Full Text of HB5271 95th General Assembly
HB5271 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008 HB5271
Introduced , by Rep. LaShawn K. Ford SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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15 ILCS 310/10b.1 |
from Ch. 124, par. 110b.1 |
15 ILCS 410/10b.1 |
from Ch. 15, par. 426 |
20 ILCS 415/8b.1 |
from Ch. 127, par. 63b108b.1 |
65 ILCS 5/10-1-7 |
from Ch. 24, par. 10-1-7 |
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Amends the Secretary of State Merit Employment Code, the Comptroller Merit Employment Code, the Personnel Code, and the Illinois Municipal Code. Removes the list of misdemeanors that disqualify a convicted person from civil service testing and appointment under those Acts.
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A BILL FOR
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HB5271 |
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LRB095 18327 JAM 44411 b |
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| AN ACT concerning public employment.
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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 Secretary of State Merit Employment Code is | 5 |
| amended by changing Section 10b.1 as follows:
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| (15 ILCS 310/10b.1) (from Ch. 124, par. 110b.1)
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| Sec. 10b.1. Competitive examinations.
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| (a) For open competitive
examinations to test the relative | 9 |
| fitness of applicants for the
respective positions. Tests shall | 10 |
| be designed to eliminate those who
are not qualified for | 11 |
| entrance into the Office of the Secretary of State
and to | 12 |
| discover the relative fitness of those who are qualified. The
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| Director may use any one of or any combination of the following
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| examination methods which in his judgment best serves this end:
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| investigation of education and experience; test of cultural | 16 |
| knowledge;
test of capacity; test of knowledge; test of manual | 17 |
| skill; test of
linguistic ability; test of character; test of | 18 |
| physical skill; test of
psychological fitness. No person with a | 19 |
| record of misdemeanor
convictions except those under Sections | 20 |
| 11-6, 11-7, 11-9, 11-14,
11-15, 11-17, 11-18, 11-19, 12-2, | 21 |
| 12-6, 12-15, 14-4, 16-1, 21.1-3, 24-3.1,
24-5, 25-1, 28-3, | 22 |
| 31-1, 31-4, 31-6, 31-7, 32-1, 32-2, 32-3, 32-4, 32-8
and | 23 |
| sub-sections 1, 6 and 8 of Section 24-1 of the Criminal Code of
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HB5271 |
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LRB095 18327 JAM 44411 b |
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| 1961, or arrested for any cause but not convicted thereon shall | 2 |
| be
disqualified from taking such examinations or subsequent | 3 |
| appointment
unless the person is attempting to qualify for a | 4 |
| position which would
give him the powers of a peace officer, in | 5 |
| which case the person's
conviction or arrest record may be | 6 |
| considered as a factor in determining
the person's fitness for | 7 |
| the position. All examinations shall be
announced publicly at | 8 |
| least 2 weeks in advance of the date of
examinations and may be | 9 |
| advertised through the press, radio or other
media.
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| The Director may, at his discretion, accept the results of
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| competitive examinations conducted by any merit system | 12 |
| established by
Federal law or by the law of any State, and may | 13 |
| compile eligible lists
therefrom or may add the names of | 14 |
| successful candidates in examinations
conducted by those merit | 15 |
| systems to existing eligible lists in
accordance with their | 16 |
| respective ratings. No person who is a
non-resident of the | 17 |
| State of Illinois may be appointed from those
eligible lists, | 18 |
| however, unless the requirement that applicants be
residents of | 19 |
| the State of Illinois is waived by the Director of
Personnel | 20 |
| and unless there are less than 3 Illinois residents available
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| for appointment from the appropriate eligible list. The results | 22 |
| of the
examinations conducted by other merit systems may not be | 23 |
| used unless
they are comparable in difficulty and | 24 |
| comprehensiveness to examinations
conducted by the Department | 25 |
| of Personnel for similar positions. Special
linguistic options | 26 |
| may also be established where deemed appropriate.
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HB5271 |
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LRB095 18327 JAM 44411 b |
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| (b) The Director of Personnel may require that each person | 2 |
| seeking
employment with the Secretary of State, as part of the | 3 |
| application
process, authorize an investigation to determine | 4 |
| if the applicant has
ever been convicted of a crime and if so, | 5 |
| the disposition of those
convictions; this authorization shall | 6 |
| indicate the scope of the inquiry
and the agencies which may be | 7 |
| contacted. Upon this authorization, the
Director of Personnel | 8 |
| may request and receive information and assistance
from any | 9 |
| federal, state or local governmental agency as part of the
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| authorized investigation. The investigation shall be | 11 |
| undertaken after the
fingerprinting of an applicant in the form | 12 |
| and manner prescribed by the
Department of State Police. The | 13 |
| investigation shall consist of a criminal
history records check | 14 |
| performed by the Department of State Police and the
Federal | 15 |
| Bureau of Investigation, or some other entity that has the | 16 |
| ability to
check the applicant's fingerprints against the | 17 |
| fingerprint records now and
hereafter filed in the Department | 18 |
| of State Police and Federal Bureau of
Investigation criminal | 19 |
| history records databases. If the Department of State
Police | 20 |
| and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
conduct an | 21 |
| investigation directly for the Secretary of State's Office, | 22 |
| then
the Department of State Police shall charge a fee for | 23 |
| conducting the criminal
history records check, which shall be | 24 |
| deposited in the State Police Services
Fund and shall not | 25 |
| exceed the actual cost of the records check. The
Department of | 26 |
| State Police shall
provide information concerning any criminal |
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HB5271 |
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LRB095 18327 JAM 44411 b |
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| convictions, and their
disposition, brought against the | 2 |
| applicant or prospective employee of
the Secretary of State | 3 |
| upon request of the Department of Personnel when
the request is | 4 |
| made in the form and manner required by the Department of
State | 5 |
| Police. The information derived from this investigation,
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| including the source of this information, and any conclusions | 7 |
| or
recommendations derived from this information by the | 8 |
| Director of
Personnel shall be provided to the applicant or | 9 |
| prospective employee, or
his designee, upon request to the | 10 |
| Director of Personnel prior to any
final action by the Director | 11 |
| of Personnel on the application. No
information obtained from | 12 |
| such investigation may be placed in any
automated information | 13 |
| system. Any criminal convictions and their
disposition | 14 |
| information obtained by the Director of Personnel shall be
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| confidential and may not be transmitted outside the Office of | 16 |
| the
Secretary of State, except as required herein, and may not | 17 |
| be
transmitted to anyone within the Office of the Secretary of | 18 |
| State except
as needed for the purpose of evaluating the | 19 |
| application. The only
physical identity materials which the | 20 |
| applicant or prospective employee
can be required to provide | 21 |
| the Director of Personnel are photographs or
fingerprints; | 22 |
| these shall be returned to the applicant or prospective
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| employee upon request to the Director of Personnel, after the
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| investigation has been completed and no copy of these materials | 25 |
| may be
kept by the Director of Personnel or any agency to which | 26 |
| such identity
materials were transmitted. Only information and |
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LRB095 18327 JAM 44411 b |
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| standards which bear a
reasonable and rational relation to the | 2 |
| performance of an employee shall
be used by the Director of | 3 |
| Personnel. The Secretary of State shall
adopt rules and | 4 |
| regulations for the administration of this Section. Any
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| employee of the Secretary of State who gives or causes to be | 6 |
| given away
any confidential information concerning any | 7 |
| criminal convictions and
their disposition of an applicant or | 8 |
| prospective employee shall be
guilty of a Class A misdemeanor | 9 |
| unless release of such information is
authorized by this | 10 |
| Section.
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| (Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07.)
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| Section 10. The Comptroller Merit Employment Code is | 13 |
| amended by changing Section 10b.1 as follows:
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| (15 ILCS 410/10b.1) (from Ch. 15, par. 426)
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| Sec. 10b.1. Competitive examinations. For open competitive | 16 |
| examinations
to test the relative fitness of applicants for the | 17 |
| respective positions.
Tests shall be designed to eliminate | 18 |
| those who are not qualified for entrance
into the Office of the | 19 |
| Comptroller and to discover the relative fitness
of those who | 20 |
| are qualified. The Director may use any one of or any | 21 |
| combination
of the following examination methods which in his | 22 |
| judgment best serves this
end: investigation of education and | 23 |
| experience; test of cultural knowledge;
test of capacity; test | 24 |
| of knowledge; test of manual skill; test of linguistic
ability; |
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HB5271 |
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LRB095 18327 JAM 44411 b |
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| test of character; test of physical skill; test of | 2 |
| psychological
fitness. No person with a record of misdemeanor | 3 |
| convictions except those
under Sections 11-6, 11-7, 11-9, | 4 |
| 11-14, 11-15, 11-17, 11-18, 11-19,
12-2, 12-6, 12-15, 14-4, | 5 |
| 16-1, 21.1-3, 24-3.1, 24-5, 25-1, 28-3, 31-1,
31-4, 31-6, 31-7, | 6 |
| 32-1, 32-2, 32-3, 32-4, 32-8 and sub-sections 1, 6 and
8 of | 7 |
| Section 24-1 of the Criminal Code of 1961, or arrested for any | 8 |
| cause
but not convicted thereon shall be disqualified
from | 9 |
| taking such examinations or subsequent appointment unless the | 10 |
| person
is attempting to qualify for a position which entails | 11 |
| financial
responsibilities,
in which case the person's | 12 |
| conviction or arrest record
may be considered as a factor in | 13 |
| determining the person's fitness for the
position. All | 14 |
| examinations shall be announced publicly at least 2 weeks
in | 15 |
| advance of the date of examinations and may be advertised | 16 |
| through the
press, radio or other media.
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| The Director may, at his or her discretion, accept the | 18 |
| results of
competitive examinations
conducted by any merit | 19 |
| system established by Federal law or by the law of
any State, | 20 |
| and may compile eligible lists therefrom or may add the names
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| of successful candidates in examinations conducted by those | 22 |
| merit systems
to existing eligible lists in accordance with | 23 |
| their respective ratings.
No person who is a non-resident of | 24 |
| the State of Illinois may be appointed
from those eligible | 25 |
| lists, however, unless the requirement that applicants
be | 26 |
| residents of the State of Illinois is waived by the Director of |
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HB5271 |
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LRB095 18327 JAM 44411 b |
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| Human
Resources
and unless there are less than 3 Illinois | 2 |
| residents available for appointment
from the appropriate | 3 |
| eligible list. The results of the examinations conducted
by | 4 |
| other merit systems may not be used unless they are comparable | 5 |
| in difficulty
and comprehensiveness to examinations conducted | 6 |
| by the Department of Human
Resources
for similar positions. | 7 |
| Special linguistic options may also be established
where deemed | 8 |
| appropriate.
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| (Source: P.A. 90-24, eff. 6-20-97.)
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| Section 15. The Personnel Code is amended by changing | 11 |
| Section 8b.1 as follows:
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| (20 ILCS 415/8b.1) (from Ch. 127, par. 63b108b.1)
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| Sec. 8b.1. For open competitive
examinations to test the | 14 |
| relative fitness of
applicants for the respective positions.
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| Tests shall be designed to eliminate those who are not | 16 |
| qualified for
entrance into or promotion within the service, | 17 |
| and to discover the relative
fitness of those who are | 18 |
| qualified. The Director may use any one of or any
combination | 19 |
| of the following examination methods which in his judgment best
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| serves this end: investigation of education; investigation of | 21 |
| experience;
test of cultural knowledge; test of capacity; test | 22 |
| of knowledge; test of
manual skill; test of linguistic ability; | 23 |
| test of character; test of
physical fitness; test of | 24 |
| psychological fitness. No person with a record of
misdemeanor |
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HB5271 |
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LRB095 18327 JAM 44411 b |
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| convictions except those under Sections 11-6, 11-7, 11-9,
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| 11-14, 11-15, 11-17, 11-18, 11-19, 12-2, 12-6, 12-15, 14-4, | 3 |
| 16-1, 21.1-3, 24-3.1,
24-5, 25-1, 28-3, 31-1, 31-4, 31-6, 31-7, | 4 |
| 32-1, 32-2, 32-3, 32-4, 32-8 and
sub-sections 1, 6 and 8 of | 5 |
| Section 24-1 of the Criminal Code of 1961 or
arrested for any | 6 |
| cause but not convicted thereon shall be disqualified from
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| taking such examinations or subsequent appointment, unless the | 8 |
| person is
attempting to qualify for a position which would give | 9 |
| him the powers of a
peace officer, in which case the person's | 10 |
| conviction or arrest record may
be considered as a factor in | 11 |
| determining the person's fitness for the
position. The | 12 |
| eligibility conditions specified for the position of
Assistant | 13 |
| Director of Healthcare and Family Services in the Department of | 14 |
| Healthcare and Family Services in Section
5-230 of the | 15 |
| Departments of State Government Law (20 ILCS
5/5-230) shall be | 16 |
| applied to that position in addition to other
standards, tests | 17 |
| or criteria established by the Director. All examinations
shall | 18 |
| be announced publicly at least 2 weeks in advance of the date | 19 |
| of the
examinations and may be advertised through the press, | 20 |
| radio and other
media. The Director may, however, in his | 21 |
| discretion, continue to receive
applications and examine | 22 |
| candidates long enough to assure a sufficient
number of | 23 |
| eligibles to meet the needs of the service and may add the | 24 |
| names
of successful candidates to existing eligible lists in | 25 |
| accordance with
their respective ratings.
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| The Director may, in his discretion, accept the results of |
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HB5271 |
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LRB095 18327 JAM 44411 b |
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| competitive
examinations conducted by any merit system | 2 |
| established by federal law or by
the law of any State, and may | 3 |
| compile eligible lists therefrom or may add
the names of | 4 |
| successful candidates in examinations conducted by those merit
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| systems to existing eligible lists in accordance with their | 6 |
| respective
ratings. No person who is a non-resident of the | 7 |
| State of Illinois may be
appointed from those eligible lists, | 8 |
| however, unless the requirement that
applicants be residents of | 9 |
| the State of Illinois is waived by the Director
of Central | 10 |
| Management Services and unless there are less than 3 Illinois
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| residents available
for appointment from the appropriate | 12 |
| eligible list. The results of the
examinations conducted by | 13 |
| other merit systems may not be used unless they
are comparable | 14 |
| in difficulty and comprehensiveness to examinations
conducted | 15 |
| by the Department of Central Management Services
for similar | 16 |
| positions. Special
linguistic options may also be established | 17 |
| where deemed appropriate.
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| (Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07.)
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| Section 20. The Illinois Municipal Code is amended by | 20 |
| changing Section 10-1-7 as follows:
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| (65 ILCS 5/10-1-7) (from Ch. 24, par. 10-1-7)
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| Sec. 10-1-7. Examination of applicants; disqualifications.
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| (a) All applicants for offices or places in the classified | 24 |
| service, except
those mentioned in Section 10-1-17, are subject |
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| to examination. The
examination shall be public, competitive, | 2 |
| and open to all citizens of the
United States, with specified | 3 |
| limitations as to residence, age, health, habits
and moral | 4 |
| character.
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| (b) Residency requirements in effect at the time an | 6 |
| individual enters the
fire or police service of a municipality | 7 |
| (other than a municipality that
has more than 1,000,000 | 8 |
| inhabitants) cannot be made more restrictive
for that | 9 |
| individual during his or her period of service for that | 10 |
| municipality,
or be made a condition of promotion, except for | 11 |
| the rank or position of Fire or
Police Chief.
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| (c) No person with a record of misdemeanor convictions | 13 |
| except
those under Sections 11-6, 11-7, 11-9, 11-14, 11-15, | 14 |
| 11-17, 11-18, 11-19,
12-2, 12-6, 12-15, 14-4, 16-1, 21.1-3, | 15 |
| 24-3.1, 24-5, 25-1, 28-3, 31-1,
31-4, 31-6, 31-7, 32-1, 32-2, | 16 |
| 32-3, 32-4, 32-8, and subsections (1), (6) and
(8) of Section | 17 |
| 24-1 of the Criminal Code of 1961 or arrested for any cause but
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| not convicted on that cause shall be disqualified from taking | 19 |
| the examination
on grounds of habits or moral character, unless | 20 |
| the person is attempting to
qualify for a position on the | 21 |
| police department, in which case the conviction
or arrest may | 22 |
| be considered as a factor in determining the person's habits or
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| moral character.
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| (d) Persons entitled to military preference under Section | 25 |
| 10-1-16
shall not be subject to limitations specifying age | 26 |
| unless they are
applicants for a position as a fireman or a |
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LRB095 18327 JAM 44411 b |
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| policeman having no previous
employment status as a fireman or | 2 |
| policeman in the regularly constituted
fire or police | 3 |
| department of the municipality, in which case they must not
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| have attained their 35th birthday, except any person who has | 5 |
| served as an
auxiliary police officer under Section 3.1-30-20 | 6 |
| for at least 5 years and is
under 40 years of age.
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| (e) All employees of a municipality of less than 500,000 | 8 |
| population (except
those who would be excluded from the | 9 |
| classified service as provided in this
Division 1) who are | 10 |
| holding that employment as of the date a municipality
adopts | 11 |
| this Division 1, or as of July 17, 1959, whichever date is the | 12 |
| later,
and who have held that employment for at least 2 years | 13 |
| immediately before that
later date, and all firemen and | 14 |
| policemen regardless of length of service who
were either | 15 |
| appointed to their respective positions by the board of fire | 16 |
| and
police commissioners under the provisions of Division 2 of | 17 |
| this Article or who
are serving in a position (except as a | 18 |
| temporary employee) in the fire or
police department in the | 19 |
| municipality on the date a municipality adopts
this Division 1, | 20 |
| or as of July 17, 1959, whichever date is the later, shall
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| become members of the classified civil service of the | 22 |
| municipality
without examination.
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| (f) The examinations shall be practical in their character, | 24 |
| and shall
relate to those matters that will fairly test the | 25 |
| relative capacity of the
persons examined to discharge the | 26 |
| duties of the positions to which they
seek to be appointed. The |
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LRB095 18327 JAM 44411 b |
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| examinations shall include tests of physical
qualifications, | 2 |
| health, and (when appropriate) manual skill. If an applicant
is | 3 |
| unable to pass the physical examination solely as the result of | 4 |
| an injury
received by the applicant as the result of the | 5 |
| performance of an act of duty
while working as a temporary | 6 |
| employee in the position for which he or she is
being examined, | 7 |
| however, the physical examination shall be waived and the
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| applicant shall be considered to have passed the examination. | 9 |
| No questions in
any examination shall relate to political or | 10 |
| religious opinions or
affiliations. Results of examinations | 11 |
| and the eligible registers prepared from
the results shall be | 12 |
| published by the commission within 60 days after any
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| examinations are held.
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| (g) The commission shall control all examinations, and may, | 15 |
| whenever an
examination is to take place, designate a suitable | 16 |
| number of persons,
either in or not in the official service of | 17 |
| the municipality, to be
examiners. The examiners shall conduct | 18 |
| the examinations as directed by the
commission and shall make a | 19 |
| return or report of the examinations to the
commission. If the | 20 |
| appointed examiners are in the official service of the
| 21 |
| municipality, the examiners shall not receive extra | 22 |
| compensation for conducting
the examinations. The commission | 23 |
| may at any time substitute any other person,
whether or not in | 24 |
| the service of the municipality, in the place of any one
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| selected as an examiner. The commission members may themselves | 26 |
| at any time act
as examiners without appointing examiners. The |
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LRB095 18327 JAM 44411 b |
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| examiners at any examination
shall not all be members of the | 2 |
| same political party.
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| (h) In municipalities of 500,000 or more population, no | 4 |
| person who has
attained his or her 35th birthday shall be | 5 |
| eligible to take an examination for
a position as a fireman or | 6 |
| a policeman unless the person has had previous
employment | 7 |
| status as a policeman or fireman in the regularly constituted | 8 |
| police
or fire department of the municipality, except as | 9 |
| provided in this Section.
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| (i) In municipalities of more than 5,000 but not more than | 11 |
| 200,000
inhabitants, no person who has attained his or her 35th | 12 |
| birthday shall be
eligible to take an examination for a | 13 |
| position as a fireman or a policeman
unless the person has had | 14 |
| previous employment status as a policeman or fireman
in the | 15 |
| regularly constituted police or fire department of the | 16 |
| municipality,
except as provided in this Section.
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| (j) In all municipalities, applicants who are 20 years of | 18 |
| age and who have
successfully completed 2 years of law | 19 |
| enforcement studies at an accredited
college or university may | 20 |
| be considered for appointment to active duty with
the police | 21 |
| department. An applicant described in this subsection (j) who | 22 |
| is
appointed to active duty shall not have power of arrest, nor | 23 |
| shall the
applicant be permitted to carry firearms, until he or | 24 |
| she reaches 21 years of
age.
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| (k) In municipalities of more than 500,000 population, | 26 |
| applications for
examination for and appointment to positions |
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| as firefighters or police
shall be made available at various | 2 |
| branches of the public library of the
municipality.
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| (l) No municipality having a population less than 1,000,000 | 4 |
| shall require
that any fireman appointed to the lowest rank | 5 |
| serve a probationary employment
period of longer than one year. | 6 |
| The limitation on periods of probationary
employment provided | 7 |
| in this amendatory Act of 1989 is an exclusive power and
| 8 |
| function of the State. Pursuant to subsection (h) of Section 6 | 9 |
| of Article VII
of the Illinois Constitution, a home rule | 10 |
| municipality having a population less
than 1,000,000 must | 11 |
| comply with this limitation on periods of probationary
| 12 |
| employment, which is a denial and limitation of home rule | 13 |
| powers.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this | 14 |
| Section, the probationary
employment period limitation may be | 15 |
| extended for a firefighter who is required, as a condition of | 16 |
| employment, to be a certified paramedic, during which time the | 17 |
| sole reason that a firefighter may be discharged without a | 18 |
| hearing is for failing to meet the requirements for paramedic | 19 |
| certification.
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| (Source: P.A. 94-135, eff. 7-7-05; 94-984, eff. 6-30-06.)
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