Public Act 0446 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB0497 Enrolled LRB094 06786 DRJ 36888 b

Public Act 094-0446

AN ACT concerning State government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Department of Veterans Affairs Act is amended by adding Section 4.5 as follows:

(20 ILCS 2805/4.5 new)

Sec. 4.5. Grants to veterans service organizations.

(a) Subject to appropriations for that purpose, the Department shall make grants to veterans service organizations for the purpose of furthering those organizations' work of providing assistance to veterans. The Department shall make grants only to veterans service organizations that maintain an office in the Veterans Affairs Regional Office (VARO) in Chicago. The Department shall apportion the grants equally between the qualifying veterans service organizations.

(b) To be eligible to receive a grant, a veterans service organization must have maintained a state headquarters in this State for at least 10 years before July 1, 2005. A veterans service organization that is being funded with State or county moneys under any other provision of law on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly may not receive any moneys for any grant under this Section.

(c) Grants made under this Section may not be used to replace or supplant services provided by employees of the Department.