Full Text of HB2969 102nd General Assembly
HB2969 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022 HB2969 Introduced 2/19/2021, by Rep. Thomas Morrison SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
| 25 ILCS 115/4 | from Ch. 63, par. 15.1 |
|
Amends the General Assembly Compensation Act. Reduces the district office allowance of members of the General Assembly by 10%. Effective immediately.
|
| |
| | | FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
| | A BILL FOR |
|
| | | HB2969 | | LRB102 14932 RJF 20287 b |
|
| 1 | | AN ACT concerning State government.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The General Assembly Compensation Act is | 5 | | amended by changing Section 4 as follows: | 6 | | (25 ILCS 115/4) (from Ch. 63, par. 15.1)
| 7 | | Sec. 4. Office allowance. Beginning July 1, 2001 and | 8 | | through the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd | 9 | | General Assembly , each member
of the House
of Representatives | 10 | | is authorized to approve the expenditure of not more than
| 11 | | $61,000 per year and each member of the
Senate is authorized to | 12 | | approve the
expenditure of not more than $73,000 per
year to | 13 | | pay for "personal services",
"contractual services", | 14 | | "commodities", "printing", "travel",
"operation of automotive | 15 | | equipment", "telecommunications services", as
defined in the | 16 | | State Finance Act, and the compensation of one or more
| 17 | | legislative assistants authorized pursuant to this Section, in | 18 | | connection
with his or her legislative duties and not in | 19 | | connection with any political
campaign.
Beginning on the | 20 | | effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General | 21 | | Assembly, each member of the House of Representatives is | 22 | | authorized to expend 90% of the amount that a member of the | 23 | | House of Representatives was authorized to expend for these |
| | | HB2969 | - 2 - | LRB102 14932 RJF 20287 b |
|
| 1 | | purposes on the day before the effective date of this | 2 | | amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, and each member | 3 | | of the Senate is authorized to expend 90% of the amount that a | 4 | | member of the Senate was authorized to expend for these | 5 | | purposes on the day before the effective date of this | 6 | | amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly. | 7 | | On July 1, 2002 and on July 1 of each year thereafter, the | 8 | | amount authorized
per year under this Section for each member | 9 | | of the Senate and each member of
the House of Representatives | 10 | | shall be increased by a percentage increase
equivalent to the | 11 | | lesser of (i) the increase in the designated cost of living
| 12 | | index or (ii) 5%. The designated cost of living index is the | 13 | | index known as
the "Employment Cost Index, Wages and Salaries, | 14 | | By
Occupation and Industry Groups: State and Local Government | 15 | | Workers: Public
Administration" as published by the Bureau of | 16 | | Labor Statistics of the U.S.
Department of Labor for the | 17 | | calendar year immediately preceding the year of the
respective | 18 | | July 1st increase date. The increase shall be added to the then
| 19 | | current amount, and the adjusted amount so determined shall be | 20 | | the annual
amount beginning July 1 of the increase year until | 21 | | July 1 of the next year , subject to any adjustment required by | 22 | | this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly . No
increase | 23 | | under this provision shall be less than zero.
| 24 | | A member may purchase office equipment if the member | 25 | | certifies
to the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the | 26 | | House, as applicable,
that the purchase price, whether paid in |
| | | HB2969 | - 3 - | LRB102 14932 RJF 20287 b |
|
| 1 | | lump sum or installments, amounts
to less than would be | 2 | | charged for renting or leasing the equipment over
its | 3 | | anticipated useful life. All such equipment must be purchased | 4 | | through
the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House, | 5 | | as applicable, for
proper identification and verification of | 6 | | purchase.
| 7 | | Each member of the General Assembly is authorized to | 8 | | employ one or more
legislative assistants, who shall be solely | 9 | | under the direction and control
of that member, for the | 10 | | purpose of assisting the member in the performance
of his or | 11 | | her official duties. A legislative assistant may be employed
| 12 | | pursuant to this Section as a full-time employee, part-time | 13 | | employee, or
contractual employee, at
the discretion of the | 14 | | member. If employed as a State employee, a
legislative | 15 | | assistant shall receive employment benefits on the same terms
| 16 | | and conditions that apply to other employees of the General | 17 | | Assembly.
Each member shall adopt and implement personnel | 18 | | policies
for legislative assistants under his or her direction | 19 | | and
control relating to work time requirements, documentation | 20 | | for reimbursement for
travel on official State business, | 21 | | compensation, and the earning and accrual of
State benefits | 22 | | for those legislative assistants who may be eligible to | 23 | | receive
those benefits.
The policies shall also require | 24 | | legislative assistants to
periodically submit time sheets | 25 | | documenting, in quarter-hour increments, the
time
spent each | 26 | | day on official State business.
The
policies shall require the |
| | | HB2969 | - 4 - | LRB102 14932 RJF 20287 b |
|
| 1 | | time sheets to be submitted on paper,
electronically, or both | 2 | | and to be maintained in either paper or electronic
format by | 3 | | the applicable fiscal office
for a period of at least 2 years.
| 4 | | Contractual employees may satisfy
the time sheets requirement | 5 | | by complying with the terms of their contract,
which shall | 6 | | provide for a means of compliance with this requirement.
A | 7 | | member may
satisfy the requirements of this paragraph by | 8 | | adopting and implementing the
personnel policies promulgated | 9 | | by that
member's legislative leader under the State Officials | 10 | | and Employees Ethics
Act
with respect to that member's | 11 | | legislative
assistants.
| 12 | | As used in this Section the term "personal services" shall | 13 | | include
contributions of the State under the Federal Insurance | 14 | | Contribution Act and
under Article 14 of the Illinois Pension | 15 | | Code. As used in this Section the
term "contractual services" | 16 | | shall not include improvements to real property
unless those | 17 | | improvements are the obligation of the lessee under the lease
| 18 | | agreement. Beginning July 1, 1989, as used in the Section, the | 19 | | term "travel"
shall be limited to travel in connection with a | 20 | | member's legislative duties and
not in connection with any | 21 | | political campaign. Beginning on the effective
date of this | 22 | | amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly, as
used
in this | 23 | | Section, the term "printing" includes, but is not limited to,
| 24 | | newsletters,
brochures, certificates,
congratulatory
| 25 | | mailings,
greeting or welcome messages, anniversary or
| 26 | | birthday cards, and congratulations for prominent achievement |
| | | HB2969 | - 5 - | LRB102 14932 RJF 20287 b |
|
| 1 | | cards. As used
in this Section, the term "printing" includes | 2 | | fees for non-substantive
resolutions charged by the Clerk of | 3 | | the House of Representatives under
subsection (c-5) of Section | 4 | | 1 of the Legislative Materials Act.
No newsletter or brochure | 5 | | that is paid for, in whole or in part, with
funds
provided | 6 | | under this Section may be printed or mailed during a period
| 7 | | beginning February 1 of the year of a general primary
election | 8 | | and ending the day after the general primary election and | 9 | | during a
period beginning September 1 of the year of a general | 10 | | election and ending the
day after the general election, except | 11 | | that such a newsletter or brochure may
be mailed during
those | 12 | | times if it is mailed to a constituent in response to that | 13 | | constituent's
inquiry concerning the needs of that constituent | 14 | | or questions raised by that
constituent.
Nothing in
this | 15 | | Section shall be construed to authorize expenditures for | 16 | | lodging and meals
while a member is in attendance at sessions | 17 | | of the General Assembly.
| 18 | | Any utility bill for service provided to a member's | 19 | | district office for
a period including portions of 2 | 20 | | consecutive fiscal years may be paid from
funds appropriated | 21 | | for such expenditure in either fiscal year.
| 22 | | If a vacancy occurs in the office of Senator or | 23 | | Representative in the General
Assembly, any office equipment | 24 | | in the possession of the vacating member
shall transfer to the | 25 | | member's successor; if the successor does not want
such | 26 | | equipment, it shall be transferred to the Secretary of the |
| | | HB2969 | - 6 - | LRB102 14932 RJF 20287 b |
|
| 1 | | Senate or
Clerk of the House of Representatives, as the case | 2 | | may be, and if not
wanted by other members of the General | 3 | | Assembly then to the Department of
Central Management Services | 4 | | for treatment as surplus property under the
State Property | 5 | | Control Act. Each member, on or before June 30th of each
year, | 6 | | shall conduct an inventory of all equipment purchased pursuant | 7 | | to
this Act. Such inventory shall be filed with the Secretary | 8 | | of the Senate
or the Clerk of the House, as the case may be. | 9 | | Whenever a vacancy occurs,
the Secretary of the Senate or the | 10 | | Clerk of the House, as the case may be,
shall conduct an | 11 | | inventory of equipment purchased.
| 12 | | In the event that a member leaves office during his or her | 13 | | term, any
unexpended or unobligated portion of the allowance | 14 | | granted under this Section
shall lapse. The vacating member's | 15 | | successor shall be granted an allowance
in an amount, rounded | 16 | | to the nearest dollar, computed by dividing the annual
| 17 | | allowance by 365 and multiplying the quotient by the number of | 18 | | days remaining
in the fiscal year.
| 19 | | From any appropriation for the purposes of this Section | 20 | | for a
fiscal year which overlaps 2 General Assemblies, no more | 21 | | than 1/2 of the
annual allowance per member may be spent or | 22 | | encumbered by any member of
either the outgoing or incoming | 23 | | General Assembly, except that any member
of the incoming | 24 | | General Assembly who was a member of the outgoing General
| 25 | | Assembly may encumber or spend any portion of his annual | 26 | | allowance within
the fiscal year.
|
| | | HB2969 | - 7 - | LRB102 14932 RJF 20287 b |
|
| 1 | | The appropriation for the annual allowances permitted by | 2 | | this Section
shall be included in an appropriation to the | 3 | | President of the Senate and to
the Speaker of the House of | 4 | | Representatives for their respective members.
The President of | 5 | | the Senate and the Speaker of the House shall voucher for
| 6 | | payment individual members' expenditures from their annual | 7 | | office
allowances to the State Comptroller, subject to the | 8 | | authority of the
Comptroller under Section 9 of the State | 9 | | Comptroller Act.
| 10 | | Nothing in this Section prohibits the expenditure of | 11 | | personal funds or the funds of a political committee | 12 | | controlled by an officeholder to defray the customary and | 13 | | reasonable expenses of an officeholder in connection with the | 14 | | performance of governmental and public service functions. | 15 | | (Source: P.A. 95-6, eff. 6-20-07; 96-555, eff. 8-18-09; | 16 | | 96-886, eff. 1-1-11 .)
| 17 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 18 | | becoming law.
|
|