ICCTA Action Alert February 8, 2002 The Illinois General Assembly convened in Springfield this week, mostly to introduce legislation to be considered during the 2002 spring legislative session. All bills to be considered by the Senate must be filed by the February 7 deadline, while the filing deadline in the House is February 11. The Senate adjourned its business on Wednesday, February 6, and is scheduled to return to Springfield for the Governor's budget message on February 20. The House concluded its business on Thursday and will return on February 11. Community College-Related Legislation Introduced to Date HB 4107 -- New Definition of Physical Therapy Aide (Coulson) ICCTA Position: MONITOR Changes the definition of a Physical Therapy Aide to mean any support person who has received on-the-job training specific to the facility in which he she is employed and may be involved in providing physical therapist-directed services that may include patient-related or non-patient-related duties. HB 4270 (Berns) / SB 1684 (Watson) -- MAP Increase ICCTA Position: MONITOR Increases the maximum Monetary Award Program grant for full-time students by $198 and part-time undergraduate students by $99. HB 4333 -- Community College Foundation Matching Grants (Wirsing) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT HB 4333 is an ICCTA bill that makes changes to the Foundation Matching Grants program created in FY 2000. Although the program has not yet received state funding, technical corrections to the statute are recommended. HB 4343 -- Community College Procurement Consortiums (Parke) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT This ICCTA bill adds an exception to the Community College Purchasing Act to permit purchases over $10,000 to be made through interstate or intrastate governmental consortiums without going to bid for the purchases. HB 4351 -- MAP Grants for Part-Time Students (Erwin) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT Amends the Higher Education Student Assistance Act to remove a provision requiring a student to be enrolled for at least 6 semester or quarter hours for the term to maintain eligibility for the Monetary Award Program. HB 4363 -- Increase in Illinois Incentive for Access Grants (Mendoza) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT Amends the Higher Education Student Assistance Act regarding Illinois Incentive for Access grants. Provides that the maximum amount paid per applicant per year is $750 (currently $500) for applicants with an expected family contribution of $0, and $375 for applicants with an expected family contribution of $375 or less but more than $0. HB 4364 -- Illinois Incentive for Access Grants for Sophomores (Giles) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT Amends the Higher Education Student Assistance Act to allow Illinois Incentive for Access grants to be awarded to sophomore undergraduate students (currently restricted to freshmen) beginning with the 2003-2004 academic year. Provides that the maximum amount paid per applicant per year is $750 (currently $500) for the 2002-2003 academic year and $1,000 for the 2003-2004 and subsequent academic years for applicants with an expected family contribution of $0. Provides for partial grants to persons with limited income. HB 4401 -- New Community College District for East St. Louis (Younge) ICCTA Position: OPPOSE Amends the Public Community College Act to require the Illinois Community College Board to establish a new community college district to be comprised of the territory of the former Metropolitan Community College District No. 541 and to be known as Gateway Community College. HB 4946 -- Name Change and Increase in Illinois Incentive for Access Grants (Turner) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT Amends the Higher Education Student Assistance Act to change the name of the Illinois Incentive for Access Grant Program to the Silas Purnell Illinois Incentive for Access Grant Program. Provides that the maximum amount paid per applicant per year is $1,000 for applicants with an expected family contribution of $0, and $500 for applicants with an expected family contribution of $500 or less. HB 1619 -- Illinois Opportunity Scholarship (Lightford) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT Creates the Illinois Opportunity Scholarship Act for undergraduate students, renewable for up to 4 years, for use at institutions of higher education located in Illinois. Provides that the annual amount of a scholarship shall be equal to the tuition and mandatory fees for a full-time undergraduate student at the institution of higher education at which the scholarship recipient is enrolled, not to exceed the equivalent expense for a full-time undergraduate, in-state student at the University of Illinois, plus a $200 book allowance. SB 1686 -- Professional Counselor Licensing Act Renewal (Burzynski) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT Amends the Regulatory Sunset Act to extend the repeal of the Professional Counselor and Clinical Professional Counselor Licensing Act. SB 1690 -- Barber, Cosmetology, Esthetics, and Nail Technology Act (Burzynski) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT Amends the Barber, Cosmetology, Esthetics, and Nail Technology Act of 1985 to change the graduation requirements to a program of 1500 hours (from a total of 1500 hours) to conform with other references throughout the Act. SB 1734 -- Community College Procurement for City Colleges of Chicago (Dudcyz) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT This ICCTA initiative amends the Public Community College Act to make the City Colleges of Chicago's bidding thresholds the same as the state's other 38 community college districts. Requires the CCC Board of Trustees to let a contract for supplies, materials, or work by competitive bidding if the contract involves an expenditure in excess of $10,000 (instead of $5,000). SB 1756 -- 72-Hour Posting Notice / Open Meetings Act (Cullerton) ICCTA Position: OPPOSE Amends the Open Meetings Act to requires that a public body post its agenda at least 72, rather than 48, hours before a regular meeting. If a public body has a website, requires that the public body post meeting notices, agendas, and minutes on that website. SB 1842 -- Minority Teacher Scholarships (Cronin) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT Makes changes to the Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program by allowing a person enrolled at the freshman or graduate level to qualify for a scholarship. Also allows qualifying students to be enrolled on a half-time basis and requires a scholarship recipient to begin teaching within the one-year period following termination of the undergraduate program. SB 1884 -- MAP Grants for Part-Time Students (Madigan) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT This ICCTA initiative will make students eligible in the Monetary Award Program who are enrolled in 3 hours (currently more than 6 hours) of credit courses. The bill also provides for partial grants for part-time students. SB 2075 -- Two-Member Quorums / Open Meetings Act (Viverito) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT Amends the Open Meetings Act to provide that, for the definition of a "meeting", if a majority of a quorum is fewer than 3 members, "meeting" means a gathering of a quorum of the members held for the purpose of discussing public business. For additional information on state legislative issues, contact ICCTA at 1-800-454-2282. Illinois Community College Trustees Association 401 E. Capitol Ave., Suite 200 Springfield, IL 62701-1711 217-528-2858 (phone) 217-528-8662 (fax) ICCTA@communitycolleges.org (e-mail) http://www.communitycolleges.org | Home | News | Events | Links |