President George W. Bush traveled to Illinois to sign the $286 billion transportation bill. The new transportation funding bill allocates some $1.2 billion to Illinois per year for road construction projects through 2009. This represents about a $300 million increase. Illinois also stands to receive about $2.5 billion to fund rail and mass transit expansion throughout the state.

Some of the federal funding is contingent upon state and local matching funds and so there is some concern that Illinois might not be able to take advantage of the windfall of federal dollars due to a lack of state resources. One reason for this is the Governor’s raids on the state’s Road Fund.

In Fiscal Year 2004, the total dollar amount of Road Fund diversions exceeded $700 million and the total dollar amount of diversions exceeded $500 million in Fiscal Year 2005 and is expected to reach $500 million again in Fiscal Year 2006. This brings the total Road Fund raids to $1.7 billion in the last three years. If the Governor had left the state’s Road Fund alone, Senate Republicans maintain that matching federal transportation funds would not be a problem.

In other news, a new law provides tougher penalties for the vandalism of farms or farm equipment. The legislation (HB 120) is a response to several incidents of arson in central Illinois involving farm vehicles and farm land.

The new law makes it a felony offense to intentionally damage farm equipment and farm buildings. The penalties for trespassing on farm land increases from a Class B misdemeanor to Class A misdemeanor. The new law incrementally increases the punishment for vandalizing farm equipment as the dollar amount of the damages also increases.

Finally, two measures to improve homeland security were signed into law this week. House Bill 349 increases the penalties for criminally trespassing on landing areas and restricted areas at airports. Another new law (HB 1559) prohibits the impersonation of an airman, airline employee, airport employee or contractor at an airport as a means of obtaining the uniforms and other identification information of an airport employee. Anyone caught illegally assuming the identity of an airline employee at airports will be committing a Class 4 felony under the new law.

The following are bills that were signed into law this week:

Local government (HB 672) – Allows local governments to regulate smoking in public places that are not licensed by the Illinois Liquor Control Commission. (SB 2085) – Prohibits city governments from making annexation a requirement for water and sewer services in areas outside the city limits.

Computer recycling (HB 1149) – Creates the Computer Equipment Disposal and Recycling Commission to establish a protocol for the recycling of computers.

Clinical health (SB 2091) - Requires the Director of Public Health to make available on their website information regarding clinical trials.

Passenger rail (SB 635) – Creates the Intercity Passenger Rail Fund and allows money put into this fund to be used for the operation of intercity rail services in Illinois.

Adoption (SB 511) - Creates rules to guide the judiciary in the event of a contested adoption.

State Fair (HB 3544 ) – Allows the State Treasurer to contract with financial institutions for automatic teller machine services at State Fairs at Springfield and DuQuoin instead of at any location under the control of a State Agency and requires state agencies to get the approval of the State Treasurer before procuring automated teller machine services.

Trespassing (HB 4020) – Provides that a person who trespasses on a land owner’s property with a motor vehicle may be liable for civil damages.

Elections (HB 715) – Requires colleges and universities to post voter registration forms on their websites.

Adult entertainment facilities (HB 1333) – Adds unincorporated areas of a county to the list of prohibited areas where an adult entertainment facility can be placed.

FOIA (SB 52) - Adds to the existing exemption of trade secrets from the copying and inspection provisions of FOIA.

Parent participation (SB 10) – Requires the State Board of Education to establish a parental participation pilot project.

Early childhood education grants (HB 3822) – Changes the way early childhood education block grant funds are distributed.

Domestic violence victims (HB 2467) – Provides for the issuance of new license plates for the victims of domestic violence in certain circumstances.

Leaving the scene of an accident (HB 885) – Removes the Statute of Limitations and allows the prosecution of the offense of leaving the scene of an accident involving death or personal injuries to be conducted at any time.

Amber Alert (HB 181) – Allows State Police to retain the fingerprints of a child fingerprinted at a data collection location and use them if the child is later missing or abducted.

Child safety (HB 2445) – Requires each state agency with a website to include a link to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Veterans fraud (SB 1491) - Increases penalties for people who knowingly misrepresent themselves as a veteran or as a dependent of a veteran to obtain benefits.

EMT license (HB 3033) – Allows Continuing Education requirements for EMT licenses to be waived for individuals on active duty in the military.

Military loans (SB 323/P.A. 94-0485) - Creates the Military Reservist Business Assistance Loan Program.

Preference points (HB 1458) – Mandates that veterans’ preference points must be awarded to veterans who have served at least one year of active military or naval service at any time.