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| 1 | AN ACT concerning business.
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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 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the | ||||||
| 5 | Transportation Benefits Program Act. | ||||||
| 6 | Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
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| 7 | "Covered employee" means any person who performs an average | ||||||
| 8 | of at least 10 hours of work per week for compensation within | ||||||
| 9 | the geographic boundaries of the jurisdiction of the Regional | ||||||
| 10 | Transportation Authority for the same employer within the | ||||||
| 11 | previous calendar month.
All persons performing work for | ||||||
| 12 | compensation on a full-time, part-time, or temporary basis | ||||||
| 13 | shall be counted, including persons made available to work | ||||||
| 14 | through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency | ||||||
| 15 | or similar entity. | ||||||
| 16 | "Covered employer" means an employer within the geographic | ||||||
| 17 | boundaries of the Regional Transportation Authority | ||||||
| 18 | jurisdiction for which an average of 25 or more full-time | ||||||
| 19 | employees work for compensation. | ||||||
| 20 | "Employer" means any individual, partnership, association, | ||||||
| 21 | corporation, limited liability company, or business trust who | ||||||
| 22 | directly or indirectly, or through an agent or any other | ||||||
| 23 | person, employs or exercises control over wages, hours, or | ||||||
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| 1 | working conditions of an employee. | ||||||
| 2 | "Public transit" means any transportation system within | ||||||
| 3 | the authority and jurisdiction of the Regional Transportation | ||||||
| 4 | Authority.
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| 5 | "Qualified parking" means parking provided to an employee | ||||||
| 6 | on or near the business premises of the employer or on or near | ||||||
| 7 | a location from which the employee commutes to work by | ||||||
| 8 | transportation on public transit. "Qualified parking" does not | ||||||
| 9 | include parking on or near property used by the employee for | ||||||
| 10 | residential purposes. | ||||||
| 11 | "Transit pass" means any pass, token, fare card, voucher, | ||||||
| 12 | or similar item entitling a person to transportation on public | ||||||
| 13 | transit.
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| 14 | Section 10. Transportation benefits program. | ||||||
| 15 | (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), all covered | ||||||
| 16 | employers shall provide at least one of the following | ||||||
| 17 | transportation benefit programs to covered employees: | ||||||
| 18 | (1) A program consistent with 26 U.S.C. 132(f) that | ||||||
| 19 | allows employees to elect to exclude from taxable wages and | ||||||
| 20 | compensation the employee's commuting costs incurred for | ||||||
| 21 | the purchase of a transit pass to use public transit or for | ||||||
| 22 | the purchase of qualified parking, up to a maximum level | ||||||
| 23 | allowed by federal tax law. | ||||||
| 24 | (2) A program under which the employer supplies a | ||||||
| 25 | transit pass for the particular qualifying public transit | ||||||
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| 1 | requested by the covered employee or reimburses the covered | ||||||
| 2 | employee for payments made for the use of qualified | ||||||
| 3 | parking. | ||||||
| 4 | (b) This Act does not apply to a covered employer whose | ||||||
| 5 | place of business is located in a zip code in which | ||||||
| 6 | regularly-scheduled transit service does not operate. | ||||||
| 7 | Section 15. List of zip codes. The Regional Transportation | ||||||
| 8 | Authority shall prepare a list of zip codes within the | ||||||
| 9 | geographic area of the Authority in which regularly-scheduled | ||||||
| 10 | transit service does not operate. The Authority shall publish | ||||||
| 11 | the list of zip codes on its website.
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| 12 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January | ||||||
| 13 | 1, 2018.
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