Full Text of HB6865 93rd General Assembly
HB6865 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2003 and 2004 HB6865
Introduced 02/09/04, by George Scully Jr. SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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25 ILCS 115/4 |
from Ch. 63, par. 15.1 |
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Amends the General Assembly Compensation Act. Provides that equipment for which a member's office allowance may be expended does not include livestock.
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A BILL FOR
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HB6865 |
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LRB093 21237 JAM 47364 b |
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| AN ACT concerning the General Assembly.
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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 General Assembly Compensation Act is amended | 5 |
| by changing Section 4 as follows: | 6 |
| (25 ILCS 115/4) (from Ch. 63, par. 15.1)
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| Sec. 4. Office allowance. Beginning July 1, 2001, each | 8 |
| member
of the House
of Representatives is authorized to approve | 9 |
| the expenditure of not more than
$61,000 per year and each | 10 |
| member of the
Senate is authorized to approve the
expenditure | 11 |
| of not more than $73,000 per
year to pay for "personal | 12 |
| services",
"contractual services", "commodities", "printing", | 13 |
| "travel",
"operation of automotive equipment", | 14 |
| "telecommunications services", as
defined in the State Finance | 15 |
| Act, and the compensation of one or more
legislative assistants | 16 |
| authorized pursuant to this Section, in connection
with his or | 17 |
| her legislative duties and not in connection with any political
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| campaign.
On July 1, 2002 and on July 1 of each year | 19 |
| thereafter, the amount authorized
per year under this Section | 20 |
| for each member of the Senate and each member of
the House of | 21 |
| Representatives shall be increased by a percentage increase
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| equivalent to the lesser of (i) the increase in the designated | 23 |
| cost of living
index or (ii) 5%. The designated cost of living | 24 |
| index is the index known as
the "Employment Cost Index, Wages | 25 |
| and Salaries, By
Occupation and Industry Groups: State and | 26 |
| Local Government Workers: Public
Administration" as published | 27 |
| by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S.
Department of | 28 |
| Labor for the calendar year immediately preceding the year of | 29 |
| the
respective July 1st increase date. The increase shall be | 30 |
| added to the then
current amount, and the adjusted amount so | 31 |
| determined shall be the annual
amount beginning July 1 of the | 32 |
| increase year until July 1 of the next year. No
increase under |
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HB6865 |
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LRB093 21237 JAM 47364 b |
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| this provision shall be less than zero.
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| A member may purchase office equipment if the member | 3 |
| certifies
to the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the | 4 |
| House, as applicable,
that the purchase price, whether paid in | 5 |
| lump sum or installments, amounts
to less than would be charged | 6 |
| for renting or leasing the equipment over
its anticipated | 7 |
| useful life. All such equipment must be purchased through
the | 8 |
| Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House, as | 9 |
| applicable, for
proper identification and verification of | 10 |
| purchase.
To the extent that the term "equipment" means | 11 |
| "equipment" as defined in Section 20 of the State Finance Act, | 12 |
| "equipment" as used in this Section does not include livestock.
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| Each member of the General Assembly is authorized to employ | 14 |
| one or more
legislative assistants, who shall be solely under | 15 |
| the direction and control
of that member, for the purpose of | 16 |
| assisting the member in the performance
of his or her official | 17 |
| duties. A legislative assistant may be employed
pursuant to | 18 |
| this Section as a full-time employee, part-time employee, or
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| contractual employee, at
the discretion of the member. If | 20 |
| employed as a State employee, a
legislative assistant shall | 21 |
| receive employment benefits on the same terms
and conditions | 22 |
| that apply to other employees of the General Assembly.
Each | 23 |
| member shall adopt and implement personnel policies
for | 24 |
| legislative assistants under his or her direction and
control | 25 |
| relating to work time requirements, documentation for | 26 |
| reimbursement for
travel on official State business, | 27 |
| compensation, and the earning and accrual of
State benefits for | 28 |
| those legislative assistants who may be eligible to receive
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| those benefits.
The policies shall also require legislative | 30 |
| assistants to
periodically submit time sheets documenting, in | 31 |
| quarter-hour increments, the
time
spent each day on official | 32 |
| State business.
The
policies shall require the time sheets to | 33 |
| be submitted on paper,
electronically, or both and to be | 34 |
| maintained in either paper or electronic
format by the | 35 |
| applicable fiscal office
for a period of at least 2 years.
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| Contractual employees may satisfy
the time sheets requirement |
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| by complying with the terms of their contract,
which shall | 2 |
| provide for a means of compliance with this requirement.
A | 3 |
| member may
satisfy the requirements of this paragraph by | 4 |
| adopting and implementing the
personnel policies promulgated | 5 |
| by that
member's legislative leader under the State Officials | 6 |
| and Employees Ethics
Act
with respect to that member's | 7 |
| legislative
assistants.
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| As used in this Section the term "personal services" shall | 9 |
| include
contributions of the State under the Federal Insurance | 10 |
| Contribution Act and
under Article 14 of the Illinois Pension | 11 |
| Code. As used in this Section the
term "contractual services" | 12 |
| shall not include improvements to real property
unless those | 13 |
| improvements are the obligation of the lessee under the lease
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| agreement. Beginning July 1, 1989, as used in the Section, the | 15 |
| term "travel"
shall be limited to travel in connection with a | 16 |
| member's legislative duties and
not in connection with any | 17 |
| political campaign. Beginning on the effective
date of this | 18 |
| amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly, as
used
in this | 19 |
| Section, the term "printing" includes, but is not limited to,
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| newsletters,
brochures, certificates,
congratulatory
mailings,
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| greeting or welcome messages, anniversary or
birthday cards, | 22 |
| and congratulations for prominent achievement cards. As used
in | 23 |
| this Section, the term "printing" includes fees for | 24 |
| non-substantive
resolutions charged by the Clerk of the House | 25 |
| of Representatives under
subsection (c-5) of Section 1 of the | 26 |
| Legislative Materials Act.
No newsletter or brochure that is | 27 |
| paid for, in whole or in part, with
funds
provided under this | 28 |
| Section may be printed or mailed during a period
beginning | 29 |
| February 1 of the year of a general primary
election and ending | 30 |
| the day after the general primary election and during a
period | 31 |
| beginning September 1 of the year of a general election and | 32 |
| ending the
day after the general election, except that such a | 33 |
| newsletter or brochure may
be mailed during
those times if it | 34 |
| is mailed to a constituent in response to that constituent's
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| inquiry concerning the needs of that constituent or questions | 36 |
| raised by that
constituent.
Nothing in
this Section shall be |
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| construed to authorize expenditures for lodging and meals
while | 2 |
| a member is in attendance at sessions of the General Assembly.
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| Any utility bill for service provided to a member's | 4 |
| district office for
a period including portions of 2 | 5 |
| consecutive fiscal years may be paid from
funds appropriated | 6 |
| for such expenditure in either fiscal year.
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| If a vacancy occurs in the office of Senator or | 8 |
| Representative in the General
Assembly, any office equipment in | 9 |
| the possession of the vacating member
shall transfer to the | 10 |
| member's successor; if the successor does not want
such | 11 |
| equipment, it shall be transferred to the Secretary of the | 12 |
| Senate or
Clerk of the House of Representatives, as the case | 13 |
| may be, and if not
wanted by other members of the General | 14 |
| Assembly then to the Department of
Central Management Services | 15 |
| for treatment as surplus property under the
State Property | 16 |
| Control Act. Each member, on or before June 30th of each
year, | 17 |
| shall conduct an inventory of all equipment purchased pursuant | 18 |
| to
this Act. Such inventory shall be filed with the Secretary | 19 |
| of the Senate
or the Clerk of the House, as the case may be. | 20 |
| Whenever a vacancy occurs,
the Secretary of the Senate or the | 21 |
| Clerk of the House, as the case may be,
shall conduct an | 22 |
| inventory of equipment purchased.
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| In the event that a member leaves office during his or her | 24 |
| term, any
unexpended or unobligated portion of the allowance | 25 |
| granted under this Section
shall lapse. The vacating member's | 26 |
| successor shall be granted an allowance
in an amount, rounded | 27 |
| to the nearest dollar, computed by dividing the annual
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| allowance by 365 and multiplying the quotient by the number of | 29 |
| days remaining
in the fiscal year.
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| From any appropriation for the purposes of this Section for | 31 |
| a
fiscal year which overlaps 2 General Assemblies, no more than | 32 |
| 1/2 of the
annual allowance per member may be spent or | 33 |
| encumbered by any member of
either the outgoing or incoming | 34 |
| General Assembly, except that any member
of the incoming | 35 |
| General Assembly who was a member of the outgoing General
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| Assembly may encumber or spend any portion of his annual |
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| allowance within
the fiscal year.
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| The appropriation for the annual allowances permitted by | 3 |
| this Section
shall be included in an appropriation to the | 4 |
| President of the Senate and to
the Speaker of the House of | 5 |
| Representatives for their respective members.
The President of | 6 |
| the Senate and the Speaker of the House shall voucher for
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| payment individual members' expenditures from their annual | 8 |
| office
allowances to the State Comptroller, subject to the | 9 |
| authority of the
Comptroller under Section 9 of the State | 10 |
| Comptroller Act.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-615, eff. 11-19-03; 93-617, eff. 12-9-03.)
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