HB4951: NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT TAX

Legislative Summary

Creates the Workforce Development through Charitable Loan Repayment Act. Creates the Workforce Development through Charitable Loan Repayment Program for the purpose of facilitating student loan repayment assistance for qualified workers. Provides that the Program shall be administered by qualified community foundations with the assistance of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Creates the Local Journalism Sustainability Act. Creates a withholding tax credit for local news organizations. Creates the Music and Creates the Musicians Tax Credit and Jobs Act. Provides that the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity may award credits to qualified music companies. Creates the Ground-Based Sparkler Purchaser Excise Tax Act. Imposes a tax, beginning January 1, 2025, upon purchasers for the privilege of using ground-based sparklers and not for the purpose of resale at the rate of 3% of the purchase price of ground-based sparklers. Creates the Interchange Fee Prohibition Act. Provides that, subject to certain exceptions, a payment card network, an acquirer bank, or a processor may not receive or charge a merchant any interchange fee on the tax amount or gratuity of an electronic payment transaction if the merchant informs the acquirer bank or its designee of the tax or gratuity amount as part of the authorization or settlement process for the electronic payment transaction. Amends various Acts concerning State and local revenue and finance. Creates the Illinois Gives Tax Credit Act. Provides that the Department of Revenue shall award income tax credits to taxpayers who provide an endowment gift to a permanent endowment fund during the taxable year and receive a certificate of receipt for that gift. Provides that the credit is equal to 25% of the endowment gift. Contains provisions setting forth maximum credit amounts. Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act to require an addition modification equal to the amount of any federal deduction claimed for an endowment gift for which a taxpayer receives a credit under the Illinois Gives Tax Credit Act. Amends the Community Mental Health Act. Provides that in any county with a county executive form of government, if applicable, the county executive shall appoint the community mental health board with the advice and consent of the county board. Provides that a community mental health board may provide advice to the governing body and may establish a policy and procedure for the acceptance and review of applications from interested residents prior to making a recommendation to the appointing authority. Provides that an annual tax levied by any governmental unit under the Act is separate and distinct from all other property taxes levied by that governmental unit and (1) shall not be considered an increase for purposes of the application of the Truth in Taxation Law and its requirements and (2) shall not be subject to the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law. Provides that in addition, the ballot for any proposition submitted pursuant to levy a tax in order to provide the necessary funds or to supplement existing funds for community mental health facilities and services, including facilities and services for the person with a developmental disability or a substance use disorder, shall have printed on the ballot, but not as part of the proposition submitted, only the following supplemental information (which shall be supplied to the election authority by the taxing district) in substantially the following form: (1) the approximate amount of taxes extendable at the most recently extended limiting rate and the approximate amount of taxes extendable if the proposition is approved and (2) for the first levy year for which the new rate or increase limiting rate will be applicable levy year the approximate amount of the additional tax extendable against property containing a single family residence and having a fair market value at the time of the referendum of $100,000 is estimated to be. Provides that if a proposition contains the language in substantially the form provided in the law, the referendum is valid notwithstanding any other provision of the law. Provides that nothing in these provisions prevents a governmental unit from levying less than the amount approved by the voters via referendum in any given year or varying the amount levied from year to year as approved by the governmental unit. Provides that changes made by the Act apply to referenda creating community mental health boards, including community mental health boards located in counties that have adopted a county executive form of government under the Counties Code, to levy an annual tax for the establishment and maintenance of mental health facilities and services for residents of the community that were approved or validated on or after January 1, 2020 and to referenda that are approved on or after the effective date of the Act. Deletes a provision that a community mental health board may be representative of medical societies. Provides that a community mental health board may be representative of individuals with professional or lived expertise in mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse. Provides that vacancies on a community mental health board shall be filled with the advice of the community mental health board, who may establish a policy and procedure for the acceptance and review of applications from interested residents prior to making a recommendation to the appointing authority. Provides that if the community mental health board has already held or scheduled an election of officers to take place prior to July 1, an additional election is not required on the basis of the appointment or reappointment of a member to the community mental health board. Provides that the community mental health board shall publish the annual budget and report within 180 (rather than 120) days after the end of the fiscal year in a newspaper distributed within the jurisdiction of the board, or, if no newspaper is published within the jurisdiction of the board, then one published in the county, or, if no newspaper is published in the county, then in a newspaper having general circulation within the jurisdiction of the board. Provides that a community mental health board may establish professional incentive programs for the purposes of workforce development and retention that may include education assistance, student loan repayment, professional certification and licensure assistance, and internship stipends. Provides that the annual report of a community mental health board detailing the income received and disbursements made pursuant to the Act during the fiscal year just preceding the date the annual report is submitted shall be submitted within 180 (rather than 90) days of the end (rather than close) of that fiscal year. Amends the Property Tax Code to make conforming changes. Makes conforming changes. Effective immediately, except that some provisions take effect July 1, 2024, some provisions take effect January 1, 2025, and some provisions take effect February 1, 2025.