Full Text of SB2517 93rd General Assembly
SB2517sam004 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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Sen. John J. Cullerton
Filed: 3/19/2004
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| AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 2517
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| AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 2517 by replacing | 3 |
| everything after the enacting clause with the following:
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| "Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the | 5 |
| Accessible Electronic Information Act. | 6 |
| Section 5. Legislative findings. The Legislature finds and | 7 |
| declares all of the following: | 8 |
| (a) Thousands of citizens in this State have disabilities | 9 |
| (including blindness or visual impairment) that prevent them | 10 |
| from using conventional print material. | 11 |
| (b) The State fulfills an important responsibility by | 12 |
| providing books and magazines prepared in Braille, audio, and | 13 |
| large-type formats made available to eligible blind and | 14 |
| disabled persons. | 15 |
| (c) The technology, transcription methods, and means of | 16 |
| distribution used for these materials are labor-intensive and | 17 |
| cannot support rapid dissemination to individuals in rural and | 18 |
| urban areas throughout the State.
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| (d) Lack of direct and prompt access to information | 20 |
| included in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, schedules, | 21 |
| announcements, and other time-sensitive materials limits | 22 |
| educational opportunities, literacy, and full participation in | 23 |
| society by blind and disabled persons. |
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| Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act: | 2 |
| "Accessible electronic information service" means news and | 3 |
| other timely information (including newspapers) provided to | 4 |
| eligible individuals from a multi-state service center, using | 5 |
| high-speed computers and telecommunications technology for | 6 |
| interstate acquisition of content and rapid distribution in a | 7 |
| form appropriate for use by such individuals. | 8 |
| "Blind and disabled persons" means those individuals who | 9 |
| are eligible for library loan services through the Library of | 10 |
| Congress and the State Library for the Blind and Physically | 11 |
| Handicapped pursuant to 36 CFR 701.10(b). | 12 |
| "Director" means the State Librarian. | 13 |
| "Qualified entity" means an agency, instrumentality, or | 14 |
| political subdivision of the State or a nonprofit organization | 15 |
| that: | 16 |
| (1) provides interstate access for eligible persons to | 17 |
| read daily newspapers by producing audio editions by | 18 |
| computer; and | 19 |
| (2) provides a means of program administration and | 20 |
| reader registration on the Internet.
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| Section 15. Accessible electronic information service | 23 |
| program. The Director by rule shall develop and implement a | 24 |
| program of grants to qualified entities for the provision of | 25 |
| accessible electronic information service to blind and | 26 |
| disabled persons throughout Illinois. The grants shall be | 27 |
| funded through appropriations from the Accessible Electronic | 28 |
| Information Service Fund established in Section 20. | 29 |
| Section 20. Accessible Electronic Information Service | 30 |
| Fund. | 31 |
| (a) In order to support the program described in Section | 32 |
| 15, the Illinois Commerce Commission shall enter into an |
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| agreement with the Director for the purpose of recovering the | 2 |
| cost by using the rate recovery mechanism established by the | 3 |
| Commission pursuant to Section 13-703(c) of the Public | 4 |
| Utilities Act. | 5 |
| (b) The Illinois Commerce Commission, in consultation with | 6 |
| the Director, shall annually determine the amount to be | 7 |
| recovered based on the amount of funding necessary to support | 8 |
| the program described in Section 15. | 9 |
| (c) The portion of the rate recovery amount collected under | 10 |
| Section 13-703(c) of the Public Utilities Act that is | 11 |
| attributable to the percentage determined by the Illinois | 12 |
| Commerce Commission under subsection (b) of this Section shall | 13 |
| promptly be remitted to the Director by the Illinois | 14 |
| Telecommunications Access Corporation or its successor | 15 |
| designee under Section 13-703 of the Public Utilities Act. The | 16 |
| amounts remitted shall be deposited into the Accessible | 17 |
| Electronic Information Service Fund, a special fund created in | 18 |
| the State treasury that may be appropriated only for the | 19 |
| purposes of this Act. | 20 |
| Section 90. The State Finance Act is amended by adding | 21 |
| Section
5.625 as follows:
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| (30 ILCS 105/5.625 new)
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| Sec. 5.625. The Accessible Electronic Information Service | 24 |
| Fund.
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| Section 95. The Public Utilities Act is amended by changing | 26 |
| Section 13-703 and adding Section 13-703.1 as follows:
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| (220 ILCS 5/13-703) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-703)
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| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2005)
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| Sec. 13-703. (a) The Commission shall design and implement | 30 |
| a program
whereby each telecommunications carrier providing |
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| local exchange service
shall provide a telecommunications | 2 |
| device capable of servicing the needs of
those persons with a | 3 |
| hearing or speech disability together with a
single party line, | 4 |
| at no charge additional to the basic exchange rate, to
any | 5 |
| subscriber who is certified as having a hearing or speech | 6 |
| disability by a
licensed physician, speech-language | 7 |
| pathologist, audiologist or a qualified
State agency and to any | 8 |
| subscriber which is an organization serving the needs
of those | 9 |
| persons with a hearing or speech disability as determined and
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| specified by the Commission pursuant to subsection (d).
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| (b) The Commission shall design and implement a program, | 12 |
| whereby each
telecommunications carrier providing local | 13 |
| exchange service shall provide a
telecommunications relay | 14 |
| system, using third party intervention to connect
those persons | 15 |
| having a hearing or speech disability with persons of normal
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| hearing by way of intercommunications devices and the telephone | 17 |
| system, making
available reasonable access to all phases of | 18 |
| public telephone service to
persons who have a hearing or | 19 |
| speech disability. In order to design a
telecommunications | 20 |
| relay system which will meet the requirements of those
persons | 21 |
| with a hearing or speech disability available at a reasonable | 22 |
| cost, the
Commission shall initiate an investigation and | 23 |
| conduct public hearings to
determine the most cost-effective | 24 |
| method of providing telecommunications relay
service to those | 25 |
| persons who have a hearing or speech disability when using
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| telecommunications devices and therein solicit the advice, | 27 |
| counsel, and
physical assistance of Statewide nonprofit | 28 |
| consumer organizations that serve
persons with hearing or | 29 |
| speech disabilities in such hearings and during the
development | 30 |
| and implementation of the system. The Commission shall phase
in | 31 |
| this program, on a geographical basis, as soon as is | 32 |
| practicable, but
no later than June 30, 1990.
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| (c) The Commission shall establish a rate recovery | 34 |
| mechanism,
authorizing charges in an amount to be determined by |
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| the Commission
for each line of a subscriber to allow | 2 |
| telecommunications carriers
providing local exchange service | 3 |
| (i) to recover costs as they are incurred
under this Section | 4 |
| and (ii) to recover the costs of the Accessible Electronic | 5 |
| Information Act program, as represented by the percentage | 6 |
| determined by the Illinois Commerce Commission under Section | 7 |
| 20(b) of that Act .
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| (d) The Commission shall determine and specify those | 9 |
| organizations serving
the needs of those persons having a | 10 |
| hearing or speech disability that shall
receive a | 11 |
| telecommunications device and in which offices the equipment | 12 |
| shall be
installed in the case of an organization having more | 13 |
| than one office. For the
purposes of this Section, | 14 |
| "organizations serving the needs of those persons
with hearing | 15 |
| or speech disabilities" means centers for independent living as
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| described in Section 12a of the Disabled Persons Rehabilitation | 17 |
| Act and
not-for-profit organizations whose primary purpose is | 18 |
| serving the needs of
those persons with hearing or speech | 19 |
| disabilities. The Commission shall direct
the | 20 |
| telecommunications carriers subject to its jurisdiction and | 21 |
| this
Section to comply with its determinations and | 22 |
| specifications in this regard.
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| (e) As used in this Section, the phrase "telecommunications | 24 |
| carrier
providing local exchange service" includes, without | 25 |
| otherwise limiting the
meaning of the term, telecommunications | 26 |
| carriers which are purely mutual
concerns, having no rates or | 27 |
| charges for services, but paying the operating
expenses by | 28 |
| assessment upon the members of such a company and no other
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| person.
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| (Source: P.A. 88-497 .)
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| (220 ILCS 5/13-703.1 new) | 32 |
| Sec. 13-703.1. Distribution of accessible information; | 33 |
| Illinois State Library.
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| (a) For the purposes of this Section: | 2 |
| "Distribution of accessible information" means rapid | 3 |
| dissemination of digitized text content, including newspapers, | 4 |
| prepared for reproduction in synthetic speech or braille | 5 |
| formats provided to persons eligible for service in the State | 6 |
| Library's Talking Book Program. | 7 |
| "Qualified entity" means a nonprofit organization that (i) | 8 |
| produces digitized text editions of daily newspapers, | 9 |
| available for interstate distribution in synthetic speech or | 10 |
| braille format, using high-speed computer and | 11 |
| telecommunications technology, (ii) obtains electronic news | 12 |
| text through direct transfer arrangements made with | 13 |
| participating news organizations and does not replicate their | 14 |
| electronic editions that are otherwise available on the | 15 |
| Internet, and (iii) provides a means of program administration | 16 |
| and reader registration on the Internet. | 17 |
| (b) The Illinois Telecommunications Access Corporation, or | 18 |
| any other entity designated by the Illinois Commerce Commission | 19 |
| to implement a program under Section 13-703 of this Act for the | 20 |
| purposes of allowing those with hearing disabilities to use | 21 |
| effective telecommunications equipment, shall enter into an | 22 |
| agreement with the State Library providing for an annual | 23 |
| payment in an amount equal to the cost incurred for the | 24 |
| distribution of accessible information. Under the agreement, | 25 |
| the State Library shall obtain the service through a qualified | 26 |
| entity and provide blind and other persons eligible for its | 27 |
| talking book program with access to digitized text editions of | 28 |
| daily newspapers and other context of timely value. | 29 |
| (c) The State Library shall, in consultation with the | 30 |
| qualified entity, specify equipment that may be used by | 31 |
| eligible persons who, due to hearing loss, are unable to use | 32 |
| effectively standard telecommunications equipment to access | 33 |
| the content in the synthetic speech format otherwise provided, | 34 |
| and the Illinois Telecommunications Access Corporation or any |
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| subsequent designee of the Illinois Commerce Commission shall | 2 |
| acquire such equipment for such individuals under terms similar | 3 |
| to those required of individuals to whom the Illinois | 4 |
| Telecommunications Access Corporation provides TTY equipment.
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 6 |
| becoming law.".
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