Full Text of HB0742 95th General Assembly
HB0742 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008 HB0742
Introduced 2/7/2007, by Rep. John A. Fritchey SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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740 ILCS 174/5 |
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740 ILCS 174/15 |
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740 ILCS 174/40 new |
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740 ILCS 175/2 |
from Ch. 127, par. 4102 |
740 ILCS 175/3 |
from Ch. 127, par. 4103 |
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Amends the Whistleblower Act. Provides that "employer" includes the State or any political subdivision of the State, and a unit of local government, school district, or authority including a department, division, bureau, board, commission, or other agency of these entities; any person acting within the scope of his or her authority express or implied on behalf of those entities in dealing with its employers: a school district, combination of school districts, or governing body of a joint agreement of any type formed by two or more school districts; a community college district, State college or university, and any State agency whose major function is providing educational services (at present, the definition excludes any governmental entity). Provides that the State is preempting home rule units from the exercise of power in this area. Amends the Whistleblower Reward and Protection Act. Provides that "State" includes any unit of local government, school district, community college district, State college or university, or any entity created by an intergovernmental cooperation agreement (at present, the State, any State agency, and other governmental entities that adopted provisions of the Act). In both Acts, provides that it is unlawful for an employer to knowingly take an adverse action against an employee for disclosing information in a court or administrative hearing, legislative proceeding, or other type of proceeding if the employee has reasonable cause to believe the information discloses a violation of State or federal law or regulation.
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| HOME RULE NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
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A BILL FOR
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HB0742 |
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| AN ACT concerning civil law.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 5. The Whistleblower Act is amended by changing | 5 |
| Sections 5 and 15 and by adding Section 40 as follows:
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| (740 ILCS 174/5)
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| Sec. 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
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| "Employer" means: an individual, sole proprietorship, | 9 |
| partnership, firm,
corporation, association, and any other | 10 |
| entity that has one or more
employees in this State, including | 11 |
| a political subdivision of the State and a unit of local | 12 |
| government, school district, or authority including a | 13 |
| department, division, bureau, board, commission, or other | 14 |
| agency of these entities; any person acting within the scope of | 15 |
| his or her authority express or implied on behalf of those | 16 |
| entities in dealing with its employers: a school district, | 17 |
| combination of school districts, or governing body of a joint | 18 |
| agreement of any type formed by two or more school districts; a | 19 |
| community college district, State college or university, and | 20 |
| any State agency whose major function is providing educational | 21 |
| services
except that "employer" does not include any
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| governmental entity .
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| "Employee" means any individual who is employed on a |
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| full-time,
part-time, or contractual basis by an employer.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-544, eff. 1-1-04.)
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| (740 ILCS 174/15)
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| Sec. 15. Retaliation for certain disclosures prohibited.
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| (a) An employer may not retaliate against an employee who | 6 |
| discloses information in a court, an administrative hearing, or | 7 |
| before a legislative commission or committee, or in any other | 8 |
| proceeding, where the employee has reasonable cause to believe | 9 |
| that the information discloses a violation of a State or | 10 |
| federal law, rule, or regulation. | 11 |
| (b) An employer
may not retaliate against an employee for | 12 |
| disclosing information to a
government or law enforcement | 13 |
| agency, where the employee has reasonable
cause to believe that | 14 |
| the information discloses a violation of a State
or federal | 15 |
| law, rule, or regulation.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-544, eff. 1-1-04.)
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| (740 ILCS 174/40 new) | 18 |
| Sec. 40. Home Rule Limitation. It is the public policy of | 19 |
| this State, pursuant to paragraphs (h) and (i) of Section 6 of | 20 |
| Article VII of the Illinois Constitution that the provisions of | 21 |
| this Act are the exclusive exercise by the State of powers and | 22 |
| functions which might otherwise be exercised by other home rule | 23 |
| units. Such powers and functions may not be exercised | 24 |
| concurrently, either directly or indirectly by any unit of |
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| local government, including any home rule unit except as | 2 |
| otherwise authorized by this Act. | 3 |
| Section 10. The Whistleblower Reward and Protection Act is | 4 |
| amended by changing Sections 2 and 3 as follows:
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| (740 ILCS 175/2) (from Ch. 127, par. 4102)
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| Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this Act:
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| (a) "State" means the State of Illinois; any agency of | 8 |
| State
government; the system of State colleges and | 9 |
| universities, any school district, community college district, | 10 |
| county, municipality, municipal corporation, unit of local | 11 |
| government, and any combination of the above under an | 12 |
| intergovernmental agreement that includes provisions for a | 13 |
| governing body of the agency created by the agreement.
and any | 14 |
| of the following entities which may elect to adopt the
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| provisions of this Act by ordinance or resolution, a copy of | 16 |
| which shall be
filed with the Attorney General within 30 days | 17 |
| of its adoption: the system of
State colleges and universities, | 18 |
| any school district, any public community
college district, any | 19 |
| municipality, municipal corporations, units of local
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| government, and any combination of the above under an | 21 |
| intergovernmental
agreement that includes provisions for a | 22 |
| governing body of the agency created
by the agreement.
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| (b) "Guard" means the Illinois National Guard.
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| (c) "Investigation" means any inquiry conducted by any |
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| investigator for
the purpose of ascertaining whether any person | 2 |
| is or has been engaged in
any violation of this Act.
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| (d) "Investigator" means a person who is charged by the | 4 |
| Department of
State Police with the duty of conducting any | 5 |
| investigation under this Act, or
any officer or employee of the | 6 |
| State acting under the direction and
supervision of the | 7 |
| Department of State Police, through the Division of
Operations | 8 |
| or the Division of Internal
Investigation, in the course of
an | 9 |
| investigation.
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| (e) "Documentary material" includes the original or any | 11 |
| copy of any
book, record, report, memorandum, paper, | 12 |
| communication, tabulation,
chart, or other document, or data | 13 |
| compilations stored in or accessible
through computer or other | 14 |
| information retrieval systems, together with
instructions and | 15 |
| all other materials necessary to use or interpret such
data | 16 |
| compilations, and any product of discovery.
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| (f) "Custodian" means the custodian, or any deputy | 18 |
| custodian, designated
by the Attorney General under subsection | 19 |
| (i)(1) of Section 6.
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| (g) "Product of discovery" includes:
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| (1) the original or duplicate of any deposition, | 22 |
| interrogatory,
document, thing, result of the inspection | 23 |
| of land or other property,
examination, or admission, which | 24 |
| is obtained by any method of discovery in
any judicial or | 25 |
| administrative proceeding of an adversarial nature;
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| (2) any digest, analysis, selection, compilation, or |
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| derivation of any
item listed in paragraph (1); and
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| (3) any index or other manner of access to any item | 3 |
| listed in
paragraph (1).
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| (Source: P.A. 91-760, eff. 1-1-01.)
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| (740 ILCS 175/3) (from Ch. 127, par. 4103)
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| Sec. 3. False claims.
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| (a) Liability for certain acts. Any person who:
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| (1) knowingly presents, or causes to be presented, to | 9 |
| an officer or
employee of the State or a member of the | 10 |
| Guard a false or fraudulent claim
for payment or approval;
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| (2) knowingly makes, uses, or causes to be made or | 12 |
| used, a false record
or statement to get a false or | 13 |
| fraudulent claim paid or approved by the State;
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| (3) conspires to defraud the State by getting a false | 15 |
| or fraudulent
claim allowed or paid;
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| (4) has possession, custody, or control of property or | 17 |
| money used, or to
be used, by the State and, intending to | 18 |
| defraud the State or willfully to
conceal the property, | 19 |
| delivers, or causes to be delivered, less property
than the | 20 |
| amount for which the person receives a certificate or | 21 |
| receipt;
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| (5) authorized to make or deliver a document certifying | 23 |
| receipt of
property used, or to be used, by the State and, | 24 |
| intending to defraud the
State, makes or delivers the | 25 |
| receipt without completely knowing that the
information on |
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| the receipt is true;
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| (6) knowingly buys, or receives as a pledge of an | 3 |
| obligation or debt,
public property from an officer or | 4 |
| employee of the State, or a member of
the Guard, who | 5 |
| lawfully may not sell or pledge the property; or
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| (7) knowingly makes, uses, or causes to be made or | 7 |
| used, a false record
or statement to conceal, avoid or | 8 |
| decrease an obligation to pay or transmit
money or property | 9 |
| to the State ; , | 10 |
| (8) knowingly takes adverse employment action against | 11 |
| an employee for disclosing information to a government or | 12 |
| law enforcement agency, if the employee has reasonable | 13 |
| cause to believe that the information discloses a violation | 14 |
| of State or federal law, rule, or regulation; or | 15 |
| (9) knowingly retaliates against an employee who has | 16 |
| disclosed information in a court, an administrative | 17 |
| hearing, before a legislative commission or committee, or | 18 |
| in another proceeding and discloses information, if the | 19 |
| employee has reasonable cause to believe that the | 20 |
| information discloses a violation of State or federal law, | 21 |
| rule, or regulation,
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| is liable to the State for a civil penalty of not less than | 23 |
| $5,500 and not
more than $11,000, plus 3 times the amount of | 24 |
| damages which the State
sustains because of the act of that | 25 |
| person. A person violating
this subsection (a) shall also be | 26 |
| liable to the State for the costs of a civil
action brought to |
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| recover any such penalty or damages.
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| (b) Knowing and knowingly defined. As used in this Section, | 3 |
| the terms
"knowing" and "knowingly" mean that a person, with | 4 |
| respect to information:
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| (1) has actual knowledge of the information;
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| (2) acts in deliberate ignorance of the truth or | 7 |
| falsity of the
information; or
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| (3) acts in reckless disregard of the truth or falsity | 9 |
| of the
information, and no proof of specific intent to | 10 |
| defraud is required.
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| (c) Claim defined. As used in this Section, "claim" | 12 |
| includes any
request or demand, whether under a contract or | 13 |
| otherwise, for money or
property which is made to a contractor, | 14 |
| grantee, or other recipient if the
State provides any portion | 15 |
| of the money or property which is requested or
demanded, or if | 16 |
| the State will reimburse such contractor, grantee, or other
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| recipient for any portion of the money or property which is | 18 |
| requested
or demanded. A claim also includes a request or | 19 |
| demand for money damages or injunctive relief on behalf of an | 20 |
| employee who has suffered an adverse employment action taken in | 21 |
| violation of paragraphs (8) or (9) of subsection (a).
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| (d) Exclusion. This Section does not apply to claims, | 23 |
| records, or
statements made under the Illinois Income Tax Act.
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| (Source: P.A. 94-1059, eff. 7-31-06.)
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