Amends the School Code. Provides that the State Board of Education shall develop a grant program to support the educator licensure of paraprofessionals with bachelor's degrees. Provides that the State Board shall distribute grants to qualified school districts. Provides that the school districts shall distribute funds to paraprofessionals. Sets forth requirements for school districts to qualify. Sets forth requirements for paraprofessionals to qualify. Sets forth requirements for the grant application, selection of paraprofessionals, restrictions of funds, priority to award grant assistance, program evaluation, and rulemaking.

Amends the Child Death Review Team Act. Provides that members of the General Assembly shall serve on the Illinois Child Death Review Teams Executive Council and attend all Executive Council meetings. Provides that members of the General Assembly shall be permitted to attend all Executive meetings, meetings between the Director and the Executive Council, and Child Death Review regional team meetings. Provides that in addition to other specified purposes, a child death review team's purpose in conducting reviews of child deaths is to share with the General Assembly the specific recommendations the review team makes to the Director and the Inspector General of the Department of Children and Family Services concerning the prevention of child deaths due to abuse or neglect and the establishment of protocols for investigating child deaths.

Amends the School Code. Provides that, when hiring or assigning physical education, music, and visual arts educators, a school district must prioritize the hiring or assigning of educators who hold an educator license and endorsement in those content areas. Provides that a professional educator licensure applicant must pass the licensure content area test for the content area he or she is assigned to teach or complete at least 9 semester hours of coursework in the content area prior to his or her employment start date. Provides that, in order to retain his or her employment for subsequent school years, the employee must complete the remaining hours of coursework in the content area in which he or she is teaching and apply for a license endorsement within 3 calendar years after his or her employment start date. Provides that, in the case of a reduction in force, a school district may follow its employee contract language for filling positions.

Amends the Court of Claims Act. Provides that, for the purpose of making up any deficiency in the appropriation for the payment of claims directed pursuant to the Line of Duty Compensation Act, there is appropriated, on a continuing annual basis in each fiscal year, from the General Revenue Fund to the Court of Claims, the amount, if any, by which the total appropriation for the payment of claims directed pursuant to the Line of Duty Compensation Act for the fiscal year is less than the amount required for the payment of claims pursuant to the Line of Duty Compensation Act for that fiscal year. Provides that the amount of any continuing appropriation used by the Court of Claims under the amendatory Act for a given fiscal year shall be charged against the unexpended amount of any appropriation for line of duty awards to the Court of Claims for that fiscal year that subsequently becomes available. Requires the Court of Claims to report to the President and Minority Leader of the Senate, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, and the Governor's Office of Management and Budget on any continuing appropriation that is used at the conclusion of a fiscal year. Amends the Line of Duty Compensation Act. Provides that if a claim is made within 2 years (rather than one year) of the date of death of a law enforcement officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman, chaplain, or State employee killed in the line of duty, compensation shall be paid to the person designated by the law enforcement officer, civil defense worker, civil air patrol member, paramedic, fireman, chaplain, or State employee. Effective immediately.

Appropriates $ 4 , 2 00,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for costs associated with a grant to Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities to provide specialized case management services to certain people in pretrial detention in Winnebago and in St. Clair Counties . Effective immediately.

Creates the Law Enforcement Gang Database Information Act. Defines terms. Provides requirements for the use of gang databases and shared gang databases. Amends the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. Provides that in all criminal cases, evidence which indicates the mere presence that the person was or is on a gang database or a shared gang database is not admissible. Effective immediately.

Amends the Course of Study Article of the School Code. Provides that, as a prerequisite to receiving a high school diploma, each pupil entering the 9th grade beginning with the 2028-2029 school year must successfully complete either 2 years of foreign language courses or at least 2 years of career-focused coursework that has been authorized by the State Board of Education as meeting the requirements for a College and Career Pathway Endorsement under the Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act (rather than requiring the successful completion of 2 years of foreign language courses). Amends the University of Illinois Act, the Southern Illinois University Management Act, the Chicago State University Law, the Eastern Illinois University Law, the Governors State University Law, the Illinois State University Law, the Northeastern Illinois State University Law, the Northern Illinois University Law, and the Western Illinois University Law. Provides that a university may not require State public high school graduates, as a condition of acceptance, to have completed any years of foreign language courses unless the university permits, as an alternative to completion of a foreign language course, attainment of a College and Career Pathway Endorsement under the Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act. Effective immediately.

Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Eliminates the felony murder provisions from the first degree murder statute. Provides that a person commits second degree murder when he or she, acting alone or with one or more participants, commits or attempts to commit a forcible felony, other than first degree murder, and in the course of or in furtherance of the crime or flight from the crime, he or she or another participant causes the death of a person, other than one of the participants. Provides that it is an affirmative defense to the charge that the defendant: (1) was not the only participant in the underlying crime; (2) did not commit the homicidal act or in any way solicit, request, command, importune, cause, or aid in the commission of the crime; (3) was not armed with a deadly weapon; and (4) did not engage himself or herself in or intend to engage in and had no reasonable ground to believe that any other participant intended to engage in conduct likely to result in death or serious bodily injury. Amends the Code of Civil Procedure. Provides for relief from judgment for defendants convicted of first degree murder committed before the effective date of the amendatory Act. Provides that nothing in these provisions prevents a movant from applying for any other relief.

Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Provides for enhanced penalties for hate crime. Provides that hate crime is: (1) a Class 1 felony if committed by a person 18 years of age or older while armed with a firearm or if the victim of the hate crime is under 18 years of age; (2) a Class X felony if a crime of violence as defined in the Crime Victims Compensation Act is committed against a person by reason of the actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, citizenship, immigration status, or national origin of another individual or group of individuals; or (3) a Class X felony for which the person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 15 years and not more than 60 years if a crime of violence that is a Class X felony is committed against a victim described in (2). Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Provides that a person who commits any of these offenses is ineligible for a period of probation, a term of periodic imprisonment or conditional discharge. Provides that a prisoner serving sentence for the offenses described in (2) or (3) shall receive no more than 4.5 days of sentence credit for each month of his or her sentence of imprisonment. Provides if the underlying offense was first degree murder committed against a person by reason of the actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, citizenship, immigration status, or national origin of the victim or victims, the court may impose a term of natural life imprisonment upon the offender.

Amends the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. Provides that the provision of the Post-Conviction Hearing Article of the Code that a prisoner shows cause by identifying an objective factor that impeded his or her ability to raise a specific claim during his or her initial post-conviction proceedings shall bar a claim under the proportionate penalties clause of the Illinois Constitution brought in a successive post-conviction petition by any person who was convicted of a felony offense committed when that person was under 18 years of age.

Amends the Illinois Procurement Code. Provides that authorized emergency vehicles are excluded from the definitions of "flexible fuel vehicles" and "fuel efficient hybrid vehicles".

Amends the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act. In provisions relating to laboratory testing, defines "batch" to mean: (1) for cannabis concentrate, 10 grams of every 2.2 pounds of concentrate; (2) for edible cannabis-infused products, 1% of a run, being a minimum of 2 packaged units or, if a bulk product, 10 grams; (3) for cannabis-infused beverage products, 1% of a run, being a minimum of 2 packaged units; and (4) for other cannabis-infused products (not including edibles and beverages), 1% of a run, being a minimum of 2 packaged units, or, if a bulk product, 10 grams. Requires the Department of Agriculture to adopt rules creating an incentive program for cultivation centers to use minority-owned or women-owned cannabis-testing laboratories.

Amends the Law Enforcement and Fire Fighting Medal of Honor Act. Provides that the term of office of each Committee member is abolished on October 1, 2023. Provides that the terms of the Committee members shall be as follows: one of the members shall be appointed for a term of one year, one member shall be appointed for terms of 2 years, and 2 members shall be appointed for terms of 3 years. Provides that thereafter, the Committee members shall hold office for 4 years. Provides that the Illinois State Police shall provide administrative support to the Committee.

Amends the Illinois Credit Union Act. Provides that an annual regulatory fee paid by a credit union to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation shall not be more than $210,000 (rather than $141,875). Effective immediately.

Amends the Will Contests Article of the Probate Act of 1975. Provides that, as used in that Article only, "interested person" includes any person who is an interested person as defined by the Act or any person or organization named as a legatee in a prior will of the decedent whose share in the prior will is more than the share the person or organization receives under the will being admitted. Provides that the amendatory Act may be referred to as Karen's Law.