Full Text of HB6059 96th General Assembly
HB6059enr 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| AN ACT concerning government.
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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 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the | 5 |
| Illinois Holocaust and Genocide Commission Act. | 6 |
| Section 5. Definitions. In this Act: | 7 |
| "Commission" means the Illinois Holocaust and Genocide | 8 |
| Commission.
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| "Genocide" means any of the following acts committed with | 10 |
| intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, | 11 |
| racial, or religious group as such:
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| (1) killing members of the group;
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| (2) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of | 14 |
| the group;
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| (3) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of | 16 |
| life calculated to bring about the group's physical | 17 |
| destruction in whole or in part;
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| (4) imposing measures intended to prevent births | 19 |
| within the group; or
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| (5) forcibly transferring children of the group to | 21 |
| another group.
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| "Holocaust" means the killing of approximately 6,000,000 | 23 |
| Jews and millions of other persons during World War II by the |
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| National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazis) and Nazi | 2 |
| collaborators as part of a state-sponsored, systematic program | 3 |
| of genocide and other actions of persecution, discrimination, | 4 |
| violence, or other human rights violations committed by the | 5 |
| Nazis and Nazi collaborators against those persons.
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| Section 10. Composition of the Commission. | 7 |
| (a) The Commission is composed of 18 members as follows:
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| (1) 15 public members appointed by the Governor; and
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| (2) 3 ex officio members as follows:
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| (A) the State Superintendent of Education;
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| (B) the Executive Director of the Board of Higher | 12 |
| Education; and
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| (C) the Director of Veterans' Affairs.
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| (b) The President and Minority Leader of the Senate shall | 15 |
| each designate a member of the Senate and the Speaker and | 16 |
| Minority Leader of the House of Representatives shall each | 17 |
| designate a member of the House to advise the Commission.
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| Section 15. Public members; eligibility; appointment; | 19 |
| vacancy. | 20 |
| (a) A person appointed as a public member of the Commission | 21 |
| must be a resident of this State.
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| (b) Public members of the Commission must include:
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| (1) persons who have served prominently as leaders of | 24 |
| or spokespersons for public or private organizations that |
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| serve members of religious, ethnic, national heritage, or | 2 |
| social groups that were subjected to the Holocaust or other | 3 |
| genocides;
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| (2) persons who have significant professional | 5 |
| experience in the field of Holocaust or genocide education;
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| (3) persons who represent liberators of Holocaust or | 7 |
| other genocide victims; and
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| (4) persons who have demonstrated a significant, | 9 |
| particular interest in Holocaust or genocide education.
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| (c) Appointments of public members to the Commission shall | 11 |
| be made:
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| (1) without regard to the race, color, disability, sex, | 13 |
| religion, age, or national origin of an appointee; and
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| (2) so that each geographic area of this State is | 15 |
| represented on the Commission.
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| (d) The original appointing authority shall fill any | 17 |
| vacancy in an appointed position on the Commission for the | 18 |
| unexpired portion of the term.
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| Section 20. Ex officio members; eligibility; designation | 20 |
| of representative.
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| (a) An ex officio member of the Commission vacates the | 22 |
| person's position on the Commission if the person ceases to | 23 |
| hold the position that qualifies the person for service on the | 24 |
| Commission.
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| (b) An ex officio member may designate a representative to |
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| serve on the Commission in the member's absence. A | 2 |
| representative designated under this subsection must be an | 3 |
| officer or employee of the State agency that employs the ex | 4 |
| officio member.
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| Section 25. Removal of a public member. | 6 |
| (a) It is a ground for removal of a public member from the | 7 |
| Commission if the member: | 8 |
| (1) is ineligible for public membership under Section | 9 |
| 15(a);
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| (2) cannot because of illness or disability discharge | 11 |
| the member's duties for a substantial part of the term for | 12 |
| which the member is appointed; or
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| (3) is absent from more than 3 consecutive regularly | 14 |
| scheduled Commission meetings that the member is eligible | 15 |
| to attend during a calendar year unless the absence is | 16 |
| excused by majority vote of the Commission.
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| (b) The validity of an action of the Commission is not | 18 |
| affected by the fact that it is taken when a ground for removal | 19 |
| of a Commission member exists.
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| (c) If a member of the Commission has knowledge that a | 21 |
| potential ground for removal exists, the member shall notify | 22 |
| the presiding officer of the Commission of the potential | 23 |
| ground. The presiding officer shall then notify the Governor | 24 |
| and the Attorney General that a potential ground for removal | 25 |
| exists.
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| Section 30. Term of public member. | 2 |
| (a) A public member of the Commission serves a term of 4 | 3 |
| years, except that the terms of the initial members shall | 4 |
| expire on February 1, 2015.
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| (b) A public member is eligible for reappointment to | 6 |
| another term or part of a term.
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| (c) A public member may not serve more than 2 consecutive | 8 |
| terms. For purposes of this prohibition, a member is considered | 9 |
| to have served a term only if the member has served more than | 10 |
| half of the term.
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| Section 35. Officers; subcommittees. | 12 |
| (a) The Governor shall designate a public member of the | 13 |
| Commission as presiding officer to serve in that capacity at | 14 |
| the pleasure of the Governor.
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| (b) The presiding officer of the Commission may appoint a | 16 |
| subcommittee for any purpose consistent with the duties of the | 17 |
| Commission under this Act.
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| Section 40. Compensation; expenses. | 19 |
| (a) A public member of the Commission is not entitled to | 20 |
| compensation but is entitled to reimbursement for the travel | 21 |
| expenses incurred by the member while transacting Commission | 22 |
| business, as provided in Section 50.
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| (b) An ex officio member's service on the Commission is an |
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| additional duty of the underlying position that qualifies the | 2 |
| member for service on the Commission. The entitlement of an ex | 3 |
| officio member to compensation or to reimbursement for travel | 4 |
| expenses incurred while transacting Commission business is | 5 |
| governed by the law that applies to the member's service in | 6 |
| that underlying position, and any payment to the member for | 7 |
| either purpose must be made from an appropriation that may be | 8 |
| used for the purpose and is available to the State agency that | 9 |
| the member serves in that underlying position.
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| Section 45. Meetings; quorum; voting; public access. | 11 |
| (a) The Commission shall meet at least quarterly at the | 12 |
| times and places in this State that the Commission designates.
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| (b) Seven voting members of the Commission constitute a | 14 |
| quorum for transacting Commission business.
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| (c) An ex officio member of the Commission may not vote on | 16 |
| Commission business.
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| (d) The Commission shall develop and implement policies | 18 |
| that provide the public with a reasonable opportunity to appear | 19 |
| before the Commission and speak on any issue under the | 20 |
| jurisdiction of the Commission.
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| Section 55. General powers and duties of the Commission. | 22 |
| (a) The Commission shall:
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| (1) provide advice and assistance to public and private | 24 |
| elementary and secondary schools and institutions of |
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| higher education in this State regarding implementation of | 2 |
| Holocaust and genocide courses of study and awareness | 3 |
| programs;
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| (2) meet with appropriate representatives of public | 5 |
| and private organizations, including service | 6 |
| organizations, to provide information on and to assist in | 7 |
| planning, coordinating, or modifying Holocaust and | 8 |
| genocide courses of study and awareness programs;
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| (3) determine which, if any, existing Holocaust or | 10 |
| other genocide memorials, exhibits, or other resources | 11 |
| could be included in or used to support Holocaust and | 12 |
| genocide courses of study and awareness programs;
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| (4) compile a list of volunteers, such as Holocaust or | 14 |
| other genocide survivors, liberators of concentration | 15 |
| camps, scholars, and members of the clergy, who have agreed | 16 |
| to share, in classrooms, seminars, exhibits, or workshops, | 17 |
| their verifiable knowledge and experiences regarding the | 18 |
| Holocaust or other genocide;
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| (5) coordinate events in this State memorializing the | 20 |
| Holocaust and other genocides on January 27, International | 21 |
| Holocaust Remembrance Day, on the Days of Remembrance | 22 |
| established by the United States Congress, or on any other | 23 |
| day designated by the Commission for that purpose; and
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| (6) solicit volunteers to participate in commemorative | 25 |
| events designed to enhance public awareness of the | 26 |
| continuing significance of the Holocaust and other |
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| genocides.
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| (b) In implementing subsection (a)(3), the Commission may | 3 |
| contact and cooperate with:
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| (1) existing public or private Holocaust or other | 5 |
| genocide resource organizations, including the United | 6 |
| States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Illinois | 7 |
| Holocaust Museum and Education Center;
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| (2) other museums, centers, and organizations based in | 9 |
| this State;
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| (3) the State Board of Education and the Board of | 11 |
| Higher Education; and
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| (4) members of the United States Congress and of the | 13 |
| Illinois General Assembly.
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| (c) The Commission shall adopt rules as necessary for its | 15 |
| own procedures.
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| (d) The Commission may appoint advisory committees to | 17 |
| advise the Commission.
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| Section 60. Funding. | 19 |
| (a) The Commission may accept monetary gifts and grants | 20 |
| from any public or private source, to be held in a | 21 |
| non-appropriated trust fund by the State Treasurer and expended | 22 |
| solely for the use of the Commission in performing the | 23 |
| Commission's powers and duties under this Act.
The Commission | 24 |
| may also accept in-kind gifts. | 25 |
| (b) The Department of Natural Resources may cooperate with |
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| and advise the Commission in regards to staffing and may | 2 |
| support functions and activities of the Commission from moneys | 3 |
| available to the Department that may be used for that purpose. | 4 |
| The General Assembly may also specifically appropriate money to | 5 |
| the Department to provide staff and to otherwise support | 6 |
| functions and activities of the Illinois Holocaust and Genocide | 7 |
| Commission.
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| Section 95. Repeal. This Act is repealed on January 1, | 9 |
| 2021.
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