Full Text of HB1264 97th General Assembly
HB1264 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2011 and 2012 HB1264 Introduced 02/08/11, by Rep. Keith Farnham SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
| 25 ILCS 115/4 | from Ch. 63, par. 15.1 |
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Amends the General Assembly Compensation Act. Decreases the base allowance for House members to $54,900 and Senate members to $65,700 beginning July 1, 2011 (instead of $61,000 for House members and $73,000 for Senate members beginning July 1, 2001). Provides that beginning July 1, 2011, members of the General Assembly are prohibited from receiving and shall not receive any annual percentage increase in their office allowances based on a cost of living adjustment or a fixed amount. Effective immediately.
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| | 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, 2011 2001 , | 8 | | each member
of the House
of Representatives is authorized to | 9 | | approve the expenditure of not more than
$54,900 $61,000 per | 10 | | year and each member of the
Senate is authorized to approve the
| 11 | | expenditure of not more than $65,700 $73,000 per
year to pay | 12 | | for "personal services",
"contractual services", | 13 | | "commodities", "printing", "travel",
"operation of automotive | 14 | | equipment", "telecommunications services", as
defined in the | 15 | | State Finance Act, and the compensation of one or more
| 16 | | legislative assistants authorized pursuant to this Section, in | 17 | | connection
with his or her legislative duties and not in | 18 | | connection with any political
campaign.
On July 1, 2002 and on | 19 | | July 1 of each year thereafter through July 1, 2010 , the amount | 20 | | authorized
per year under this Section for each member of the | 21 | | Senate and each member of
the House of Representatives shall be | 22 | | increased by a percentage increase
equivalent to the lesser of | 23 | | (i) the increase in the designated cost of living
index or (ii) |
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| 1 | | 5%. The designated cost of living index is the index known as
| 2 | | the "Employment Cost Index, Wages and Salaries, By
Occupation | 3 | | and Industry Groups: State and Local Government Workers: Public
| 4 | | Administration" as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics | 5 | | of the U.S.
Department of Labor for the calendar year | 6 | | immediately preceding the year of the
respective July 1st | 7 | | increase date. The increase shall be added to the then
current | 8 | | amount, and the adjusted amount so determined shall be the | 9 | | annual
amount beginning July 1 of the increase year until July | 10 | | 1 of the next year. No
increase under this provision shall be | 11 | | less than zero.
Notwithstanding any provision of this Section | 12 | | to the contrary, beginning July 1, 2011, members of the General | 13 | | Assembly are prohibited from receiving and shall not receive | 14 | | any annual percentage increase in their office allowances based | 15 | | on a cost of living adjustment or a fixed amount.
| 16 | | A member may purchase office equipment if the member | 17 | | certifies
to the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the | 18 | | House, as applicable,
that the purchase price, whether paid in | 19 | | lump sum or installments, amounts
to less than would be charged | 20 | | for renting or leasing the equipment over
its anticipated | 21 | | useful life. All such equipment must be purchased through
the | 22 | | Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House, as | 23 | | applicable, for
proper identification and verification of | 24 | | purchase.
| 25 | | Each member of the General Assembly is authorized to employ | 26 | | one or more
legislative assistants, who shall be solely under |
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| 1 | | the direction and control
of that member, for the purpose of | 2 | | assisting the member in the performance
of his or her official | 3 | | duties. A legislative assistant may be employed
pursuant to | 4 | | this Section as a full-time employee, part-time employee, or
| 5 | | contractual employee, at
the discretion of the member. If | 6 | | employed as a State employee, a
legislative assistant shall | 7 | | receive employment benefits on the same terms
and conditions | 8 | | that apply to other employees of the General Assembly.
Each | 9 | | member shall adopt and implement personnel policies
for | 10 | | legislative assistants under his or her direction and
control | 11 | | relating to work time requirements, documentation for | 12 | | reimbursement for
travel on official State business, | 13 | | compensation, and the earning and accrual of
State benefits for | 14 | | those legislative assistants who may be eligible to receive
| 15 | | those benefits.
The policies shall also require legislative | 16 | | assistants to
periodically submit time sheets documenting, in | 17 | | quarter-hour increments, the
time
spent each day on official | 18 | | State business.
The
policies shall require the time sheets to | 19 | | be submitted on paper,
electronically, or both and to be | 20 | | maintained in either paper or electronic
format by the | 21 | | applicable fiscal office
for a period of at least 2 years.
| 22 | | Contractual employees may satisfy
the time sheets requirement | 23 | | by complying with the terms of their contract,
which shall | 24 | | provide for a means of compliance with this requirement.
A | 25 | | member may
satisfy the requirements of this paragraph by | 26 | | adopting and implementing the
personnel policies promulgated |
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| 1 | | by that
member's legislative leader under the State Officials | 2 | | and Employees Ethics
Act
with respect to that member's | 3 | | legislative
assistants.
| 4 | | As used in this Section the term "personal services" shall | 5 | | include
contributions of the State under the Federal Insurance | 6 | | Contribution Act and
under Article 14 of the Illinois Pension | 7 | | Code. As used in this Section the
term "contractual services" | 8 | | shall not include improvements to real property
unless those | 9 | | improvements are the obligation of the lessee under the lease
| 10 | | agreement. Beginning July 1, 1989, as used in the Section, the | 11 | | term "travel"
shall be limited to travel in connection with a | 12 | | member's legislative duties and
not in connection with any | 13 | | political campaign. Beginning on the effective
date of this | 14 | | amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly, as
used
in this | 15 | | Section, the term "printing" includes, but is not limited to,
| 16 | | newsletters,
brochures, certificates,
congratulatory
mailings,
| 17 | | greeting or welcome messages, anniversary or
birthday cards, | 18 | | and congratulations for prominent achievement cards. As used
in | 19 | | this Section, the term "printing" includes fees for | 20 | | non-substantive
resolutions charged by the Clerk of the House | 21 | | of Representatives under
subsection (c-5) of Section 1 of the | 22 | | Legislative Materials Act.
No newsletter or brochure that is | 23 | | paid for, in whole or in part, with
funds
provided under this | 24 | | Section may be printed or mailed during a period
beginning | 25 | | February 1 of the year of a general primary
election and ending | 26 | | the day after the general primary election and during a
period |
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| 1 | | beginning September 1 of the year of a general election and | 2 | | ending the
day after the general election, except that such a | 3 | | newsletter or brochure may
be mailed during
those times if it | 4 | | is mailed to a constituent in response to that constituent's
| 5 | | inquiry concerning the needs of that constituent or questions | 6 | | raised by that
constituent.
Nothing in
this Section shall be | 7 | | construed to authorize expenditures for lodging and meals
while | 8 | | a member is in attendance at sessions of the General Assembly.
| 9 | | Any utility bill for service provided to a member's | 10 | | district office for
a period including portions of 2 | 11 | | consecutive fiscal years may be paid from
funds appropriated | 12 | | for such expenditure in either fiscal year.
| 13 | | If a vacancy occurs in the office of Senator or | 14 | | Representative in the General
Assembly, any office equipment in | 15 | | the possession of the vacating member
shall transfer to the | 16 | | member's successor; if the successor does not want
such | 17 | | equipment, it shall be transferred to the Secretary of the | 18 | | Senate or
Clerk of the House of Representatives, as the case | 19 | | may be, and if not
wanted by other members of the General | 20 | | Assembly then to the Department of
Central Management Services | 21 | | for treatment as surplus property under the
State Property | 22 | | Control Act. Each member, on or before June 30th of each
year, | 23 | | shall conduct an inventory of all equipment purchased pursuant | 24 | | to
this Act. Such inventory shall be filed with the Secretary | 25 | | of the Senate
or the Clerk of the House, as the case may be. | 26 | | Whenever a vacancy occurs,
the Secretary of the Senate or the |
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| 1 | | Clerk of the House, as the case may be,
shall conduct an | 2 | | inventory of equipment purchased.
| 3 | | In the event that a member leaves office during his or her | 4 | | term, any
unexpended or unobligated portion of the allowance | 5 | | granted under this Section
shall lapse. The vacating member's | 6 | | successor shall be granted an allowance
in an amount, rounded | 7 | | to the nearest dollar, computed by dividing the annual
| 8 | | allowance by 365 and multiplying the quotient by the number of | 9 | | days remaining
in the fiscal year.
| 10 | | From any appropriation for the purposes of this Section for | 11 | | a
fiscal year which overlaps 2 General Assemblies, no more than | 12 | | 1/2 of the
annual allowance per member may be spent or | 13 | | encumbered by any member of
either the outgoing or incoming | 14 | | General Assembly, except that any member
of the incoming | 15 | | General Assembly who was a member of the outgoing General
| 16 | | Assembly may encumber or spend any portion of his annual | 17 | | allowance within
the fiscal year.
| 18 | | The appropriation for the annual allowances permitted by | 19 | | this Section
shall be included in an appropriation to the | 20 | | President of the Senate and to
the Speaker of the House of | 21 | | Representatives for their respective members.
The President of | 22 | | the Senate and the Speaker of the House shall voucher for
| 23 | | payment individual members' expenditures from their annual | 24 | | office
allowances to the State Comptroller, subject to the | 25 | | authority of the
Comptroller under Section 9 of the State | 26 | | Comptroller Act.
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| 1 | | Nothing in this Section prohibits the expenditure of | 2 | | personal funds or the funds of a political committee controlled | 3 | | by an officeholder to defray the customary and reasonable | 4 | | expenses of an officeholder in connection with the performance | 5 | | of governmental and public service functions. | 6 | | (Source: P.A. 95-6, eff. 6-20-07; 96-555, eff. 8-18-09; 96-886, | 7 | | eff. 1-1-11 .)
| 8 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 9 | | becoming law.
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