Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of Public Act 094-0537
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Public Act 094-0537


 

Public Act 0537 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY



 


 
Public Act 094-0537
 
SB0780 Enrolled LRB094 10339 JAM 40609 b

    AN ACT concerning State government.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Voluntary Payroll Deductions Act of 1983 is
amended by changing Section 3 as follows:
 
    (5 ILCS 340/3)  (from Ch. 15, par. 503)
    Sec. 3. Definitions. As used in this Act unless the context
otherwise requires:
    (a) "Employee" means any regular officer or employee who
receives salary or wages for personal services rendered to the
State of Illinois, and includes an individual hired as an
employee by contract with that individual.
    (b) "Qualified organization" means an organization
representing one or more benefiting agencies, which
organization is designated by the State Comptroller as
qualified to receive payroll deductions under this Act. An
organization desiring to be designated as a qualified
organization shall:
        (1) Submit written designations on forms approved by
    the State Comptroller by 4,000 or more employees or State
    annuitants, in which such employees or State annuitants
    indicate that the organization is one for which the
    employee or State annuitant intends to authorize
    withholding. The forms shall require the name, last 4
    digits only of the social security number, and employing
    State agency for each employee. Upon notification by the
    Comptroller that such forms have been approved, the
    organization shall, within 30 days, notify in writing the
    Governor or his or her designee of its intention to obtain
    the required number of designations. Such organization
    shall have 12 months from that date to obtain the necessary
    designations and return to the State Comptroller's office
    the completed designations, which shall be subject to
    verification procedures established by the State
    Comptroller;
        (2) Certify that all benefiting agencies are tax exempt
    under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code;
        (3) Certify that all benefiting agencies are in
    compliance with the Illinois Human Rights Act;
        (4) Certify that all benefiting agencies are in
    compliance with the Charitable Trust Act and the
    Solicitation for Charity Act;
        (5) Certify that all benefiting agencies actively
    conduct health or welfare programs and provide services to
    individuals directed at one or more of the following common
    human needs within a community: service, research, and
    education in the health fields; family and child care
    services; protective services for children and adults;
    services for children and adults in foster care; services
    related to the management and maintenance of the home; day
    care services for adults; transportation services;
    information, referral and counseling services; services to
    eliminate illiteracy; the preparation and delivery of
    meals; adoption services; emergency shelter care and
    relief services; disaster relief services; safety
    services; neighborhood and community organization
    services; recreation services; social adjustment and
    rehabilitation services; health support services; or a
    combination of such services designed to meet the special
    needs of specific groups, such as children and youth, the
    ill and infirm, and the physically handicapped; and that
    all such benefiting agencies provide the above described
    services to individuals and their families in the community
    and surrounding area in which the organization conducts its
    fund drive, or that such benefiting agencies provide relief
    to victims of natural disasters and other emergencies on a
    where and as needed basis;
        (6) Certify that the organization has disclosed the
    percentage of the organization's total collected receipts
    from employees or State annuitants that are distributed to
    the benefiting agencies and the percentage of the
    organization's total collected receipts from employees or
    State annuitants that are expended for fund-raising and
    overhead costs. These percentages shall be the same
    percentage figures annually disclosed by the organization
    to the Attorney General. The disclosure shall be made to
    all solicited employees and State annuitants and shall be
    in the form of a factual statement on all petitions and in
    the campaign's brochures for employees and State
    annuitants;
        (7) Certify that all benefiting agencies receiving
    funds which the employee or State annuitant has requested
    or designated for distribution to a particular community
    and surrounding area use a majority of such funds
    distributed for services in the actual provision of
    services in that community and surrounding area;
        (8) Certify that neither it nor its member
    organizations will solicit State employees for
    contributions at their workplace, except pursuant to this
    Act and the rules promulgated thereunder. Each qualified
    organization, and each participating United Fund, is
    encouraged to cooperate with all others and with all State
    agencies and educational institutions so as to simplify
    procedures, to resolve differences and to minimize costs;
        (9) Certify that it will pay its share of the campaign
    costs and will comply with the Code of Campaign Conduct as
    approved by the Governor or other agency as designated by
    the Governor; and
        (10) Certify that it maintains a year-round office, the
    telephone number, and person responsible for the
    operations of the organization in Illinois. That
    information shall be provided to the State Comptroller at
    the time the organization is seeking participation under
    this Act.
    Each qualified organization shall submit to the State
Comptroller between January 1 and March 1 of each year, a
statement that the organization is in compliance with all of
the requirements set forth in paragraphs (2) through (10). The
State Comptroller shall exclude any organization that fails to
submit the statement from the next solicitation period.
    In order to be designated as a qualified organization, the
organization shall have existed at least 2 years prior to
submitting the written designation forms required in paragraph
(1) and shall certify to the State Comptroller that such
organization has been providing services described in
paragraph (5) in Illinois. If the organization seeking
designation represents more than one benefiting agency, it need
not have existed for 2 years but shall certify to the State
Comptroller that each of its benefiting agencies has existed
for at least 2 years prior to submitting the written
designation forms required in paragraph (1) and that each has
been providing services described in paragraph (5) in Illinois.
    Organizations which have met the requirements of this Act
shall be permitted to participate in the State and Universities
Combined Appeal as of January 1st of the year immediately
following their approval by the Comptroller.
    Where the certifications described in paragraphs (2), (3),
(4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), and (10) above are made by an
organization representing more than one benefiting agency they
shall be based upon the knowledge and belief of such qualified
organization. Any qualified organization shall immediately
notify the State Comptroller in writing if the qualified
organization receives information or otherwise believes that a
benefiting agency is no longer in compliance with the
certification of the qualified organization. A qualified
organization representing more than one benefiting agency
shall thereafter withhold and refrain from distributing to such
benefiting agency those funds received pursuant to this Act
until the benefiting agency is again in compliance with the
qualified organization's certification. The qualified
organization shall immediately notify the State Comptroller of
the benefiting agency's resumed compliance with the
certification, based upon the qualified organization's
knowledge and belief, and shall pay over to the benefiting
agency those funds previously withheld.
    In order to qualify, a qualified organization must receive
250 deduction pledges from the immediately preceding
solicitation period as set forth in Section 6. The Comptroller
shall, by February 1st of each year, so notify any qualified
organization that failed to receive the minimum deduction
requirement. at least 500 payroll deduction pledges during each
immediately preceding solicitation period as set forth in
Section 6. The notification shall give such qualified
organization until March 1st to provide the Comptroller with
documentation that the minimum 500 deduction requirement has
been met. On the basis of all the documentation, the
Comptroller shall, by March 15th of each year, submit to the
Governor or his or her designee, or such other agency as may be
determined by the Governor, a list of all organizations which
have met the minimum 500 payroll deduction requirement. Only
those organizations which have met such requirements, as well
as the other requirements of this Section, shall be permitted
to solicit State employees or State annuitants for voluntary
contributions, and the Comptroller shall discontinue
withholding for any such organization which fails to meet these
requirements, except qualified organizations that received
deduction pledges during the 2004 solicitation period are
deemed to be qualified for the 2005 solicitation period.
    (c) "United Fund" means the organization conducting the
single, annual, consolidated effort to secure funds for
distribution to agencies engaged in charitable and public
health, welfare and services purposes, which is commonly known
as the United Fund, or the organization which serves in place
of the United Fund organization in communities where an
organization known as the United Fund is not organized.
    In order for a United Fund to participate in the State and
Universities Employees Combined Appeal, it shall comply with
the provisions of paragraph (9) of subsection (b).
    (d) "State and Universities Employees Combined Appeal",
otherwise known as "SECA", means the State-directed joint
effort of all of the qualified organizations, together with the
United Funds, for the solicitation of voluntary contributions
from State and University employees and State annuitants.
    (e) "Retirement system" means any or all of the following:
the General Assembly Retirement System, the State Employees'
Retirement System of Illinois, the State Universities
Retirement System, the Teachers' Retirement System of the State
of Illinois, and the Judges Retirement System.
    (f) "State annuitant" means a person receiving an annuity
or disability benefit under Article 2, 14, 15, 16, or 18 of the
Illinois Pension Code.
(Source: P.A. 91-357, eff. 7-29-99; 91-533, eff. 8-13-99;
91-896, eff. 7-6-00; 92-634, eff. 7-11-02.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.

Effective Date: 8/10/2005