Full Text of SB2846 98th General Assembly
SB2846 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2013 and 2014 SB2846 Introduced 1/30/2014, by Sen. William R. Haine SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
| 110 ILCS 1005/1.5 new | | 110 ILCS 1010/11 | from Ch. 144, par. 241 |
|
Amends the Private College Act and the Academic Degree Act. Provides that a nonprofit institution owned, controlled, and operated and
maintained by a bona fide church, religious denomination, or religious
organization comprised of multi-denominational members of the same
well-recognized religion, lawfully operating as a nonprofit religious
corporation pursuant to the Religious Corporation Act, is exempt from the Acts if (i) the education is limited to instruction in the principles of that church, religious denomination, or
religious organization or to courses offered for the purpose of training the adherents of that church, religious denomination, or religious organization in the care of the sick in accordance with its religious tenets and (ii) the diploma or degree is limited
to evidence of completion of that education and the meritorious
recognition upon which any honorary degree is conferred is limited to
the principles of that church, religious denomination, or religious
organization. Sets forth requirements and prohibitions concerning the awarding of degrees and diplomas by such an institution. Requires the institution to annually file with the Board of Higher Education evidence to demonstrate its status as a nonprofit religious corporation under the Religious Corporation Act.
Effective July 1, 2014.
|
| |
| | | FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
| | A BILL FOR |
|
| | | SB2846 | | LRB098 14548 NHT 49320 b |
|
| 1 | | AN ACT concerning education.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The Private College Act is amended by adding | 5 | | Section 1.5 as follows: | 6 | | (110 ILCS 1005/1.5 new) | 7 | | Sec. 1.5. Exemption from Act; nonprofit religious | 8 | | institution. | 9 | | (a) A nonprofit institution owned, controlled, and | 10 | | operated and
maintained by a bona fide church, religious | 11 | | denomination, or religious
organization comprised of | 12 | | multi-denominational members of the same
well-recognized | 13 | | religion, lawfully operating as a nonprofit religious
| 14 | | corporation pursuant to the Religious Corporation Act, is | 15 | | exempt from this Act if (i) the education is limited to | 16 | | instruction in the principles of that church, religious | 17 | | denomination, or
religious organization or to courses offered | 18 | | for the purpose of training the adherents of that church, | 19 | | religious denomination, or religious organization in the care | 20 | | of the sick in accordance with its religious tenets and (ii) | 21 | | the diploma or degree is limited
to evidence of completion of | 22 | | that education and the meritorious
recognition upon which any | 23 | | honorary degree is conferred is limited to
the principles of |
| | | SB2846 | - 2 - | LRB098 14548 NHT 49320 b |
|
| 1 | | that church, religious denomination, or religious
| 2 | | organization. | 3 | | (b) Institutions exempt under this Section shall offer
| 4 | | degrees and diplomas only in the beliefs and practices of the | 5 | | church,
religious denomination, or religious organization. The | 6 | | enactment of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly | 7 | | expresses the legislative intent that this State must not | 8 | | involve itself in the content of degree programs awarded by any | 9 | | institution exempt under this Section, as long as the | 10 | | institution awards degrees
and diplomas only in the beliefs and | 11 | | practices of the church, religious
denomination, or religious | 12 | | organization. | 13 | | (c) Institutions exempt under this Section may not award | 14 | | degrees in any area of physical science. Any degree or diploma | 15 | | granted in any area of study under this Section shall contain | 16 | | on its face, in the written description of the title
of the | 17 | | degree being conferred, a reference to the theological or | 18 | | religious
aspect of the degree's subject area. Degrees awarded | 19 | | under this
Section shall reflect the nature of the degree | 20 | | title, such as "associate
of religious studies", "bachelor of | 21 | | religious studies", "master of
divinity", or "doctor of | 22 | | divinity". The degree title of "associate
of arts", "associate | 23 | | of science", "bachelor of arts", "bachelor of
science", "master | 24 | | of arts", "master of science", "doctor of
philosophy", or | 25 | | "Ph.D." may be awarded only if the institution obtains a | 26 | | certificate of approval under Section 2 this Act. The enactment |
| | | SB2846 | - 3 - | LRB098 14548 NHT 49320 b |
|
| 1 | | of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly is intended | 2 | | to prevent any entity claiming to be a nonprofit institution | 3 | | owned, controlled, and operated and maintained by
a bona fide | 4 | | church, religious denomination, or religious organization
| 5 | | comprised of multi-denominational members of the same
| 6 | | well-recognized religion, lawfully operating as a nonprofit | 7 | | religious
corporation pursuant to the Religious Corporation | 8 | | Act, from marketing and
granting degrees or diplomas that are | 9 | | represented as being linked to their
church, religious | 10 | | denomination, or religious organization, but which, in
| 11 | | reality, are degrees in secular areas of study. | 12 | | (d) An institution exempt under this Section shall annually | 13 | | file with the Board evidence to demonstrate its status as a | 14 | | nonprofit religious corporation under the
Religious | 15 | | Corporation Act. | 16 | | Section 10. The Academic Degree Act is amended by changing | 17 | | Section 11 as follows:
| 18 | | (110 ILCS 1010/11) (from Ch. 144, par. 241)
| 19 | | Sec. 11. Exemptions. | 20 | | (a) This Act shall not apply to any school or
educational | 21 | | institution regulated or approved under the Nurse Practice Act.
| 22 | | (b) This Act shall not apply to any of the following:
| 23 | | (1) (a) in-training programs by corporations or other | 24 | | business organizations
for the training of their |
| | | SB2846 | - 4 - | LRB098 14548 NHT 49320 b |
|
| 1 | | personnel;
| 2 | | (2) (b) education or other improvement programs by | 3 | | business, trade and
similar organizations and associations | 4 | | for the benefit of their members
only; or
| 5 | | (3) (c) apprentice or other training programs by labor | 6 | | unions.
| 7 | | (c) A nonprofit institution owned, controlled, and | 8 | | operated and
maintained by a bona fide church, religious | 9 | | denomination, or religious
organization comprised of | 10 | | multi-denominational members of the same
well-recognized | 11 | | religion, lawfully operating as a nonprofit religious
| 12 | | corporation pursuant to the Religious Corporation Act, is | 13 | | exempt from this Act if (i) the education is limited to | 14 | | instruction in the principles of that church, religious | 15 | | denomination, or
religious organization or to courses offered | 16 | | for the purpose of training the adherents of that church, | 17 | | religious denomination, or religious organization in the care | 18 | | of the sick in accordance with its religious tenets and (ii) | 19 | | the diploma or degree is limited
to evidence of completion of | 20 | | that education and the meritorious
recognition upon which any | 21 | | honorary degree is conferred is limited to
the principles of | 22 | | that church, religious denomination, or religious
| 23 | | organization. | 24 | | Institutions exempt under this subsection (c) shall offer
| 25 | | degrees and diplomas only in the beliefs and practices of the | 26 | | church,
religious denomination, or religious organization. The |
| | | SB2846 | - 5 - | LRB098 14548 NHT 49320 b |
|
| 1 | | enactment of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly | 2 | | expresses the legislative intent that this State must not | 3 | | involve itself in the content of degree programs awarded by any | 4 | | institution exempt under this subsection (c), as long as the | 5 | | institution awards degrees
and diplomas only in the beliefs and | 6 | | practices of the church, religious
denomination, or religious | 7 | | organization. | 8 | | Institutions exempt under this subsection (c) may not award | 9 | | degrees in any area of physical science. Any degree or diploma | 10 | | granted in any area of study under this Section shall contain | 11 | | on its face, in the written description of the title
of the | 12 | | degree being conferred, a reference to the theological or | 13 | | religious
aspect of the degree's subject area. Degrees awarded | 14 | | under this
subsection (c) shall reflect the nature of the | 15 | | degree title, such as "associate
of religious studies", | 16 | | "bachelor of religious studies", "master of
divinity", or | 17 | | "doctor of divinity". The degree title of "associate
of arts", | 18 | | "associate of science", "bachelor of arts", "bachelor of
| 19 | | science", "master of arts", "master of science", "doctor of | 20 | | philosophy", or "Ph.D." may be awarded only if the institution | 21 | | is authorized to award such a degree and is approved as a | 22 | | degree granting institution under Section 4 or 5 of this Act. | 23 | | The enactment of this amendatory Act of the 98th General | 24 | | Assembly is intended to prevent any entity claiming to be a | 25 | | nonprofit institution owned, controlled, and operated and | 26 | | maintained by
a bona fide church, religious denomination, or |
| | | SB2846 | - 6 - | LRB098 14548 NHT 49320 b |
|
| 1 | | religious organization
comprised of multi-denominational | 2 | | members of the same
well-recognized religion, lawfully | 3 | | operating as a nonprofit religious
corporation pursuant to the | 4 | | Religious Corporation Act, from marketing and
granting degrees | 5 | | or diplomas that are represented as being linked to their
| 6 | | church, religious denomination, or religious organization, but | 7 | | which, in
reality, are degrees in secular areas of study. | 8 | | An institution exempt under this subsection (c) shall | 9 | | annually file with the Board evidence to demonstrate its status | 10 | | as a nonprofit religious corporation under the
Religious | 11 | | Corporation Act. | 12 | | (Source: P.A. 95-639, eff. 10-5-07.)
| 13 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, | 14 | | 2014.
|
|