Full Text of HB0181 099th General Assembly
HB0181 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016 HB0181 Introduced , by Rep. David McSweeney SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
| 25 ILCS 115/4 | from Ch. 63, par. 15.1 |
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Amends the General Assembly Compensation Act. Reduces the district office allowance of members of the General Assembly by 10%. Effective immediately.
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| | | FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
| | A BILL FOR |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning State government.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The General Assembly Compensation Act is amended | 5 | | by changing Section 4 as follows: | 6 | | (25 ILCS 115/4) (from Ch. 63, par. 15.1)
| 7 | | Sec. 4. Office allowance. Beginning July 1, 2001 and | 8 | | through the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 99th | 9 | | General Assembly , each member
of the House
of Representatives | 10 | | is authorized to approve the expenditure of not more than
| 11 | | $61,000 per year and each member of the
Senate is authorized to | 12 | | approve the
expenditure of not more than $73,000 per
year to | 13 | | pay for "personal services",
"contractual services", | 14 | | "commodities", "printing", "travel",
"operation of automotive | 15 | | equipment", "telecommunications services", as
defined in the | 16 | | State Finance Act, and the compensation of one or more
| 17 | | legislative assistants authorized pursuant to this Section, in | 18 | | connection
with his or her legislative duties and not in | 19 | | connection with any political
campaign.
Beginning on the | 20 | | effective date of this amendatory Act of the 99th General | 21 | | Assembly, each member of the House of Representatives is | 22 | | authorized to expend 90% of the amount that a member of the | 23 | | House of Representatives was authorized to expend for these |
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| 1 | | purposes on the day before the effective date of this | 2 | | amendatory Act of the 99th General Assembly, and each member of | 3 | | the Senate is authorized to expend 90% of the amount that a | 4 | | member of the Senate was authorized to expend for these | 5 | | purposes on the day before the effective date of this | 6 | | amendatory Act of the 99th General Assembly. | 7 | | On July 1, 2002 and on July 1 of each year thereafter, the | 8 | | amount authorized
per year under this Section for each member | 9 | | of the Senate and each member of
the House of Representatives | 10 | | shall be increased by a percentage increase
equivalent to the | 11 | | lesser of (i) the increase in the designated cost of living
| 12 | | index or (ii) 5%. The designated cost of living index is the | 13 | | index known as
the "Employment Cost Index, Wages and Salaries, | 14 | | By
Occupation and Industry Groups: State and Local Government | 15 | | Workers: Public
Administration" as published by the Bureau of | 16 | | Labor Statistics of the U.S.
Department of Labor for the | 17 | | calendar year immediately preceding the year of the
respective | 18 | | July 1st increase date. The increase shall be added to the then
| 19 | | current amount, and the adjusted amount so determined shall be | 20 | | the annual
amount beginning July 1 of the increase year until | 21 | | July 1 of the next year , subject to any adjustment required by | 22 | | this amendatory Act of the 99th General Assembly . No
increase | 23 | | under this provision shall be less than zero.
| 24 | | A member may purchase office equipment if the member | 25 | | certifies
to the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the | 26 | | House, as applicable,
that the purchase price, whether paid in |
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| 1 | | lump sum or installments, amounts
to less than would be charged | 2 | | for renting or leasing the equipment over
its anticipated | 3 | | useful life. All such equipment must be purchased through
the | 4 | | Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House, as | 5 | | applicable, for
proper identification and verification of | 6 | | purchase.
| 7 | | Each member of the General Assembly is authorized to employ | 8 | | one or more
legislative assistants, who shall be solely under | 9 | | the direction and control
of that member, for the purpose of | 10 | | assisting the member in the performance
of his or her official | 11 | | duties. A legislative assistant may be employed
pursuant to | 12 | | this Section as a full-time employee, part-time employee, or
| 13 | | contractual employee, at
the discretion of the member. If | 14 | | employed as a State employee, a
legislative assistant shall | 15 | | receive employment benefits on the same terms
and conditions | 16 | | that apply to other employees of the General Assembly.
Each | 17 | | member shall adopt and implement personnel policies
for | 18 | | legislative assistants under his or her direction and
control | 19 | | relating to work time requirements, documentation for | 20 | | reimbursement for
travel on official State business, | 21 | | compensation, and the earning and accrual of
State benefits for | 22 | | those legislative assistants who may be eligible to receive
| 23 | | those benefits.
The policies shall also require legislative | 24 | | assistants to
periodically submit time sheets documenting, in | 25 | | quarter-hour increments, the
time
spent each day on official | 26 | | State business.
The
policies shall require the time sheets to |
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| 1 | | be submitted on paper,
electronically, or both and to be | 2 | | maintained in either paper or electronic
format by the | 3 | | applicable fiscal office
for a period of at least 2 years.
| 4 | | Contractual employees may satisfy
the time sheets requirement | 5 | | by complying with the terms of their contract,
which shall | 6 | | provide for a means of compliance with this requirement.
A | 7 | | member may
satisfy the requirements of this paragraph by | 8 | | adopting and implementing the
personnel policies promulgated | 9 | | by that
member's legislative leader under the State Officials | 10 | | and Employees Ethics
Act
with respect to that member's | 11 | | legislative
assistants.
| 12 | | As used in this Section the term "personal services" shall | 13 | | include
contributions of the State under the Federal Insurance | 14 | | Contribution Act and
under Article 14 of the Illinois Pension | 15 | | Code. As used in this Section the
term "contractual services" | 16 | | shall not include improvements to real property
unless those | 17 | | improvements are the obligation of the lessee under the lease
| 18 | | agreement. Beginning July 1, 1989, as used in the Section, the | 19 | | term "travel"
shall be limited to travel in connection with a | 20 | | member's legislative duties and
not in connection with any | 21 | | political campaign. Beginning on the effective
date of this | 22 | | amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly, as
used
in this | 23 | | Section, the term "printing" includes, but is not limited to,
| 24 | | newsletters,
brochures, certificates,
congratulatory
mailings,
| 25 | | greeting or welcome messages, anniversary or
birthday cards, | 26 | | and congratulations for prominent achievement cards. As used
in |
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| 1 | | this Section, the term "printing" includes fees for | 2 | | non-substantive
resolutions charged by the Clerk of the House | 3 | | of Representatives under
subsection (c-5) of Section 1 of the | 4 | | Legislative Materials Act.
No newsletter or brochure that is | 5 | | paid for, in whole or in part, with
funds
provided under this | 6 | | Section may be printed or mailed during a period
beginning | 7 | | February 1 of the year of a general primary
election and ending | 8 | | the day after the general primary election and during a
period | 9 | | beginning September 1 of the year of a general election and | 10 | | ending the
day after the general election, except that such a | 11 | | newsletter or brochure may
be mailed during
those times if it | 12 | | is mailed to a constituent in response to that constituent's
| 13 | | inquiry concerning the needs of that constituent or questions | 14 | | raised by that
constituent.
Nothing in
this Section shall be | 15 | | construed to authorize expenditures for lodging and meals
while | 16 | | a member is in attendance at sessions of the General Assembly.
| 17 | | Any utility bill for service provided to a member's | 18 | | district office for
a period including portions of 2 | 19 | | consecutive fiscal years may be paid from
funds appropriated | 20 | | for such expenditure in either fiscal year.
| 21 | | If a vacancy occurs in the office of Senator or | 22 | | Representative in the General
Assembly, any office equipment in | 23 | | the possession of the vacating member
shall transfer to the | 24 | | member's successor; if the successor does not want
such | 25 | | equipment, it shall be transferred to the Secretary of the | 26 | | Senate or
Clerk of the House of Representatives, as the case |
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| 1 | | may be, and if not
wanted by other members of the General | 2 | | Assembly then to the Department of
Central Management Services | 3 | | for treatment as surplus property under the
State Property | 4 | | Control Act. Each member, on or before June 30th of each
year, | 5 | | shall conduct an inventory of all equipment purchased pursuant | 6 | | to
this Act. Such inventory shall be filed with the Secretary | 7 | | of the Senate
or the Clerk of the House, as the case may be. | 8 | | Whenever a vacancy occurs,
the Secretary of the Senate or the | 9 | | Clerk of the House, as the case may be,
shall conduct an | 10 | | inventory of equipment purchased.
| 11 | | In the event that a member leaves office during his or her | 12 | | term, any
unexpended or unobligated portion of the allowance | 13 | | granted under this Section
shall lapse. The vacating member's | 14 | | successor shall be granted an allowance
in an amount, rounded | 15 | | to the nearest dollar, computed by dividing the annual
| 16 | | allowance by 365 and multiplying the quotient by the number of | 17 | | days remaining
in the fiscal year.
| 18 | | From any appropriation for the purposes of this Section for | 19 | | a
fiscal year which overlaps 2 General Assemblies, no more than | 20 | | 1/2 of the
annual allowance per member may be spent or | 21 | | encumbered by any member of
either the outgoing or incoming | 22 | | General Assembly, except that any member
of the incoming | 23 | | General Assembly who was a member of the outgoing General
| 24 | | Assembly may encumber or spend any portion of his annual | 25 | | allowance within
the fiscal year.
| 26 | | The appropriation for the annual allowances permitted by |
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| 1 | | this Section
shall be included in an appropriation to the | 2 | | President of the Senate and to
the Speaker of the House of | 3 | | Representatives for their respective members.
The President of | 4 | | the Senate and the Speaker of the House shall voucher for
| 5 | | payment individual members' expenditures from their annual | 6 | | office
allowances to the State Comptroller, subject to the | 7 | | authority of the
Comptroller under Section 9 of the State | 8 | | Comptroller Act.
| 9 | | Nothing in this Section prohibits the expenditure of | 10 | | personal funds or the funds of a political committee controlled | 11 | | by an officeholder to defray the customary and reasonable | 12 | | expenses of an officeholder in connection with the performance | 13 | | of governmental and public service functions. | 14 | | (Source: P.A. 95-6, eff. 6-20-07; 96-555, eff. 8-18-09; 96-886, | 15 | | eff. 1-1-11 .)
| 16 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 17 | | becoming law.
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