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| 1 | AN ACT concerning education.
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| 2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| 3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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| 4 | Section 5. The Higher Education Student Assistance Act is | |||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | amended by changing Section 62 as follows:
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| 6 | (110 ILCS 947/62) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | (Text of Section before amendment by P.A. 102-1100) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Sec. 62. Grants for exonerated persons. | |||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | (a) In this Section: | |||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | "Dependent" means a spouse, natural child, legally adopted | |||||||||||||||||||
| 11 | child, or child in the legal custody of an exonerated person. | |||||||||||||||||||
| 12 | "Exonerated person" means an individual who has received a | |||||||||||||||||||
| 13 | pardon from the Governor of the State of Illinois stating that | |||||||||||||||||||
| 14 | such a pardon is issued on the grounds of innocence of the | |||||||||||||||||||
| 15 | crime for which he or she was imprisoned or an individual who | |||||||||||||||||||
| 16 | has received a certificate of innocence from a circuit court | |||||||||||||||||||
| 17 | pursuant to Section 2-702 of the Code of Civil Procedure. | |||||||||||||||||||
| 18 | "Satisfactory academic progress" means the qualified | |||||||||||||||||||
| 19 | applicant's maintenance of minimum standards of academic | |||||||||||||||||||
| 20 | performance, consistent with requirements for maintaining | |||||||||||||||||||
| 21 | federal financial aid eligibility, as determined by the | |||||||||||||||||||
| 22 | institution of higher learning. | |||||||||||||||||||
| 23 | (b) Subject to a separate appropriation for this purpose, | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 1 | the Commission shall, each year, receive and consider | ||||||
| 2 | applications for grant assistance under this Section. Both an | ||||||
| 3 | exonerated person and all of his or her dependents qualify to | ||||||
| 4 | receive a grant Recipients of grants issued by the Commission | ||||||
| 5 | in accordance with this Section must be exonerated persons. | ||||||
| 6 | Provided that the recipient is maintaining satisfactory | ||||||
| 7 | academic progress, the funds from the grant may be used to pay | ||||||
| 8 | up to 8 semesters or 12 quarters of full payment of tuition and | ||||||
| 9 | mandatory fees at any public university or public community | ||||||
| 10 | college located in this State for either full or part-time | ||||||
| 11 | study. This benefit may be used for undergraduate or graduate | ||||||
| 12 | study. | ||||||
| 13 | In addition, a qualified applicant an exonerated person | ||||||
| 14 | who has not yet received a high school diploma or a high school | ||||||
| 15 | equivalency certificate and completes a high school | ||||||
| 16 | equivalency preparation course through an Illinois Community | ||||||
| 17 | College Board-approved provider may use grant funds to pay | ||||||
| 18 | costs associated with obtaining a high school equivalency | ||||||
| 19 | certificate, including payment of the cost of the high school | ||||||
| 20 | equivalency test and up to one retest on each test module, and | ||||||
| 21 | any additional fees that may be required in order to obtain an | ||||||
| 22 | Illinois High School Equivalency Certificate or an official | ||||||
| 23 | transcript of test scores after successful completion of the | ||||||
| 24 | high school equivalency test. | ||||||
| 25 | (c) An applicant for a grant under this Section need not | ||||||
| 26 | demonstrate financial need to qualify for the benefits. | ||||||
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| 1 | (d) The Commission may adopt any rules necessary to | ||||||
| 2 | implement and administer this Section.
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| 3 | (Source: P.A. 99-199, eff. 1-1-16.)
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| 4 | (Text of Section after amendment by P.A. 102-1100) | ||||||
| 5 | Sec. 62. Grants for exonerated persons. | ||||||
| 6 | (a) In this Section: | ||||||
| 7 | "Dependent" means a spouse, natural child, legally adopted | ||||||
| 8 | child, or child in the legal custody of an exonerated person. | ||||||
| 9 | "Exonerated person" means an individual who has received a | ||||||
| 10 | pardon from the Governor of the State of Illinois stating that | ||||||
| 11 | such a pardon is issued on the grounds of innocence of the | ||||||
| 12 | crime for which he or she was imprisoned or an individual who | ||||||
| 13 | has received a certificate of innocence from a circuit court | ||||||
| 14 | pursuant to Section 2-702 of the Code of Civil Procedure. | ||||||
| 15 | "Satisfactory academic progress" means the qualified | ||||||
| 16 | applicant's maintenance of minimum standards of academic | ||||||
| 17 | performance, consistent with requirements for maintaining | ||||||
| 18 | federal financial aid eligibility, as determined by the | ||||||
| 19 | institution of higher learning. | ||||||
| 20 | (b) Subject to a separate appropriation for this purpose, | ||||||
| 21 | the Commission shall, each year, receive and consider | ||||||
| 22 | applications for grant assistance under this Section. Both an | ||||||
| 23 | exonerated person and all of his or her dependents qualify to | ||||||
| 24 | receive a grant Recipients of grants issued by the Commission | ||||||
| 25 | in accordance with this Section must be exonerated persons. | ||||||
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| 1 | Provided that the recipient is maintaining satisfactory | ||||||
| 2 | academic progress, the funds from the grant may be used to pay | ||||||
| 3 | up to 8 semesters or 12 quarters of full payment of tuition and | ||||||
| 4 | mandatory fees at any public university or public community | ||||||
| 5 | college located in this State for either full or part-time | ||||||
| 6 | study. This benefit may be used for undergraduate or graduate | ||||||
| 7 | study. | ||||||
| 8 | In addition, a qualified applicant an exonerated person | ||||||
| 9 | who has not yet received a high school diploma or a State of | ||||||
| 10 | Illinois High School Diploma and completes a high school | ||||||
| 11 | equivalency preparation course through an Illinois Community | ||||||
| 12 | College Board-approved provider may use grant funds to pay | ||||||
| 13 | costs associated with obtaining a State of Illinois High | ||||||
| 14 | School Diploma, including payment of the cost of the high | ||||||
| 15 | school equivalency test and up to one retest on each test | ||||||
| 16 | module, and any additional fees that may be required in order | ||||||
| 17 | to obtain a State of Illinois High School Diploma or an | ||||||
| 18 | official transcript of test scores after successful completion | ||||||
| 19 | of the high school equivalency test. | ||||||
| 20 | (c) An applicant for a grant under this Section need not | ||||||
| 21 | demonstrate financial need to qualify for the benefits. | ||||||
| 22 | (d) The Commission may adopt any rules necessary to | ||||||
| 23 | implement and administer this Section.
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| 24 | (Source: P.A. 102-1100, eff. 1-1-23.)
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| 25 | Section 95. No acceleration or delay. Where this Act makes | ||||||
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| 1 | changes in a statute that is represented in this Act by text | ||||||
| 2 | that is not yet or no longer in effect (for example, a Section | ||||||
| 3 | represented by multiple versions), the use of that text does | ||||||
| 4 | not accelerate or delay the taking effect of (i) the changes | ||||||
| 5 | made by this Act or (ii) provisions derived from any other | ||||||
| 6 | Public Act.
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| 7 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, | ||||||
| 8 | 2023.
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