Public Act 102-0295
 
SB0641 EnrolledLRB102 16135 CMG 21511 b


  
    AN ACT concerning higher education.
  
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
 
represented in the General Assembly:
  
 
 
    Section 5. The Higher Education Veterans Service Act is 
amended  by changing Sections 15 and 20 as follows:
 
    (110 ILCS 49/15)

    Sec. 15. Survey; coordinator; best practices report; best 
efforts.
 
    (a) All public colleges and universities shall, within 60 
days after the effective date of this Act, conduct a survey of 
the services and programs that are provided for veterans, 
active duty military personnel, and their families, at each of 
their respective campuses.  This survey shall enumerate and 
fully describe the service or program that is available, the 
number of veterans or active duty personnel using the service 
or program, an estimated range for potential use within a 
5-year and 10-year period, information on the location of the 
service or program, and how its administrators may be 
contacted.  The survey shall indicate the manner or manners in 
which a student veteran may avail himself or herself of the 
program's services.  This survey must be made available to all 
veterans matriculating at the college or university in the 
form of an orientation-related guidebook.
    Each public college and university shall make the survey 
available on the homepage of all campus Internet links as soon 
as practical after the completion of the survey.   As soon as 
possible after the completion of the survey, each public 
college and university shall provide a copy of its survey to 
the following:
        (1)  the Board of Higher Education;
        (2)  the Department of Veterans' Affairs;
        (3)  the President and Minority Leader of the Senate 
    and the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of 
    Representatives; and
        (4)  the Governor.
    (b)  Each public college and university shall, at its 
discretion, (i) appoint, within 6 months after the effective 
date of this Act, an existing employee or  (ii) hire a new 
employee to serve as a Coordinator of Veterans and Military 
Personnel Student Services on each campus of the college or 
university that has an onsite, daily, full-time student 
headcount above 1,000 students.
    The Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student 
Services shall be an ombudsperson serving the specific needs 
of student veterans and military personnel and their families 
and shall serve as an advocate before the administration of 
the college or university for the needs of student veterans.   
The college or university shall enable the Coordinator of 
Veterans and Military Personnel Student Services to 
communicate directly with the senior executive administration 
of the college or university periodically.  The college or 
university shall retain unfettered discretion to determine the 
organizational management structure of its institution.
    In addition to any responsibilities the college or 
university may assign, the Coordinator of Veterans and 
Military Personnel Student Services shall make its best 
efforts to create a centralized source for student veterans 
and military personnel to learn how to receive all benefit 
programs and services for which they are eligible.
    Each college and university campus that is required to 
have a Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student 
Services shall regularly and conspicuously advertise the 
office location and , phone number of , and Internet access to 
the Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student 
Services, along with a brief summary of the manner in which he 
or she can assist student veterans.  The advertisement shall 
include, but is not necessarily limited to, the following:
        (1)  advertisements on each campus' Internet home page; 
    and
        (2)  any promotional mailings for student application; 
    and . 
        (3) the website and any social media accounts of the 
    public college or university. 
    The Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student 
Services shall facilitate other campus offices with the 
promotion of programs and services that are available.
    (c)  Upon receipt of all of the surveys under subsection 
(a) of this Section, the Board of Higher Education and the 
Department of Veterans' Affairs shall conduct a joint review 
of the surveys and post, on any Internet home page they may 
operate, a link to each survey as posted on the Internet 
website for the college or university.   Upon receipt of all of 
the surveys, the Office of the Governor, through its military 
affairs advisors, shall similarly conduct a review of the 
surveys and post the surveys on its Internet website.  
Following its review of the surveys, the Office of the 
Governor shall submit an evaluation report to each college and 
university offering suggestions and insight on the conduct of 
student veteran-related policies and programs.
    (d)  The Board of Higher Education and the Department of 
Veterans' Affairs may issue a best practices report to 
highlight those programs and services that are most beneficial 
to veterans and active duty military personnel.   The report 
shall contain a fiscal needs assessment in conjunction with 
any program recommendations.
    (e)  Each college and university campus that is required to 
have a Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student 
Services under subsection (b) of this Section shall make its 
best efforts to create academic and social programs and 
services for veterans and active duty military personnel that 
will provide reasonable opportunities for academic performance 
and success.
    Each public college and university shall make its best 
efforts to determine how its online educational curricula can 
be expanded or altered to serve the needs of student veterans 
and currently-deployed military, including a determination of 
whether and to what extent the public colleges and 
universities can share existing technologies to improve the 
online curricula of peer institutions, provided such efforts 
are both practically and economically feasible.



(Source: P.A. 96-133, eff. 8-7-09; revised 7-16-19.)
 
    (110 ILCS 49/20)

    Sec. 20. Fiscal impact and reporting.   Each Beginning on 
September 1 of the year following the effective date of this 
Act and each subsequent September 1, each college and 
university that is required to have a Coordinator of Veterans 
and Military Personnel Student Services under subsection (b) 
of Section 20 of this Act shall report to the Board of Higher 
Education on the fiscal impact of the programs and services 
related to the requirements of this Act and on the efforts of 
the public college or university in attracting, recruiting, 
and retaining veterans and military personnel.
    The Board of Higher Education shall compile the 
information and, within 60 days after receipt of such 
information, issue a report reflecting the information for 
each institution required to report under this Section.  The 
report must be filed with the Governor, the Governor's Office 
of Management and Budget, the Director of Veterans' Affairs, 
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of 
the Senate, the Minority Leader of the House of 
Representatives, and the Minority Leader of the Senate.


(Source: P.A. 96-133, eff. 8-7-09.)
 
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 
becoming law.