ICCTA Action Alert April 5, 2002 The Illinois Senate adjourned its business Thursday afternoon and the House adjourned Friday afternoon, marking completion of the first half of the spring legislative session. Friday, April 5, was the deadline in each the Senate and the House to consider legislation that was introduced into that chamber. House bills introduced into the House and Senate bills introduced in the Senate that did not pass by this deadline probably will not receive any further consideration during this session. The General Assembly will return to Springfield on April 9 to begin the second half of spring session. The Senate has scheduled an appropriations hearing for higher education on Monday, April 8. The Illinois Community College Board is scheduled to come before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday morning at 10:30 a.m. FY 2003 Budget New estimates of the revenue the state will receive for fiscal year 2003 have been reduced. Estimates indicate that the state will receive less revenue than it received in FY 2002. This would be the first time since 1955 that the state has received less revenue than it did in the prior fiscal year. This would also mean that if the estimates are accurate, the state will have nearly $200 million less to spend in FY 2003 than it did in FY 2002. The Governor's budget for FY 2003 was based on a small revenue increase of about $250 million. Additional reductions in all budgets, including higher education budget, are possible. Some tax increases are possible but not likely. Legislation of Interest to Community Colleges LEGISLATION THAT HAS ADVANCED HB 1871 -- Repeal of Management Rights for City Colleges of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools (Delgado) ICCTA Position: OPPOSE Supported by the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Chicago Teachers Union, this bill would repeal management rights gained by the Chicago public school system and the City Colleges of Chicago with the passage of Chicago school reform legislation in 1995. HB 1871 was amended on the floor of the House in a way that stripped the content of the bill before it passed by a vote of 92-26-0. It is now a shell bill and anything can happen. 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 4333 passed the House on a vote of 108-0-0. 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. If purchases are made through the governmental consortiums that already establish a low bid, then a community college may purchase from the governmental consortium without going to bid for the purchases. HB 4343 passed the House on a vote of 108-8-0. 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 6 quarter hours for the term in order to maintain eligibility for grant benefits under the Monetary Award Program. HB 4351 passed the House on a vote of 114-0-0. HB 4364 -- Illinois Incentive for Access Grants for Sophomores (Giles) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT This bill also amends the Higher Education Student Assistance Act to allow ICCTA-inspired Illinois Incentive for Access grants to be awarded to sophomore undergraduate students (currently restricted to freshmen) beginning with the 2003-2004 academic year. It 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. The bill allows partial grants to persons with limited income. HB 4364 passed the House on a vote of 107-1-0. HB 4912 -- Higher Education Teacher Scholarships (Wirsing) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT This bill makes changes to the Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program, including allowing a person enrolled at the freshman level or graduate level to qualify for a scholarship, allowing qualifying students to be enrolled on a half-time basis, and requiring a scholarship recipient to begin teaching within the one-year period following termination of the undergraduate program. HB 4912 passed the House by a vote of 114-0-0. HB 4946 -- Name Change and Increase in Illinois Incentive for Access Grants (Turner) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT HB 4946 amends the Higher Education Student Assistance Act to change the name of the Illinois Incentive for Access Grant Program (IIA) to the Silas Purnell Illinois Incentive for Access Grant Program. (The IIA was initiated by the ICCTA and the Illinois Board of Higher Education in 1999.)The bill provides that the maximum amount paid per applicant per year is $1,000 (currently $500) for applicants with an expected family contribution of $0, and $500 for applicants with an expected family contribution of $500 or less. HB 4946 passed out of the house on a vote of 115-0-0. SB 1690 -- Barber, Cosmetology, Esthetics, and Nail Technology Act (Burzynski) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT SB 1690 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 1690 passed the Senate on a vote of 54-0-0. 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. It 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 1734 passed the Senate on a vote of 54-0-0. SB 1756 -- 72-Hour Posting Notice / Open Meetings Act (Cullerton) ICCTA Position: OPPOSE This bill amends the Open Meetings Act to require 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 that is operated by its staff, then it requires that the public body post meeting notices, agendas, and minutes on that website. After SB 1756 was amended to restore the current 48-hour posting requirement for a meeting, it passed the Senate with a vote of 54-0-0. SB 2018 -- Career and Technical Education Fund (Donahue) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT SB 2018 creates the Career and Technical Education Fund to be used by the Illinois Community College Board for operational expenses associated with the administration of Career and Technical Education. SB 2018 passed the Senate on a vote of 56-0-0. SELECT LEGISLATION THAT HAS NOT ADVANCED HB 3098 -- Written Certification of Open Meeting (Dart) ICCTA Position: OPPOSE This Illinois Press Association bill requires that the presiding officer of a closed meeting certify in writing that the closed session did not violate the Open Meetings Act. Gov. Ryan amendatorily vetoed HB 3098 to state that the presiding officer must have read the Open Meetings Act. Because the amendatory veto was not accepted by both houses of the General Assembly, the entire bill is dead. SB 2075 -- Two-Member Quorums / Open Meetings Act (Viverito) ICCTA Position: SUPPORT SB 2075 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. SB 2075 was referred to the Senate Rules Committee and is considered "dead" for the session. Rice v. Adams County Recently the Illinois Appellate Court - 4th District (Central Illinois) affirmed a decision of a trial court in regards to Rice v. Adams County. The result of this decision is that items must be listed on a local government's meeting agenda before final action can be taken. This requirement is identical to statutory requirements for special meetings under the Illinois Open Meetings Act. The Illinois Open Meetings Act states that the requirement of a regular meeting agenda shall not preclude the consideration of items not specifically set forth in the agenda. However, the effect of the court's action is to mandate that all local governments have items on their applicable meeting agendas prior to taking final action. The item of "New Business" can only be used to discuss new items and is not sufficient to take final action on an item. Local governments need to have detailed meeting agendas which encompass all items on which the body wishes to take action. 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 |