Public Act 096-0133
 		





SB1624 Enrolled
LRB096 10280 NHT 20450 b






    AN ACT concerning education.

 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
 
represented in the General Assembly:


 
    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Higher 
Education Veterans Service Act.
 
    Section 5. Definitions.    For purposes of this Act:
    "Task Force" means the Task Force on Service Member and 
Veterans Education.
    "Public colleges and universities" means public community 
colleges subject to the Public Community College Act, the 
University of Illinois, Southern Illinois University, Chicago 
State University, Eastern Illinois University, Governors State 
University, Illinois State University, Northeastern Illinois 
University, Northern Illinois University, and Western Illinois 
University.

 
    Section 10. Findings.
 
    (a)  Pursuant to Public Act 95-736, the General Assembly 
created the Task Force on Service Member and Veterans Education 
to examine the manner in which public colleges and universities 
in the State of Illinois provided education to servicemen and 
servicewomen as well as veterans of the armed forces of the 
United States.
    The Task Force conducted hearings and filed its findings 
with the General Assembly on September 16, 2008.  Its report 
urges the General Assembly to recognize the sacrifice of 
American servicemen and women, and, in a small way, repay them 
by chartering a concerted effort by State government, in 
cooperation with our public institutions of higher learning, to 
make its best efforts to take positive, quantifiable steps to 
providing a superior learning environment for student veterans 
and service members.  The Task Force reviewed the unique needs 
of veterans and military personnel, combined with the large 
number of active duty personnel and military veterans seeking 
higher education since the onset of the Global War on 
Terrorism.  The Task Force found that public universities and 
community colleges in this State have varying levels of 
assistance available for active duty service personnel and 
veterans.
    (b)   The Task Force has reported that veterans and active 
duty personnel have difficulty in finding and receiving various 
State and federal education-related benefits and services that 
they may be eligible to receive, such as educational loans, 
scholarships, grants, local employment opportunities, access 
to medical care, a social network for support of student 
veterans, and groups to help with the transition to becoming a 
civilian after service in an active duty unit, because such 
programs are administered by different arms of the government.
    (c)  The Task Force found that the various public colleges 
and universities in this State have a wide array of programs 
and services available to veterans and active duty service 
personnel, ranging from online educational opportunities, 
admission and academic counseling, medical services, and 
family housing information.
    (d) The Task Force also found that certain other higher 
education institutions across the United States have adopted 
programs and services that seek to better promote and 
coordinate the assistance that is available for veterans and 
active duty personnel.

 
    Section 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, phone number, 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. 
    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.


 
    Section 20. Fiscal impact and reporting.   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.
    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.

 

    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 
becoming law.