SB2255 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB099 15632 AWJ 39925 b

99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016
SB2255

Introduced 1/27/2016, by Sen. William R. Haine

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

75 ILCS 10/8.1	from Ch. 81, par. 118.1
75 ILCS 10/12 rep.

Amends the Illinois Library System Act. Indefinitely extends a waiver of a grant eligibility requirement which expired after the State Fiscal Year 2015. Repeals a section allowing the State Librarian to designate Research and Reference Centers and Special Resource Centers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Chicago Public Library, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and the Illinois State Library. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning local government.

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

Section 5. The Illinois Library System Act is amended by changing Section 8.1 as follows:

(75 ILCS 10/8.1) (from Ch. 81, par. 118.1)

Sec. 8.1. The State Librarian shall make grants annually under this Section to all qualified public libraries in the State from funds appropriated by the General Assembly. Such grants shall be in the amount of up to $1.25 per capita for the population of the area served by the respective public library and, in addition, the amount of up to $0.19 per capita to libraries serving populations over 500,000 under the Illinois Major Urban Library Program. If the moneys appropriated for grants under this Section fail to meet the $1.25 and the $0.19 per capita amounts above, the funding shall be decreased pro rata so that qualifying public libraries receive the same amount per capita. If the moneys appropriated for grants under this Section exceed the $1.25 and the $0.19 per capita amounts above, the funding shall be increased pro rata so that qualifying public libraries receive the same amount per capita.

To be eligible for grants under this Section, a public library must:

(1) Provide, as determined by the State Librarian, library services which either meet or show progress toward meeting the Illinois library standards, as most recently adopted by the Illinois Library Association.

(2) Be a public library for which is levied a tax for library purposes at a rate not less than .13% or a county library for which is levied a tax for library purposes at a rate not less than .07%. If a library is subject to the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law in the Property Tax Code and its tax levy for library purposes has been lowered to a rate of less than .13%, this requirement will be waived if the library qualified for this grant in the previous year and if the tax levied for library purposes in the current year produces tax revenue for library purposes that is an increase over the previous year's extension of 5% or the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less. Beginning in State Fiscal Year 2012 and continuing through and including State Fiscal Year 2015, the eligibility requirement in this subsection shall be waived if a library's tax levy for library purposes has been lowered to a rate of less than 0.13%, and the State Librarian determines that the library (i) continues to meet the requirements of item (1) of this Section and (ii) received a grant under this Section in the previous fiscal year.

Any other language in this Section to the contrary notwithstanding, grants under this Section 8.1 shall be made only upon application of the public library concerned, which applications shall be entirely voluntary and within the sole discretion of the public library concerned.

In order to be eligible for a grant under this Section, the corporate authorities, in lieu of a tax levy at a particular rate, may provide funds from other sources, an amount equivalent to the amount to be produced by that levy.

(Source: P.A. 99-186, eff. 7-29-15.)

(75 ILCS 10/12 rep.)

Section 10. The Illinois Library System Act is amended by repealing Section 12.

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