commemorative holidays for school districts: Jan.15 (to be known as Humanitarian Day and observed as a day of respect for the principles of human and civil rights and to involve the use of the color white as a visual affirmation to practice these principles); April 4 (to be known as Victims of Violence Wholly Day and observed as a day of respect for the principles of non-violence and to involve the use of the color black as a visual affirmation to practice these principles); and Aug. 28 (to be known as Dream Day and observed as a day of respect for the spiritual and moral principles of peoplehood and to involve the use of the colors black and white as a visual affirmation to practice these principles). It requires the study of Black History to include the Gettysburg Address, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech", and President Barack Obama's victory speech.

HB 21 (Flowers) mandates school boards to require students who participate in an interscholastic athletic program to undergo an electrocardiogram (EKG) test.

HB 80 (Lang) reconstitutes the Illinois State Board of Education with the appointment of all new members and allows the members to remove fellow board members for malfeasance.

HB 89 (Lang) requires school boards, prior to the 2010-2011 school year, to develop policies and adopt rules relating to the prevention of infections transmitted by contact with blood or bodily fluids.

HB 205 (Leitch, R-Peoria), with respect to the requirement that children enrolling in kindergarten have an eye examination, requires the use of dilating drops for the internal and external examination.

HB 272 (Franks, D-Woodstock) requires the IHSA to prohibit a student from participating in an athletic competition sponsored or sanctioned by the association unless the student agrees not to use certain performance-enhancing substances, and, if the student its enrolled in high school, the student submits to random testing for the presence of these substances. The bill also requires high school coaches to complete an educational program on the prevention of abuse of performance-enhancing substances and to complete a proficiency exam.

HB 281 (Bellock, R-Westmont) requires that the State Board of Education, in conjunction with the Department of Public Health, develop and make available to each school board guidelines for the management of students with life-threatening food allergies and requires school boards to implement a policy based on these guidelines no later than Jan. 1, 2011.

HB 288 (Fritchey, D-Chicago) changes the title of the Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act and allows a teacher to conduct (instead of requiring a teacher to observe) a brief period of silence at the opening of every school day with the participation of all pupils assembled.

HB 325 (Fortner, R-West Chicago), regarding a school district that forms a part of a Cook County school unit that was under the jurisdiction and authority of the township treasurer and trustees of schools of a township at the time those offices were abolished, it allows the school treasurer to also be a member of the school board (now prohibited).

HB 326 (Pihos, R-Glen Ellyn) provides that any information of a personal nature disclosed by a pupil 12 years of age or older in the process of receiving school counseling services from a school counselor or school counselor intern is confidential, and provides that any information of a personal nature disclosed to a school counselor or school counselor intern by a parent or guardian of such a pupil is confidential. It provides that the information must not become part of the pupil’s record without the written consent of the pupil who disclosed the confidential information and prohibits the information from being revealed, released, discussed, or referred to, with exceptions.

HB 337 (Pritchard) only allows a school board to excuse pupils enrolled in grades 11 and 12 from engaging in physical education courses for ongoing participation in a marching band program (instead of allowing pupils in grades 9 through 12 enrolled in a marching band program for credit to be excused).

HOUSE LABOR COMMITTEE
Tuesday, Feb. 10, 11 a.m., Room 118, State Capitol

HB 58 (Reis, R-Olney) amends the Workers’ Compensation Act to provide that an injury by accident is compensable only if the accident was the prevailing factor in causing both the resulting medical condition and disability. It contains several other changes to the Act.

HB 163 (Tryon, R-Crystal Lake) amends the Prevailing Wage Act to provide that the publication of a prevailing wage determination shall include a notice that the determination is effective and how or where the determination is available for inspection (instead of a notice of the determination).

HOUSE REVENUE & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Wednesday, Feb. 11, 10 a.m., Room 115, State Capitol

HB 1 (Bradley, D-Marion) increases the Motor Fuel Tax by 8 cents per gallon of gas with receipts to be used for a road construction program.

HB 51 (Brady, R-Bloomington) deletes the requirement that certain fraternal organizations that receive a property tax assessment freeze must submit an annual application.

HB 62 (Stephens, R-Troy) provides that voters in certain counties may initiate a referendum on the applicability of the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law by submitting a petition to the county board signed by a number of voters equal to at least 1% of the votes cast in the county at the last preceding general election.

HB 195 (Fritchey), in Cook County, requires that on or before Oct. 1, 2009, the county assessor shall reassess all residential property in the county for which 2009 is not the general assessment year.

HB 197 (Fritchey) provides that, in Cook County, homestead property must be valued at 100% of its fair cash value and also requires the Cook County Clerk to abate the property taxes levied on homestead property in certain circumstances.

HB 218 (Schmitz, R-Batavia) requires the Department of Revenue to conduct a study to determine the effects and feasibility of assessing property in the state at 100% rather than at 33 1/3% of its fair cash value.

HB 219 (Schmitz), in the Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze Homestead Exemption, increases the maximum income limitation from $55,000 to $75,000 for applicants who have occupied the residence for at least 5 years.

HB 223 (Schmitz) increases the maximum amount of each homestead exemption each year by the amount of the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for all items, published by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.

HB 296 (Mathias, R-Buffalo Grove) provides that the alternative general homestead exemption applies on a permanent basis and increases the amount of the exemption to $60,000 for taxable year 2009 and thereafter.

HB 328 (Franks) establishes a sales tax "holiday" whereby no sales tax is imposed for qualified merchandise that is purchased from 12:01 a.m. on the first Friday in August through midnight of the Sunday that follows nine days later.

SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Tuesday, Feb. 10, 4 p.m., Room 409, State Capitol

SB 35 (Garrett, D-Lake Forest) provides that for paid sick leave for adoption or placement for adoption, the school board may require that the teacher or other employee provide evidence that the formal adoption process is underway, and such leave is limited to 30 days unless a longer leave has been negotiated with the exclusive bargaining representative. It also provides that a school board may require a certificate from a physician, advanced practice nurse, physician assistant, or spiritual adviser or practitioner as a basis for pay during leave after an absence of 30 days for birth.

SB 79 (Link, D-Vernon Hills) requires grantees under the Preschool for All Children program to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the appropriate local Head Start agency no later than 3 months after the award of a grantee’s grant under the program.

SB 123 (Demuzio, D-Carlinville) reduces the probationary period before achieving tenure for a teacher to two years (instead of four years), if the teacher had acquired tenure previously in another school district.

SB 152 (Garrett) requires that the State Board of Education, in conjunction with the Department of Public Health, develop and make available to each school board guidelines for the management of students with life-threatening food allergies and requires school boards to implement a policy based on these guidelines no later than Jan. 1, 2011.

SB 153 (Garrett) requires that a school board that employs a person who is an elected trustee of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) shall make available to the elected trustee at least 20 days of paid leave of absence per year for the purpose of attending meetings of the Fund’s Board of Trustees, committee meetings of the Board, and seminars regarding issues for which the Board is responsible. IMRF must reimburse the school district for the actual cost of hiring a substitute employee during such leaves of absence.

SENATE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE
Tuesday, Feb. 10, 4 p.m., Room 400, State Capitol

SB 67 (Silverstein, D-Chicago) requires that, beginning July 1, 2010, each school bus that is purchased new shall be equipped with seat safety belts for each passenger and requires the State Board of Education to adopt rules to ensure that school districts require all passengers on those buses to wear seat safety belts.

*The legislative report is written and edited by the lobbyists of the Illinois Association of School Boards to provide information to the members of the organizations that comprise the Statewide School Management Alliance.

General Assembly Bill Text/Status

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