Full Text of SB0641 102nd General Assembly
SB0641eng 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning higher education.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The Higher Education Veterans Service Act is | 5 | | amended by changing Sections 15 and 20 as follows: | 6 | | (110 ILCS 49/15)
| 7 | | Sec. 15. Survey; coordinator; best practices report; best | 8 | | efforts.
| 9 | | (a) All public colleges and universities shall, within 60 | 10 | | days after the effective date of this Act, conduct a survey of | 11 | | the services and programs that are provided for veterans, | 12 | | active duty military personnel, and their families, at each of | 13 | | their respective campuses. This survey shall enumerate and | 14 | | fully describe the service or program that is available, the | 15 | | number of veterans or active duty personnel using the service | 16 | | or program, an estimated range for potential use within a | 17 | | 5-year and 10-year period, information on the location of the | 18 | | service or program, and how its administrators may be | 19 | | contacted. The survey shall indicate the manner or manners in | 20 | | which a student veteran may avail himself or herself of the | 21 | | program's services. This survey must be made available to all | 22 | | veterans matriculating at the college or university in the | 23 | | form of an orientation-related guidebook. |
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| 1 | | Each public college and university shall make the survey | 2 | | available on the homepage of all campus Internet links as soon | 3 | | as practical after the completion of the survey. As soon as | 4 | | possible after the completion of the survey, each public | 5 | | college and university shall provide a copy of its survey to | 6 | | the following: | 7 | | (1) the Board of Higher Education; | 8 | | (2) the Department of Veterans' Affairs; | 9 | | (3) the President and Minority Leader of the Senate | 10 | | and the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of | 11 | | Representatives; and | 12 | | (4) the Governor. | 13 | | (b) Each public college and university shall, at its | 14 | | discretion, (i) appoint, within 6 months after the effective | 15 | | date of this Act, an existing employee or (ii) hire a new | 16 | | employee to serve as a Coordinator of Veterans and Military | 17 | | Personnel Student Services on each campus of the college or | 18 | | university that has an onsite, daily, full-time student | 19 | | headcount above 1,000 students. | 20 | | The Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student | 21 | | Services shall be an ombudsperson serving the specific needs | 22 | | of student veterans and military personnel and their families | 23 | | and shall serve as an advocate before the administration of | 24 | | the college or university for the needs of student veterans. | 25 | | The college or university shall enable the Coordinator of | 26 | | Veterans and Military Personnel Student Services to |
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| 1 | | communicate directly with the senior executive administration | 2 | | of the college or university periodically. The college or | 3 | | university shall retain unfettered discretion to determine the | 4 | | organizational management structure of its institution. | 5 | | In addition to any responsibilities the college or | 6 | | university may assign, the Coordinator of Veterans and | 7 | | Military Personnel Student Services shall make its best | 8 | | efforts to create a centralized source for student veterans | 9 | | and military personnel to learn how to receive all benefit | 10 | | programs and services for which they are eligible. | 11 | | Each college and university campus that is required to | 12 | | have a Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student | 13 | | Services shall regularly and conspicuously advertise the | 14 | | office location and , phone number of , and Internet access to | 15 | | the Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student | 16 | | Services, along with a brief summary of the manner in which he | 17 | | or she can assist student veterans. The advertisement shall | 18 | | include, but is not necessarily limited to, the following: | 19 | | (1) advertisements on each campus' Internet home page; | 20 | | and | 21 | | (2) any promotional mailings for student application ; | 22 | | and . | 23 | | (3) the website and any social media accounts of the | 24 | | public college or university. | 25 | | The Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student | 26 | | Services shall facilitate other campus offices with the |
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| 1 | | promotion of programs and services that are available. | 2 | | (c) Upon receipt of all of the surveys under subsection | 3 | | (a) of this Section, the Board of Higher Education and the | 4 | | Department of Veterans' Affairs shall conduct a joint review | 5 | | of the surveys and post, on any Internet home page they may | 6 | | operate, a link to each survey as posted on the Internet | 7 | | website for the college or university. Upon receipt of all of | 8 | | the surveys, the Office of the Governor, through its military | 9 | | affairs advisors, shall similarly conduct a review of the | 10 | | surveys and post the surveys on its Internet website. | 11 | | Following its review of the surveys, the Office of the | 12 | | Governor shall submit an evaluation report to each college and | 13 | | university offering suggestions and insight on the conduct of | 14 | | student veteran-related policies and programs. | 15 | | (d) The Board of Higher Education and the Department of | 16 | | Veterans' Affairs may issue a best practices report to | 17 | | highlight those programs and services that are most beneficial | 18 | | to veterans and active duty military personnel. The report | 19 | | shall contain a fiscal needs assessment in conjunction with | 20 | | any program recommendations. | 21 | | (e) Each college and university campus that is required to | 22 | | have a Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student | 23 | | Services under subsection (b) of this Section shall make its | 24 | | best efforts to create academic and social programs and | 25 | | services for veterans and active duty military personnel that | 26 | | will provide reasonable opportunities for academic performance |
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| 1 | | and success. | 2 | | Each public college and university shall make its best | 3 | | efforts to determine how its online educational curricula can | 4 | | be expanded or altered to serve the needs of student veterans | 5 | | and currently-deployed military, including a determination of | 6 | | whether and to what extent the public colleges and | 7 | | universities can share existing technologies to improve the | 8 | | online curricula of peer institutions, provided such efforts | 9 | | are both practically and economically feasible.
| 10 | | (Source: P.A. 96-133, eff. 8-7-09; revised 7-16-19.) | 11 | | (110 ILCS 49/20)
| 12 | | Sec. 20. Fiscal impact and reporting. Each Beginning on | 13 | | September 1 of the year following the effective date of this | 14 | | Act and each subsequent September 1, each college and | 15 | | university that is required to have a Coordinator of Veterans | 16 | | and Military Personnel Student Services under subsection (b) | 17 | | of Section 20 of this Act shall report to the Board of Higher | 18 | | Education on the fiscal impact of the programs and services | 19 | | related to the requirements of this Act and on the efforts of | 20 | | the public college or university in attracting, recruiting, | 21 | | and retaining veterans and military personnel . | 22 | | The Board of Higher Education shall compile the | 23 | | information and, within 60 days after receipt of such | 24 | | information, issue a report reflecting the information for | 25 | | each institution required to report under this Section. The |
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| 1 | | report must be filed with the Governor, the Governor's Office | 2 | | of Management and Budget, the Director of Veterans' Affairs, | 3 | | the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of | 4 | | the Senate, the Minority Leader of the House of | 5 | | Representatives, and the Minority Leader of the Senate.
| 6 | | (Source: P.A. 96-133, eff. 8-7-09.)
| 7 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 8 | | becoming law.
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