(525 ILCS 50/9) Sec. 9. Illinois Veteran Recreation Corps. With respect to the Illinois Veteran Recreation Corps: (a) Purpose. The Illinois Veteran Recreation Corps is established for the purpose of making grants to local sponsors to provide wages to veterans of any age operating and instructing in conservation or recreational programs. Such programs shall provide conservation or recreational opportunities and shall include, but are not limited to, the coordination and teaching of natural resource conservation and management, physical activities, or learning activities directly related to natural resource conservation management or recreation. Such programs may charge user fees, but such fees shall be designed to promote as much community involvement as possible, as determined by the Department. (b) Application. Local sponsors who can provide necessary facilities, materials, and management for summer conservation or recreational activities within the community and who desire a grant under this Act for the purpose of hiring managing supervisors as necessary and eligible veterans for such conservation or recreational programs may make application to the Department. Applications shall be evaluated on the basis of program content, location, need, local commitment of resources, and consistency with the purposes of this Act. (c) Enrollment. The Illinois Veteran Recreation Corps shall be limited to citizens of this State who at the time of enrollment are veterans of any age and are unemployed and who have skills that can be utilized in the summer conservation or recreational program. Preference may be given to veterans with a disability. The ratio of veterans employee enrollees to a managing supervisor must not be less than 10 to 1 for any local sponsor with a total number of veterans employee enrollees of 10 or more. Any local sponsor program with a total number of veteran employee enrollees of less than 10 must be limited to one managing supervisor. Veterans who are unemployed shall be given preference for employment as managing supervisors. The local sponsors shall make public notification of the availability of jobs for eligible veterans in the Illinois Veteran Recreation Corps by the means of newspapers, electronic media, educational facilities, units of local government, and Department of Employment Security offices. Application for employment shall be made directly to the local sponsor. The Department shall adopt reasonable rules pertaining to the administration of the Illinois Veteran Recreation Corps. (d) Terms of employment. The enrollment period for any successful applicant of the program shall not be longer than 6 total months. Once enrolled in the program, each enrollee shall receive a reasonable wage as set by the Department and shall work hours as required by the conservation or recreation program but not in excess of a maximum number of hours as determined by the Department, except that an enrollee working as a managing supervisor shall receive a higher wage than an enrollee working in any other capacity on the conservation or recreation program. Enrollees shall be employees of the local sponsor and not contractual hires for the purpose of employment taxes, except that enrollees shall not be classified as employees of the State or the local sponsor for purposes of contributions to the State Employees' Retirement System of Illinois or any other public employee retirement system.
(Source: P.A. 97-738, eff. 7-5-12; 98-463, eff. 8-16-13.) |