Full Text of HB0574 096th General Assembly
HB0574enr 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| AN ACT concerning education.
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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 Public | 5 |
| Interest Attorney Assistance Act. | 6 |
| Section 5. Legislative findings. The General Assembly | 7 |
| finds the following: | 8 |
| (1) Equal access to justice is a basic right that is | 9 |
| fundamental to democracy in this State, and the integrity | 10 |
| of this State and this State's justice system depends on | 11 |
| protecting and enforcing the rights of all people and | 12 |
| quality enforcement of the laws of this State. | 13 |
| (2) Equal access to justice and quality enforcement of | 14 |
| State laws are integral parts of the general public | 15 |
| welfare. | 16 |
| (3) Vulnerable and disadvantaged citizens of this | 17 |
| State are unable to protect or enforce their rights without | 18 |
| legal assistance from public interest attorneys. | 19 |
| (4) Graduating law students and practicing attorneys | 20 |
| are increasingly unable to continue in public interest | 21 |
| attorney positions because of high student loan debt. | 22 |
| (5) Assisting public interest attorneys with loan | 23 |
| forgiveness is a major step toward ensuring quality legal |
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| representation for this State's most vulnerable citizens | 2 |
| and quality enforcement of State law. | 3 |
| (6) The collection and distribution of funds under this | 4 |
| Act promotes justice and is in the public interest. | 5 |
| (7) The use of funds for the purposes prescribed by | 6 |
| this Act are in the public interest and consistent with | 7 |
| providing equal access to justice and quality enforcement | 8 |
| of State law. | 9 |
| Section 10. Purpose. The purpose of this Act is to | 10 |
| encourage qualified individuals to enter into and continue in | 11 |
| employment in this State as assistant State's Attorneys, | 12 |
| assistant Public Defenders, civil legal aid attorneys, | 13 |
| assistant Attorneys General, assistant public guardians, IGAC | 14 |
| attorneys, and legislative attorneys in a manner that protects | 15 |
| the rights of this State's most vulnerable citizens or promotes | 16 |
| the quality enforcement of State law. | 17 |
| Section 15. Definitions. For the purposes of this Act: | 18 |
| "Assistant State's Attorney" means a full-time employee of | 19 |
| a State's Attorney in Illinois or the State's Attorneys | 20 |
| Appellate Prosecutor who is continually licensed to practice | 21 |
| law and prosecutes or defends cases on behalf of the State or a | 22 |
| county. | 23 |
| "Assistant Attorney General" means a full-time employee of | 24 |
| the Illinois Attorney General who is continually licensed to |
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| practice law and prosecutes or defends cases on behalf of the | 2 |
| State. | 3 |
| "Assistant Public Defender" means a full-time employee of a | 4 |
| Public Defender in Illinois or the State Appellate Defender who | 5 |
| is continually licensed to practice law and provides legal | 6 |
| representation to indigent persons, as provided by statute. | 7 |
| "Assistant public guardian" means a full-time employee of a | 8 |
| public guardian in Illinois who is continually licensed to | 9 |
| practice law and provides legal representation pursuant to | 10 |
| court appointment. | 11 |
| "Civil legal aid" means free or reduced-cost legal | 12 |
| representation or advice to low-income clients in non-criminal | 13 |
| matters. | 14 |
| "Civil legal aid attorney" means an attorney who is | 15 |
| continually licensed to practice law and is employed full time | 16 |
| as an attorney at a civil legal aid organization in Illinois. | 17 |
| "Civil legal aid organization" means a not-for-profit | 18 |
| corporation in Illinois that (i) is exempt from the payment of | 19 |
| federal income tax pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the | 20 |
| Internal Revenue Code, (ii) is established for the purpose of | 21 |
| providing legal services that include civil legal aid, (iii) | 22 |
| employs 2 or more full-time attorneys who are licensed to | 23 |
| practice law in this State and who directly provide civil legal | 24 |
| aid, and (iv) is in compliance with registration and filing | 25 |
| requirements that are applicable under the Charitable Trust Act | 26 |
| and the Solicitation for Charity Act. |
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| "Commission" means the Illinois Student Assistance | 2 |
| Commission. | 3 |
| "Committee" means the advisory committee created under | 4 |
| Section 20 of this Act. | 5 |
| "Eligible debt" means outstanding principal, interest, and | 6 |
| related fees from loans obtained for undergraduate, graduate, | 7 |
| or law school educational expenses made by government or | 8 |
| commercial lending institutions or educational institutions. | 9 |
| "Eligible debt" excludes loans made by a private individual or | 10 |
| family member. | 11 |
| "IGAC attorney" means a full-time employee of the Illinois | 12 |
| Guardianship and Advocacy Commission, including the Office of | 13 |
| State Guardian, the Legal Advocacy Service, and the Human | 14 |
| Rights Authority, who is continually licensed to practice law | 15 |
| and provides legal representation to carry out the | 16 |
| responsibilities of the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy | 17 |
| Commission. | 18 |
| "Legislative attorney" means a full-time employee of the | 19 |
| Illinois Senate, the Illinois House of Representatives, or the | 20 |
| Illinois Legislative Reference Bureau who is continually | 21 |
| licensed to practice law and provides legal advice to members | 22 |
| of the General Assembly. | 23 |
| "Program" means the Public Interest Attorney Loan | 24 |
| Repayment Assistance Program. | 25 |
| "Public interest attorney" means an attorney practicing in | 26 |
| Illinois who is an assistant State's Attorney, assistant Public |
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| Defender, civil legal aid attorney, assistant Attorney | 2 |
| General, assistant public guardian, IGAC attorney, or | 3 |
| legislative attorney. | 4 |
| "Qualifying employer" means (i) an Illinois State's | 5 |
| Attorney or the State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, (ii) an | 6 |
| Illinois Public Defender or the State Appellate Defender, (iii) | 7 |
| an Illinois civil legal aid organization, (iv) the Illinois | 8 |
| Attorney General, (v) an Illinois public guardian, (vi) the | 9 |
| Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission, (vii) the | 10 |
| Illinois Senate, (viii) the Illinois House of Representatives, | 11 |
| or (ix) the Illinois Legislative Reference Bureau. | 12 |
| Section 20. Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment | 13 |
| Assistance Program. | 14 |
| (a) The Commission shall establish and administer the | 15 |
| Program for the primary purpose of providing loan repayment | 16 |
| assistance to practicing attorneys to encourage them to pursue | 17 |
| careers as public interest attorneys to protect the rights of | 18 |
| this State's most vulnerable citizens or provide quality | 19 |
| enforcement of State law. The Commission shall create an | 20 |
| advisory committee composed of representatives from | 21 |
| organizations with relevant expertise, including one person | 22 |
| from each of the following entities: | 23 |
| (1) The Illinois State's Attorneys Association. | 24 |
| (2) An office of an Illinois Public Defender. | 25 |
| (3) An office of an Illinois public guardian. |
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| (4) The Office of the Illinois Attorney General. | 2 |
| (5) An Illinois metropolitan bar association. | 3 |
| (6) An Illinois statewide bar association. | 4 |
| (7) A public law school in this State. | 5 |
| (b) The Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment Assistance | 6 |
| Fund is created as a special fund in the State treasury. The | 7 |
| Fund shall consist of all moneys remitted to the Commission | 8 |
| under the terms of this Act. All money in the Fund shall be | 9 |
| used, subject to appropriation, by the Commission for the | 10 |
| purposes of this Act. | 11 |
| (c) Subject to the availability of appropriations and | 12 |
| subsections (d) and (e) of this Section, the Commission shall | 13 |
| distribute funds to eligible applicants. | 14 |
| (d) The Commission is authorized to prescribe all rules, | 15 |
| policies, and procedures necessary or convenient for the | 16 |
| administration of the Program and all terms and conditions | 17 |
| applicable to payments made under this Act. This shall be done | 18 |
| with the guidance and assistance of the Committee. | 19 |
| (e) The Commission shall administer the Program, | 20 |
| including, but not limited to, establishing and implementing | 21 |
| the following: | 22 |
| (1) An application process. Subject to the | 23 |
| availability of appropriations, the Commission shall, each | 24 |
| year, consider applications by eligible public interest | 25 |
| attorneys for loan repayment assistance under the Program. | 26 |
| (2) Eligibility requirements. The Commission shall, on |
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| an annual basis, receive and consider applications for loan | 2 |
| repayment assistance under the Program if the Commission | 3 |
| finds that the applicant: | 4 |
| (i) is a citizen or permanent resident of the | 5 |
| United States; | 6 |
| (ii) is a licensed member of the Illinois Bar in | 7 |
| good standing; | 8 |
| (iii) has eligible debt in grace or repayment | 9 |
| status; and | 10 |
| (iv) is employed as a public interest attorney with | 11 |
| a qualifying employer in Illinois. | 12 |
| (3) A maximum amount of loan repayment assistance for | 13 |
| each participant, which shall be $6,000 per year, up to a | 14 |
| maximum of $30,000 during the participant's career. | 15 |
| (4) Prioritization. The Commission shall develop | 16 |
| criteria for prioritization among eligible applicants in | 17 |
| the event that there are insufficient funds available to | 18 |
| make payments to all eligible applicants under this Act. | 19 |
| The prioritization criteria shall include the timeliness | 20 |
| of the application, the applicant's salary level, the | 21 |
| amount of the applicant's eligible debt, the availability | 22 |
| of other loan repayment assistance to the applicant, the | 23 |
| applicant's length of service as a public interest | 24 |
| attorney, and the applicant's prior participation in the | 25 |
| Program. | 26 |
| (f) The distribution of funds available after |
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| administrative costs must be made by the Commission to eligible | 2 |
| public interest attorneys in the following manner: | 3 |
| (1) Loan repayment assistance must be in the form of a | 4 |
| forgivable loan. | 5 |
| (2) To have the loan forgiven, the participant shall | 6 |
| (i) complete a year of employment with a qualifying | 7 |
| employer and (ii) make educational debt payments (interest | 8 |
| or principal or both) that equal at least the amount of | 9 |
| assistance received under the Program during the | 10 |
| assistance year. | 11 |
| (3) Each loan must be documented by means of a | 12 |
| promissory note executed by the borrower in a form provided | 13 |
| by the Commission and shall be forgiven when an eligible | 14 |
| participant meets the requirements set forth by the | 15 |
| Commission.
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| Section 25. Ineligibility and termination of funds; | 17 |
| procedures. | 18 |
| (a) If a participant becomes ineligible during the term of | 19 |
| a loan, he or she must repay the outstanding amount of any loan | 20 |
| received from the Commission. | 21 |
| (b) The Commission may in its discretion forgive the loan | 22 |
| of a participant in whole or in part in certain circumstances | 23 |
| as set forth in its written policies and guidelines. | 24 |
| Section 30. Other powers. The Commission may make, enter |
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| into, and execute contracts, agreements, leases, and other | 2 |
| instruments with any person, including without limitation any | 3 |
| federal, State, or local governmental agency, and may take | 4 |
| other actions that may be necessary or convenient to accomplish | 5 |
| any purpose authorized by this Act. | 6 |
| Section 90. The State Finance Act is amended by adding | 7 |
| Section 5.719 as follows: | 8 |
| (30 ILCS 105/5.719 new)
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| Sec. 5.719. The Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment | 10 |
| Assistance Fund.
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