HB1143ham001 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Elementary & Secondary Education Committee

Filed: 3/14/2007

09500HB1143ham001 LRB095 08077 NHT 32822 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 1143

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 1143 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 5. The Election Code is amended by changing Section 11-4.1 as follows:

(10 ILCS 5/11-4.1) (from Ch. 46, par. 11-4.1)

Sec. 11-4.1. (a) In appointing polling places under this Article, the county board or board of election commissioners shall, insofar as they are convenient and available, use schools and other public buildings as polling places.

(b) Upon request of the county board or board of election commissioners, the proper agency of government (including school districts and units of local government) shall make a public building under its control available for use as a polling place on an election day and for a reasonably necessary time before and after election day, without charge. If the county board or board of election commissioners chooses a school to be a polling place, then the school district must make the school available for use as a polling place. However, for the day of the election, a school district shall close the school may choose to (i) keep the school open or (ii) hold a teachers institute on that day.

(c) A government agency which makes a public building under its control available for use as a polling place shall ensure the portion of the building to be used as the polling place is accessible to handicapped and elderly voters.

(Source: P.A. 92-465, eff. 8-22-01.)

Section 10. The School Code is amended by changing Sections 22-21 and 24-2 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/22-21) (from Ch. 122, par. 22-21)

Sec. 22-21. Elections-Use of school buildings.

(a) Every school board shall offer to the appropriate officer or board having responsibility for providing polling places for elections the use of any and all buildings under its jurisdiction for any and all elections to be held, if so requested by such appropriate officer or board.

(b) Election officers shall place 2 or more cones, small United States national flags, or some other marker a distance of 100 horizontal feet from each entrance to the room used by voters to engage in voting, which shall be known as the polling room. If the polling room is located within a building that is a public or private school and the distance of 100 horizontal feet ends within the interior of the building, then the markers shall be placed outside of the building at each entrance used by voters to enter that building on the grounds adjacent to the thoroughfare or walkway. If the polling room is located within a public or private school building with 2 or more floors and the polling room is located on the ground floor, then the markers shall be placed 100 horizontal feet from each entrance to the polling room used by voters to engage in voting. If the polling room is located in a public or private school building with 2 or more floors and the polling room is located on a floor above or below the ground floor, then the markers shall be placed a distance of 100 feet from the nearest elevator or staircase used by voters on the ground floor to access the floor where the polling room is located. The area within where the markers are placed shall be known as a campaign free zone, and electioneering is prohibited pursuant to this subsection.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Code, the area on polling place property beyond the campaign free zone, whether publicly or privately owned, is a public forum for the time that the polls are open on an election day. At the request of election officers any publicly owned building must be made available for use as a polling place. A person shall have the right to congregate and engage in electioneering on any polling place property while the polls are open beyond the campaign free zone, including but not limited to, the placement of temporary signs. This subsection shall be construed liberally in favor of persons engaging in electioneering on all polling place property beyond the campaign free zone for the time that the polls are open on an election day.

(c) If a school is designated as a polling place, then the school board shall close that school on the day of the election and the school board may close any other schools that same day.

(Source: P.A. 93-574, eff. 8-21-03.)

(105 ILCS 5/24-2) (from Ch. 122, par. 24-2)

Sec. 24-2. Holidays. Teachers shall not be required to teach on Saturdays; nor shall teachers or other school employees, other than noncertificated school employees whose presence is necessary because of an emergency or for the continued operation and maintenance of school facilities or property, be required to work on legal school holidays, which are January 1, New Year's Day; the third Monday in January, the Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; February 12, the Birthday of President Abraham Lincoln; the first Monday in March (to be known as Casimir Pulaski's birthday); Good Friday; the day designated as Memorial Day by federal law; July 4, Independence Day; the first Monday in September, Labor Day; the second Monday in October, Columbus Day; November 11, Veteran's Day; the Thursday in November commonly called Thanksgiving Day; and December 25, Christmas Day. School boards may grant special holidays whenever in their judgment such action is advisable, except that no school board or board of education may designate or observe as a special holiday on which teachers or other school employees are not required to work the days on which general elections for members of the Illinois House of Representatives are held. No deduction shall be made from the time or compensation of a school employee on account of any legal or special holiday.

Commemorative holidays, which recognize specified patriotic, civic, cultural or historical persons, activities, or events, are regular school days. Commemorative holidays are: January 28 (to be known as Christa McAuliffe Day and observed as a commemoration of space exploration), February 15 (the birthday of Susan B. Anthony), March 29 (Viet Nam War Veterans Day), September 11 (September 11th Day of Remembrance), the school day immediately preceding Veteran's Day (Korean War Veterans Day), October 1 (Recycling Day), December 7 (Pearl Harbor Veterans Day) and any day so appointed by the President or Governor. School boards may establish commemorative holidays whenever in their judgment such action is advisable. School boards shall include instruction relative to commemorated persons, activities, or events on the commemorative holiday or at any other time during the school year and at any point in the curriculum when such instruction may be deemed appropriate. The State Board of Education shall prepare and make available to school boards instructional materials relative to commemorated persons, activities, or events which may be used by school boards in conjunction with any instruction provided pursuant to this paragraph.

City of Chicago School District 299 shall observe March 4 of each year as a commemorative holiday. This holiday shall be known as Mayors' Day which shall be a day to commemorate and be reminded of the past Chief Executive Officers of the City of Chicago, and in particular the late Mayor Richard J. Daley and the late Mayor Harold Washington. If March 4 falls on a Saturday or Sunday, Mayors' Day shall be observed on the following Monday.

(Source: P.A. 92-704, eff. 7-19-02.)".