Public Act 095-0736
 
HB5368 Enrolled LRB095 16838 RCE 42876 b

    AN ACT concerning military affairs.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Military Family Interstate Compact Implementation Statute
Drafting Advisory Committee Act.
 
    Section 5. Committee; created; mandate. The Military
Family Interstate Compact Implementation Statute Drafting
Advisory Committee is created as an interagency advisory
committee to develop a comprehensive statute to implement the
Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military
Children, a document developed by the National Military Family
Association. The Lieutenant Governor is the chair of the
Committee, which shall be composed of the following individuals
or agency designees:
        (1) The Lieutenant Governor.
        (2) The Illinois State Board of Education.
        (3) The Department of Commerce and Economic
    Opportunity.
        (4) The Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
        (5) The Housing Development Authority.
        (6) The Department of Veterans' Affairs.
        (7) The Department of Military Affairs.
        (8) The Department of Employment Security.
        (9) Any other interested stakeholder, at the
    discretion of the chair.
    The Committee shall meet at a time and place designated by
the chair, but in no case shall the Committee meet less often
than once each month, until it has fulfilled all the
obligations delineated in this Act.
    All meetings of the Committee are subject to the provisions
of the Open Meetings Act.
    All proceedings of the Committee and documents produced by
the Committee are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act.
    The Committee shall draft and submit to the General
Assembly a model implementation statute and a report outlining
all the issues raised by the implementation by no later than
December 31, 2008 or within 90 days after the effective date of
this Act, whichever is later.
    The Office of the Lieutenant Governor shall provide staff
and administrative support to the Committee.
 
    Section 90. The Department of Veterans Affairs Act is
amended by adding Section 30 as follows:
 
    (20 ILCS 2805/30 new)
    Sec. 30. Task Force on Servicemember and Veterans
Education.
    (a) The Task Force on Servicemember and Veterans Education
is created. The Task Force shall be chaired by the Lieutenant
Governor and shall consist of the following members:
        (1) one member appointed by the Governor;
        (2) one member appointed by the President of the
    Senate;
        (3) one member appointed by the Senate Minority Leader;
        (4) one member appointed by the Speaker of the House of
    Representatives;
        (5) one member appointed by the House Minority Leader;
        (6) one member appointed by the Director of Veterans'
    Affairs; and
        (7) one member designated by the Department of Military
    Affairs, appointed by the Adjutant General.
Vacancies in the Task Force shall be filled by the initial
appointing authority. Task Force members shall serve without
compensation, but may be reimbursed from appropriations
available for that purpose for necessary expenses incurred in
performing duties associated with the Task Force.
    Within 60 days after the effective date of this amendatory
Act of the 95th General Assembly, the Task Force must issue a
report to the General Assembly, including draft legislative
language and draft administrative rules, designed to do the
following:
        (1) assist public universities and community colleges
    throughout the State in developing an Internet-based
    curriculum of higher education courses for credit,
    tailored specifically to the needs of active duty
    servicemembers and veterans of the United States Armed
    Forces, with a particular emphasis on addressing the unique
    needs of servicemembers who are stationed abroad; and
        (2) create on-campus veterans' centers at each public
    university and community college within the State to assist
    veterans in applying for financial aid and other benefits
    that may be available to them; on-campus centers shall be
    staffed by veterans and those intimately familiar with the
    needs and concerns of veterans.
 
    Section 95. The Unemployment Insurance Act is amended by
changing Section 601 as follows:
 
    (820 ILCS 405/601)  (from Ch. 48, par. 431)
    Sec. 601. Voluntary leaving.
     A. An individual shall be ineligible for benefits for the
week in which he has left work voluntarily without good cause
attributable to the employing unit and, thereafter, until he
has become reemployed and has had earnings equal to or in
excess of his current weekly benefit amount in each of four
calendar weeks which are either for services in employment, or
have been or will be reported pursuant to the provisions of the
Federal Insurance Contributions Act by each employing unit for
which such services are performed and which submits a statement
certifying to that fact.
    B. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to an
individual who has left work voluntarily:
        1. Because he is deemed physically unable to perform
    his work by a licensed and practicing physician, or has
    left work voluntarily upon the advice of a licensed and
    practicing physician that assistance is necessary for the
    purpose of caring for his spouse, child, or parent who is
    in poor physical health and such assistance will not allow
    him to perform the usual and customary duties of his
    employment, and he has notified the employing unit of the
    reasons for his absence;
        2. To accept other bona fide work and, after such
    acceptance, the individual is either not unemployed in each
    of 2 weeks, or earns remuneration for such work equal to at
    least twice his current weekly benefit amount;
        3. In lieu of accepting a transfer to other work
    offered to the individual by the employing unit under the
    terms of a collective bargaining agreement or pursuant to
    an established employer plan, program, or policy, if the
    acceptance of such other work by the individual would
    require the separation from that work of another individual
    currently performing it;
        4. Solely because of the sexual harassment of the
    individual by another employee. Sexual harassment means
    (1) unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors,
    sexually motivated physical contact or other conduct or
    communication which is made a term or condition of the
    employment or (2) the employee's submission to or rejection
    of such conduct or communication which is the basis for
    decisions affecting employment, or (3) when such conduct or
    communication has the purpose or effect of substantially
    interfering with an individual's work performance or
    creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working
    environment and the employer knows or should know of the
    existence of the harassment and fails to take timely and
    appropriate action;
        5. Which he had accepted after separation from other
    work, and the work which he left voluntarily would be
    deemed unsuitable under the provisions of Section 603;
        6. (a) Because the individual left work due to
    circumstances resulting from the individual being a victim
    of domestic violence as defined in Section 103 of the
    Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986; and provided, such
    individual has made reasonable efforts to preserve the
    employment.
        For the purposes of this paragraph 6, the individual
    shall be treated as being a victim of domestic violence if
    the individual provides the following:
            (i) written notice to the employing unit of the
        reason for the individual's voluntarily leaving; and
            (ii) to the Department provides:
                (A) an order of protection or other
            documentation of equitable relief issued by a
            court of competent jurisdiction; or
                (B) a police report or criminal charges
            documenting the domestic violence; or
                (C) medical documentation of the domestic
            violence; or
                (D) evidence of domestic violence from a
            counselor, social worker, health worker or
            domestic violence shelter worker.
        (b) If the individual does not meet the provisions of
    subparagraph (a), the individual shall be held to have
    voluntarily terminated employment for the purpose of
    determining the individual's eligibility for benefits
    pursuant to subsection A.
        (c) Notwithstanding any other provision to the
    contrary, evidence of domestic violence experienced by an
    individual, including the individual's statement and
    corroborating evidence, shall not be disclosed by the
    Department unless consent for disclosure is given by the
    individual.
        7. Because the individual left employment to accompany
    a spouse who has been reassigned from one military
    assignment to another. The employer's account, however,
    shall not be charged for any benefits paid out to the
    individual who leaves to accompany a spouse reassigned from
    one military assignment to another.
(Source: P.A. 93-634, eff. 1-1-04.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.