HB5688eng 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB5688 Engrossed LRB098 17408 RLC 52508 b

AN ACT concerning law enforcement officers.

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 Law Enforcement Officer Bulletproof Vest Act.

Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Armor vest" or "bulletproof vest" means body armor, no less than Type I, which has been tested through the voluntary compliance testing program operated by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center of the National Institute of Justice, and found to meet or exceed the requirements of National Institute of Justice Standard 0101.03, or any subsequent revision of that standard.

"Law enforcement agency" means an agency of this State or unit of local government which is vested by law or ordinance with the duty to maintain public order and to enforce criminal laws or ordinances.

"Law enforcement officer" means any officer, agent, or employee of this State or a unit of local government authorized by law or by a government agency to engage in or supervise the prevention, detection, or investigation of any violation of criminal law, or authorized by law to supervise sentenced criminal offenders.

"Recruit" means any full-time or part-time law enforcement officer or full-time county corrections officer who is enrolled in an approved training course.

Section 10. Law enforcement agencies to provide bulletproof vests for officers.

(a) Each law enforcement agency within this State shall provide a bulletproof vest for every law enforcement officer of that agency who is employed as a new recruit by that agency on or after the effective date of this Act as part of the officer's initial equipment issue.

(b) All officer bulletproof vests shall be replaced before or at the expiration of the warranty period of the vest at the expense of the law enforcement agency.

(c) The State or unit of local government which has jurisdiction over the law enforcement agency shall apply to the United States Department of Justice under the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 1998 or a successor Act for matching grants of the purchase price of the bulletproof vests for the officers of the law enforcement agency.

(d) If the law enforcement agency is a local law enforcement agency and not a State agency, the costs of purchasing the bulletproof vests shall be from State funds and from the funds of the unit of local government, including the matching grants received from the United States Department of Justice.

Section 15. Applicability. If substantial funding for the purchase of bulletproof vests is provided to law enforcement agencies by the federal government and State government, the law enforcement agency shall comply with the provisions of this Act. This Act does not apply to a law enforcement agency if any one of the following is applicable:

(1) substantial funding, as determined by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board, is not provided to that agency by the federal and State government;

(2) the law enforcement agency collectively bargains with its officers or exclusive representative of the officers for uniform allowances, and bulletproof vests are considered to be a part of the uniform for which the allowance is given; or

(3) the law enforcement agency collectively bargains with its officers or exclusive representative of the officers for the provision of bulletproof vests.

Section 905. The Illinois Police Training Act is amended by changing Section 9 as follows:

(50 ILCS 705/9) (from Ch. 85, par. 509)

Sec. 9. A special fund is hereby established in the State Treasury to be known as "The Traffic and Criminal Conviction Surcharge Fund" and shall be financed as provided in Section 9.1 of this Act and Section 5-9-1 of the "Unified Code of Corrections", unless the fines, costs or additional amounts imposed are subject to disbursement by the circuit clerk under Section 27.5 of the Clerks of Courts Act. Moneys in this Fund shall be expended as follows:

(1) A portion of the total amount deposited in the Fund may be used, as appropriated by the General Assembly, for the ordinary and contingent expenses of the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board;

(2) A portion of the total amount deposited in the Fund shall be appropriated for the reimbursement of local governmental agencies participating in training programs certified by the Board, in an amount equaling 1/2 of the total sum paid by such agencies during the State's previous fiscal year for mandated training for probationary police officers or probationary county corrections officers and for optional advanced and specialized law enforcement or county corrections training. These reimbursements may include the costs for tuition at training schools, the salaries of trainees while in schools, and the necessary travel and room and board expenses for each trainee. If the appropriations under this paragraph (2) are not sufficient to fully reimburse the participating local governmental agencies, the available funds shall be apportioned among such agencies, with priority first given to repayment of the costs of mandatory training given to law enforcement officer or county corrections officer recruits, then to repayment of costs of advanced or specialized training for permanent police officers or permanent county corrections officers;

(3) A portion of the total amount deposited in the Fund may be used to fund the "Intergovernmental Law Enforcement Officer's In-Service Training Act", veto overridden October 29, 1981, as now or hereafter amended, at a rate and method to be determined by the board;

(4) A portion of the Fund also may be used by the Illinois Department of State Police for expenses incurred in the training of employees from any State, county or municipal agency whose function includes enforcement of criminal or traffic law;

(5) A portion of the Fund may be used by the Board to fund grant-in-aid programs and services for the training of employees from any county or municipal agency whose functions include corrections or the enforcement of criminal or traffic law; and

(6) For fiscal years 2013 and 2014 only, a portion of the Fund also may be used by the Department of State Police to finance any of its lawful purposes or functions; and .

(7) A portion of the Fund may be used by the Board, subject to appropriation, to administer grants to local law enforcement agencies for the purpose of purchasing bulletproof vests under the Law Enforcement Officer Bulletproof Vest Act.

All payments from the Traffic and Criminal Conviction Surcharge Fund shall be made each year from moneys appropriated for the purposes specified in this Section. No more than 50% of any appropriation under this Act shall be spent in any city having a population of more than 500,000. The State Comptroller and the State Treasurer shall from time to time, at the direction of the Governor, transfer from the Traffic and Criminal Conviction Surcharge Fund to the General Revenue Fund in the State Treasury such amounts as the Governor determines are in excess of the amounts required to meet the obligations of the Traffic and Criminal Conviction Surcharge Fund.

(Source: P.A. 97-732, eff. 6-30-12; 98-24, eff. 6-19-13.)