Public Act 102-0732
 
HB5184 EnrolledLRB102 23259 KTG 32424 b

    AN ACT concerning veterans.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Counties Code is amended by changing
Section 5-2006 as follows:
 
    (55 ILCS 5/5-2006)  (from Ch. 34, par. 5-2006)
    Sec. 5-2006. Tax for Veterans Assistance Commission
veterans assistance commission. The county board of each
county having a population of less than 3 million in which
there is a Veterans Assistance Commission as provided in
Section 9 of the Military Veterans Assistance Act may levy a
tax of not to exceed .03% of the assessed value annually on all
taxable property of the county, for the purpose of providing
assistance to military veterans and their families pursuant to
such Act. Whenever not less than 10% of the electors of the
county petition the county board to levy the tax at not to
exceed .04% of the assessed value, the county board shall
certify the proposition to the proper election officials who
shall submit the proposition at the next general election in
accordance with the general election law. If a majority of the
electors vote in favor of the proposition, the county board
may, annually, levy the tax as authorized. The proceeds of any
tax so levied shall be used exclusively for the assistance
purposes authorized thereunder, and a portion thereof may be
expended for the salaries or expenses of any officers or
employees of the Veterans Assistance Commission or for any
other expenses incident to the administration of such
assistance.
    The tax shall be separate from all other taxes which the
county is authorized to in addition to all other taxes which
the county is authorized to levy on the aggregate valuation of
the property within the county and shall not be included in any
tax limitation of the rate upon which taxes are required to be
extended, but shall be excluded therefrom and in addition
thereto. The tax shall be levied and collected in like manner
as the general taxes of the county, and, when collected, shall
be paid into a special fund in the county treasury and used
only as herein authorized, or disbursed from the county
treasury of a county in which a properly organized Veterans
Assistance Commission is authorized under Section 3-11008 of
this Code.
    The limitations on tax rates herein provided may be
increased or decreased under the referendum provisions of the
General Revenue Law of Illinois.
    If a county has levied the tax herein authorized or
otherwise meets the conditions set out in Section 12-21.13 of
"the Illinois Public Aid Code", to qualify for State funds to
supplement local funds for public purposes under Articles III,
IV, V, VI, and IX VII of that Code and otherwise meets the
conditions set out in Article XII of that Code for receipt of
State aid, the Illinois Department of Human Services shall
allocate and pay to the county such additional sums as it
determines to be necessary to meet the needs of assistance to
military veterans and their families in the county and
expenses incident to the administration of such assistance. In
counties where a Veterans Assistance Commission has been
properly created, those County Veterans Assistance Commissions
shall be in charge of the administration of such assistance
provided under the Illinois Public Aid Code for military
veterans and their families.
(Source: P.A. 89-507, eff. 7-1-97.)
 
    Section 10. The Illinois Public Aid Code is amended by
changing Section 2-14 as follows:
 
    (305 ILCS 5/2-14)  (from Ch. 23, par. 2-14)
    Sec. 2-14. "Local governmental unit". Every county, city,
village, incorporated town or township charged with the duty
of providing public aid under Article VI; and County Veterans
Assistance Commissions providing general assistance to
indigent war veterans and their families under Section
12-21.13 of Article XII.
    However, should any Section of this Code impose the
obligation of providing medical assistance to persons who are
non-residents of the State of Illinois upon a local
governmental unit, the term "local governmental unit" shall
not include townships. In such case the obligation for
providing medical assistance to non-residents which would
otherwise be the duty of a township shall become the
obligation of the Department of Healthcare and Family
Services.
(Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07.)
 
    Section 15. The Military Veterans Assistance Act is
amended by changing Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10
as follows:
 
    (330 ILCS 45/1)  (from Ch. 23, par. 3081)
    Sec. 1. Definitions. As used in this Act:
    "Veteran service organization" means a post, ship, camp,
chapter, or detachment of a congressionally chartered or state
chartered organization.
    The term "Administrator Overseer of military veterans
assistance" means the commanders of the various veteran
service organizations, the superintendent of a County Veterans
Assistance Commission, or other , as used in this Act, shall be
construed to mean all persons whose duty it is, under the
existing statutes, to care for, relieve or maintain, wholly or
in part, any person who may be entitled to such assistance
under the statutes of the State of Illinois. This Act shall not
infringe upon the mandated powers and authorities vested in
the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs.
(Source: P.A. 87-796.)
 
    (330 ILCS 45/2)  (from Ch. 23, par. 3082)
    Sec. 2. For the just, necessary, and needed assistance and
services assistance of military veterans, who served in the
Armed Forces of the United States and whose last discharge
from the service was honorable or general under honorable
conditions , whose last discharge from the service was
honorable to be eligible for assistance, their families, and
the families of deceased veterans with service as described in
this Section who need assistance and services.
        (1) The supervisor of general assistance or the county
    board shall provide such sums of money as may be just and
    necessary to be drawn by the commander, quartermaster or
    commandant of any post, ship, camp, chapter or detachment
    of any congressionally chartered or state chartered
    veterans service organization, in the city or town, or the
    superintendent of any Veterans' Assistance Commission of
    the county, upon the recommendation of the assistance
    committee of that veterans service organization or the
    post, ship, camp, chapter or Veterans' Assistance
    Commission.
            (A) Funding for Veterans Assistance Commissions
        may be derived from 3 sources, if applicable:
                (i) a tax levied under Section 5-2006 of the
            Counties Code and Section 12-21.13 of the Illinois
            Public Aid Code;
                (ii) funds from the county general corporate
            fund; and
                (iii) State funds from the Department of Human
            Services.
            (B) The minimum amount to be provided annually to
        Veterans Assistance Commissions is provided in Section
        12-21.13 of the Illinois Public Aid Code, unless the
        delegates of the County Veterans Assistance Commission
        determine that a lesser amount covers the just and
        necessary sums.
        (2) If any supervisor of general assistance or county
    board fails or refuses after such recommendation to
    provide any just and necessary sums of money for such
    assistance, then the veteran service organization
    commander, post, chapter, or detachment or the
    superintendent of any Veterans' Assistance Commission
    located in the district of such supervisor of general
    assistance or such county board shall apply to the circuit
    court of the district or county for relief by mandamus
    upon the supervisor of general assistance or county board
    requiring him, her or it to pay, or to appropriate and pay
    such sums of money, and upon proof made of the justice and
    necessity of the claim, the circuit court shall grant the
    sums so requested such assistance.
        (3) Such sums of money shall be drawn in the manner now
    provided under Section 5-2006 of the Counties Code and
    Section 12-21.13 of the Illinois Public Aid Code by law
    for the assistance of the poor. Orders of commanders,
    quartermasters, commandants, or superintendents of those
    veterans service organizations or those Veterans'
    Assistance Commissions shall be proper warrants vouchers
    for the expenditure of such sums of money.
(Source: P.A. 87-796.)
 
    (330 ILCS 45/3)  (from Ch. 23, par. 3083)
    Sec. 3. In case there is no veteran service post or camp of
a military veterans organization, in any town in which it is
necessary that such assistance as provided in Section 2 should
be granted, the administrator overseer of military veterans
assistance shall accept and pay the orders drawn, as
hereinbefore provided by the commander, quartermaster or
commandant of any veteran service organization post or camp of
a military veterans organization, upon the recommendation of
an assistance committee, who shall be residents of the said
town in which the assistance may be furnished.
(Source: P.A. 87-796.)
 
    (330 ILCS 45/4)  (from Ch. 23, par. 3084)
    Sec. 4. Upon the taking effect of this Act, the commander
of any veteran service organization or any properly created
Veterans Assistance Commission post or camp of a military
veterans organization, which shall undertake the assistance of
military veterans and their families, as hereinbefore
provided, before the acts of the commander, quartermaster, or
commandant shall be operative in any city or town, shall file
with the city clerk of such city or town clerk of such town, or
administrator overseer of military veterans assistance of such
town or county, a notice that said veteran service
organization or Veterans Assistance Commission post, camp,
chapter or detachment intends to undertake such assistance as
is provided by this Act, and such notice shall contain the
names of the assistance committee of the veteran service
organization or Veterans Assistance Commission post, camp,
chapter or detachment in such city or town, and the commander
and other officers of said veteran service organization or
Veterans Assistance Commission post, camp, chapter or
detachment. And the commander of the veteran service
organization or Veterans Assistance Commission post, camp,
chapter or detachment shall annually thereafter, during the
month of October, file a similar notice with the city or town
clerk, or the administrator overseer of military veterans
assistance, also a detailed statement of the amount of
assistance furnished during the preceding year, with the names
of all persons to whom such assistance shall have been
furnished, together with a brief statement in such case from
the assistance committee upon whose recommendation the orders
were drawn. Any person who fails or neglects so to do at the
time required by this Act shall be guilty of a petty offense
and fined $250 to be recovered in the name of the county in the
circuit court.
(Source: P.A. 87-796.)
 
    (330 ILCS 45/5)  (from Ch. 23, par. 3085)
    Sec. 5. The auditing board of any city or town or county
auditor, or the administrator overseer of military veterans
assistance of any city, town, or county, may require of the
commander, quartermaster, or commandant of any veteran service
organization, or superintendent of any properly organized
Veterans Assistance Commission or detachment of any post or
camp of a military veterans organization, undertaking such
assistance in any city or town, a bond with sufficient and
satisfactory sureties for the faithful and honest discharge of
their duties under this Act.
(Source: P.A. 87-796.)
 
    (330 ILCS 45/6)  (from Ch. 23, par. 3086)
    Sec. 6. Overseers of military veterans assistance are
hereby prohibited from sending military veterans (or their
families or the families of those deceased) to any almshouse
(or orphan asylum) without the full concurrence and consent of
the commander and assistance committee of the post or camp of a
military veterans organization having jurisdiction as provided
in Sections 2 and 3 of this Act. Military veterans with
families and the families of deceased veterans, shall,
whenever practicable, be provided for and assisted at their
homes in such city or town in which they shall have a
residence, in the manner provided in Sections 2 and 3 of this
Act. Needy veterans or veterans with disabilities of the
classes specified in Section 2 of this Act, who are not
mentally ill, and who have no families or friends with which
they may be domiciled, may be sent to any veterans home. Any
less fortunate veteran of either of the classes specified in
Section 2 of this Act or any member of the family of any living
or deceased veteran of said classes, who may be mentally ill,
shall, upon the recommendation of the commander and assistance
committee of such post or camp of a military veterans
organization, within the jurisdiction of which the case may
occur, be sent to any mental health facility and cared for as
provided for indigent persons who are mentally ill.
(Source: P.A. 99-143, eff. 7-27-15.)
 
    (330 ILCS 45/7)  (from Ch. 23, par. 3087)
    Sec. 7. In case there shall be within the limits of any
city or town more than one veteran service organization post
or camp of military veterans organizations, it shall be the
duty of the commander, quartermaster, or commandant of each
veteran service organization post, camp, chapter or detachment
within such limits, to send to the commander, quartermaster,
or commandant of every other veteran service organization
post, camp, chapter or detachment, as the case may be, within
said limits, on the first day of each month, a written list of
the names of all persons to whom assistance has been granted
during the preceding month, under the provisions of this Act.
(Source: P.A. 87-796.)
 
    (330 ILCS 45/8)  (from Ch. 23, par. 3088)
    Sec. 8. The commander, quartermaster, or commandant of any
veteran service organization post or camp of a military
veterans organization, congressionally chartered or state
chartered commander, or the superintendent of any county
Veterans' Assistance Commission of Illinois shall annually
report to the Governor, on or before the first day of January
of each year, such portions of the transactions of the
aforementioned veteran service organization or Veterans
Assistance Commission veterans' organizations relating thereto
as the commander or superintendent he may deem to be of
interest to that organization and the people of the State.
(Source: P.A. 87-796.)
 
    (330 ILCS 45/9)  (from Ch. 23, par. 3089)
    Sec. 9. Veterans Assistance Commission.
    (a) In counties having 2 or more veteran service
organizations posts, camps, chapters or detachments of
military veterans organizations as may be recognized by law,
the veteran service organizations may come together to form a ,
a central assistance committee may be organized to be known as
the Veterans Assistance Commission of such county. The
Veterans Assistance Commission of such county may act as the
central service office for all veterans and their families and
for the families of deceased veterans. The Commission shall be
, composed of delegates and alternates from a majority of such
veteran service organizations posts, camps, units, and
chapters or ship selected annually as determined by each
veteran service organization post, ship, camp, or chapter.
When so organized a Commission commission shall be clothed
with all the powers and charged with all the duties
theretofore devolving upon the different veteran service
organizations within the county posts and chapters as provided
in Section 2.
        (1) Every Beginning on January 1, 2017, and every
    January 1 thereafter, all Veterans Assistance Commissions
    shall publish a notice to each veteran service
    organization post, camp, unit, chapter, ship, or
    detachment of a military veterans organization within
    their respective county calling on them to select
    delegates and alternates for that county's Veterans
    Assistance Commission by the methods provided in this
    subsection. The Veterans Assistance Commissions shall
    allow each veteran service organization until March 1 to
    respond, at which time those delegates and alternates
    shall begin their term of office post, camp, unit,
    chapter, ship, or detachment of a military veterans
    organization 60 days to respond.
        (2) Except as provided in paragraph (3), veteran
    service organizations posts, camps, units, chapters,
    ships, or detachments of a military veterans organization
    shall be permitted to select one delegate and one
    alternate.
        (3) In counties with 5 or more of the same veteran
    service organizations posts, camps, units, chapters,
    ships, or detachments of the same military veterans
    organization, all the constituent veteran service
    organizations posts, camps, units, chapters, ships, or
    detachments of such military organizations shall be
    permitted to select a single delegate and single alternate
    to represent that veteran service organization military
    veterans organization instead of each constituent veteran
    service organization post, camp, unit, chapter, ship, or
    detachment selecting one delegate and one alternate. For
    the purposes of meeting the majority requirement of this
    subsection, when the constituent groups of a veteran
    service organization military veterans organization choose
    to select a single delegate and single alternate, the
    single delegate and single alternate shall represent the
    aggregate percentage of the constituent groups.
        (4) If a veteran service organization post, camp,
    unit, chapter, ship, or detachment of a military veterans
    organization serves more than one county, then it shall be
    permitted to select one delegate and one alternate for the
    Veterans Assistance Commission in each county in which at
    least 25% of its members reside.
    (b) The Commission superintendent and the president or
chairman of the county board, or some other county officer
appointed by him, shall have general oversight of the
distribution of all moneys and supplies appropriated by the
county for the benefit of military veterans and their
families, subject to such rules, regulations, administrative
procedures or audit reviews as are necessary as approved by
the Commission county board to carry out the spirit and intent
of this Act. No warrant authorized under this Act may be issued
for the payment of money without the presentation of an
itemized statement or claim, approved by the superintendent of
the Commission.
    If general assistance funds are allocated to a county for
assistance to military veterans and their families as provided
in the Illinois Public Aid Code, the administration of such
funds and of county tax funds levied for such purpose as
provided in Section 5-2006 of the Counties Code shall be
subject to the supervision of the Department of Human Services
in accordance with the provisions of the Illinois Public Aid
Code.
    (c) The Veterans Assistance Commission shall be in charge
of the administration of any benefits provided under Articles
VI and IX of the Illinois Public Aid Code for military veterans
and their families. The Veterans Assistance Commission shall
represent veterans in their application for benefits through
State and federal agencies, including representing veterans in
their appeals of adverse decisions. The superintendent of the
Veterans Assistance Commission and its employees must comply
with the procedures and regulations adopted by the Veterans
Assistance Commission and the regulations of the Department of
Human Services. To further the intent of this Act of assisting
military veterans, this Act is to be construed so that the
Veterans Assistance Commission shall provide needed services
to eligible veterans.
(Source: P.A. 102-484, eff. 8-20-21.)
 
    (330 ILCS 45/10)  (from Ch. 23, par. 3090)
    Sec. 10. The executive powers of the Commission commission
shall be vested in a superintendent elected by the Commission
who received an honorable discharge from commission from among
those who served in the armed forces of the United States. The
superintendent, designated superintendent of the Veterans
Assistance Commission Superintendent of Veterans Assistance of
the county, shall, under the direction of the Commission
commission, have charge of and maintain an office in the
county building or a other central location within the county,
to be used solely by the Commission commission for providing
the just, necessary, and needed services mandated by law
carrying on its assistance work. The county shall provide for
the funding of the office and furnish all necessary supplies,
including telephone, printing, stationery, and postage
therefor.
    The county board shall, in any county where a Veterans
Assistance Commission is organized, in addition to sums
appropriated for these just, necessary, and needed services as
provided by law and approved by the Commission assistance and
emergency assistance purposes under this Act, appropriate such
additional sums, upon recommendation of the Veterans
Assistance Commission and as approved by the county board, to
properly compensate the officers and employees required to
administer such assistance. Such county board approval shall
be based upon recognized and established salary guidelines
developed by the county and used by the county to compensate
county employees. If the county does not have established
employee salary guidelines, the county board shall provide
funds to the commission to compensate the superintendent and
his employees in a just manner. The county board shall also
provide funds to the Commission commission to reimburse the
superintendent, officers, delegates and employees for certain
expenses which are approved by the Commission commission. The
superintendent and other employees shall be employees of the
Veterans Assistance Commission, and no provision in this
Section or elsewhere in this Act shall be construed to mean
that they are employees of the county.
    Superintendents, subject to rules formulated by the
Commission commission, shall select, as far as possible,
Veteran Service Officers secretaries and other employees from
among honorably discharged military veterans who did not
receive a bad conduct or dishonorable discharge as defined in
Section 2, or their surviving spouses.
    In a county with less than 2,000,000 inhabitants, the
superintendent may, in conformance with subsection (f) of
Section 3-9005 of the Counties Code, request legal assistance
from the State's Attorney serving the county in which the
Veterans Assistance Commission is located.
    Superintendents of all counties subject to this Act, when
required by the Commission, commission, shall give bond in the
sum of $2,000 for the faithful performance of their duties.
    All persons elected or selected to fill positions provided
for in this Section shall be exempt from the operation and
provisions of any civil service act or laws of this State, and
the secretary of the Commission commission shall be appointed
by the superintendent. However, if "The Illinois Public Aid
Code", as amended, becomes applicable in any county, the
Department of Human Services may exercise the powers therein
designated in relation to employees engaged in the
administration of assistance under this Act.
(Source: P.A. 102-56, eff. 7-9-21.)
 
    (330 ILCS 45/11 rep.)
    Section 20. The Military Veterans Assistance Act is
amended by repealing Section 11.