SB2044 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 11295 AJO 21724 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
SB2044

Introduced 2/20/2009, by Sen. Dan Kotowski

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

740 ILCS 175/2	from Ch. 127, par. 4102
740 ILCS 175/9 new

Amends the Whistleblower Reward and Protection Act. Provides that the electors of any school district, public community college district, municipality, municipal corporation, or unit of local government may pass, by initiative petition and referendum, a binding ordinance adopting the provisions of the Act (at present, these entities may adopt the provisions of the Act by ordinance or resolution). Provides the requirements for filing a petition and hearing an objection to a petition.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning law.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Whistleblower Reward and Protection Act is amended by changing Section 2 and by adding Section 9 as follows:

(740 ILCS 175/2) (from Ch. 127, par. 4102)

Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this Act:

(a) "State" means the State of Illinois; any agency of State government; and any of the following entities which may elect to adopt the provisions of this Act by ordinance, resolution, or referendum pursuant to Section 9 of this Act, a copy of which shall be filed with the Attorney General within 30 days of its adoption: the system of State colleges and universities, any school district, community college district, county, municipality, municipal corporation, unit of local government, and any combination of the above under an intergovernmental agreement that includes provisions for a governing body of the agency created by the agreement.

(b) "Guard" means the Illinois National Guard.

(c) "Investigation" means any inquiry conducted by any investigator for the purpose of ascertaining whether any person is or has been engaged in any violation of this Act.

(d) "Investigator" means a person who is charged by the Department of State Police with the duty of conducting any investigation under this Act, or any officer or employee of the State acting under the direction and supervision of the Department of State Police, through the Division of Operations or the Division of Internal Investigation, in the course of an investigation.

(e) "Documentary material" includes the original or any copy of any book, record, report, memorandum, paper, communication, tabulation, chart, or other document, or data compilations stored in or accessible through computer or other information retrieval systems, together with instructions and all other materials necessary to use or interpret such data compilations, and any product of discovery.

(f) "Custodian" means the custodian, or any deputy custodian, designated by the Attorney General under subsection (i)(1) of Section 6.

(g) "Product of discovery" includes:

(1) the original or duplicate of any deposition, interrogatory, document, thing, result of the inspection of land or other property, examination, or admission, which is obtained by any method of discovery in any judicial or administrative proceeding of an adversarial nature;

(2) any digest, analysis, selection, compilation, or derivation of any item listed in paragraph (1); and

(3) any index or other manner of access to any item listed in paragraph (1).

(Source: P.A. 95-128, eff. 1-1-08.)

(740 ILCS 175/9 new)

Sec. 9. Referendum powers; initiative.

(a) The electors of any school district, public community college district, municipality, municipal corporation, or unit of local government may pass, by initiative petition and referendum in the manner prescribed by this Section, a binding ordinance authorizing the adoption of the provisions of this Act.

(b) In any of the units of government listed in subsection (a) of this Section, a binding ordinance adopting the provisions of this Act may be proposed by a petition signed by the number of electors equal to at least 2% of the total votes cast for Governor at the last general election in their unit of government. The petition shall contain the text of the proposed ordinance and the date of the regular election at which the proposed ordinance is to be submitted, shall have been signed by petitioning electors not more than 12 months preceding the regular election, and shall be filed with the clerk or secretary of the unit of government at least 78 days before that regular election.

(c) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, petitions filed under this Section shall be governed by Article 28 of the Election Code.

(d) If no objection to a petition filed under subsection (b) of this Section is filed within 5 business days after the petition is filed, or if an objection is filed and the proper election authority rules the petition sufficient, then the clerk or secretary of the unit of government shall submit the petition to the proper election authority and the election authority shall order the proposed ordinance submitted to the electors of the unit of government at the election specified in the petition.

(e) The proposition shall be in substantially the following form:

"Shall ............ adopt the provisions of the Illinois Whistleblower Reward and Protection Act?"

(f) If a majority of the electors of the unit of government voting on the proposition vote in favor thereof, the proposition shall be deemed adopted.