101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
SB1937

 

Introduced 2/15/2019, by Sen. Andy Manar

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
110 ILCS 49/15

    Amends the Higher Education Veterans Service Act. Requires each public college and university to use its best efforts to hire a veteran of the United States armed forces as the Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student Services. Provides that the Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student Services must create and maintain a contact list of all veterans attending the public college or university and may communicate with veterans of the public college or university via email or other electronic means. Effective immediately.


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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning education.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Higher Education Veterans Service Act is
5amended by changing Section 15 as follows:
 
6    (110 ILCS 49/15)
7    Sec. 15. Survey; coordinator; best practices report; best
8efforts.
9    (a) All public colleges and universities shall, within 60
10days after the effective date of this Act, conduct a survey of
11the services and programs that are provided for veterans,
12active duty military personnel, and their families, at each of
13their respective campuses. This survey shall enumerate and
14fully describe the service or program that is available, the
15number of veterans or active duty personnel using the service
16or program, an estimated range for potential use within a
175-year and 10-year period, information on the location of the
18service or program, and how its administrators may be
19contacted. The survey shall indicate the manner or manners in
20which a student veteran may avail himself or herself of the
21program's services. This survey must be made available to all
22veterans matriculating at the college or university in the form
23of an orientation-related guidebook.

 

 

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1    Each public college and university shall make the survey
2available on the homepage of all campus Internet links as soon
3as practical after the completion of the survey. As soon as
4possible after the completion of the survey, each public
5college and university shall provide a copy of its survey to
6the following:
7        (1) the Board of Higher Education;
8        (2) the Department of Veterans' Affairs;
9        (3) the President and Minority Leader of the Senate and
10    the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of
11    Representatives; and
12        (4) the Governor.
13    (b) Each public college and university shall, at its
14discretion, (i) appoint, within 6 months after the effective
15date of this Act, an existing employee or (ii) hire a new
16employee to serve as a Coordinator of Veterans and Military
17Personnel Student Services on each campus of the college or
18university that has an onsite, daily, full-time student
19headcount above 1,000 students. Each public college and
20university must use its best efforts to hire a veteran of the
21United States armed forces as the Coordinator of Veterans and
22Military Personnel Student Services.
23    The Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student
24Services shall be an ombudsperson serving the specific needs of
25student veterans and military personnel and their families and
26shall serve as an advocate before the administration of the

 

 

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1college or university for the needs of student veterans. The
2college or university shall enable the Coordinator of Veterans
3and Military Personnel Student Services to communicate
4directly with the senior executive administration of the
5college or university periodically. The college or university
6shall retain unfettered discretion to determine the
7organizational management structure of its institution.
8    In addition to any responsibilities the college or
9university may assign, the Coordinator of Veterans and Military
10Personnel Student Services shall make its best efforts to
11create a centralized source for student veterans and military
12personnel to learn how to receive all benefit programs and
13services for which they are eligible. The Coordinator of
14Veterans and Military Personnel Student Services must also
15create and maintain a contact list of all veterans attending
16the public college or university.
17    Each college and university campus that is required to have
18a Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student
19Services shall regularly and conspicuously advertise the
20office location, phone number, and Internet access to the
21Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student
22Services, along with a brief summary of the manner in which he
23or she can assist student veterans. The advertisement shall
24include, but is not necessarily limited to, the following:
25        (1) advertisements on each campus' Internet home page;
26    and

 

 

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1        (2) any promotional mailings for student application.
2    The Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student
3Services may communicate with veterans of the public college or
4university via email or other electronic means.
5    The Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student
6Services shall facilitate other campus offices with the
7promotion of programs and services that are available.
8    (c) Upon receipt of all of the surveys under subsection (a)
9of this Section, the Board of Higher Education and the
10Department of Veterans' Affairs shall conduct a joint review of
11the surveys and post, on any Internet home page they may
12operate, a link to each survey as posted on the Internet
13website for the college or university. Upon receipt of all of
14the surveys, the Office of the Governor, through its military
15affairs advisors, shall similarly conduct a review of the
16surveys and post the surveys on its Internet website. Following
17its review of the surveys, the Office of the Governor shall
18submit an evaluation report to each college and university
19offering suggestions and insight on the conduct of student
20veteran-related policies and programs.
21    (d) The Board of Higher Education and the Department of
22Veterans' Affairs may issue a best practices report to
23highlight those programs and services that are most beneficial
24to veterans and active duty military personnel. The report
25shall contain a fiscal needs assessment in conjunction with any
26program recommendations.

 

 

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1    (e) Each college and university campus that is required to
2have a Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student
3Services under subsection (b) of this Section shall make its
4best efforts to create academic and social programs and
5services for veterans and active duty military personnel that
6will provide reasonable opportunities for academic performance
7and success.
8    Each public college and university shall make its best
9efforts to determine how its online educational curricula can
10be expanded or altered to serve the needs of student veterans
11and currently-deployed military, including a determination of
12whether and to what extent the public colleges and universities
13can share existing technologies to improve the online curricula
14of peer institutions, provided such efforts are both
15practically and economically feasible.
16(Source: P.A. 96-133, eff. 8-7-09.)
 
17    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
18becoming law.