republic-os/legislation/us/states/il/96th/hb-3999.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "HIGHER ED-GOLDEN APPLE SCHOLAR"
description: "Amends the Higher Education Student Assistance Act and the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that the Illinois Student Assistance Commission shall combine best practices and methods and programmatic functions of the Illinois Future Teacher Corps Program and the Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching's Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program into one program, to be known as the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program and managed by the Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching. Provides that this consolidated program shall be fully operational before July 1, 2012 and that Fiscal Year 2012 shall be the last year that Illinois Future Teacher Corps scholarships are available. Provides for a transition period. Requires the Commission to transfer funding from the Illinois Future Teacher Corps Program to the Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching. Provides that following the completion of the transition of funding, all applications for scholarship assistance shall be in a form determined by the Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching. Provides that the eligibility requirements apply only to Illinois Future Teacher Corps scholarships. Makes other changes. Effective immediately."
jurisdiction: "us/states/il"
legislature: "Illinois General Assembly"
session: "96th"
identifier: "HB 3999"
citation: "Illinois HB 3999 (96th)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 3
action_count: 26
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2009-02-26"
last_action: "2009-08-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a7e29710-7446-42dd-8f1a-6a8069429ba0"
source_url: "http://ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=3999&GAID=10&DocTypeID=HB&LegId=46837&SessionID=76&GA=96"
source_hash: "aea8d40644f29d131a5532e83716a75d70912f32973eb32f977da3070f0bd9a9"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-il"]
---

# Illinois HB 3999 (96th) — HIGHER ED-GOLDEN APPLE SCHOLAR

Amends the Higher Education Student Assistance Act and the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that the Illinois Student Assistance Commission shall combine best practices and methods and programmatic functions of the Illinois Future Teacher Corps Program and the Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching's Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program into one program, to be known as the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program and managed by the Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching. Provides that this consolidated program shall be fully operational before July 1, 2012 and that Fiscal Year 2012 shall be the last year that Illinois Future Teacher Corps scholarships are available. Provides for a transition period. Requires the Commission to transfer funding from the Illinois Future Teacher Corps Program to the Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching. Provides that following the completion of the transition of funding, all applications for scholarship assistance shall be in a form determined by the Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching. Provides that the eligibility requirements apply only to Illinois Future Teacher Corps scholarships. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09600HB3999&GA=96&SessionId=76&DocTypeId=HB&LegID=46837&DocNum=3999&GAID=10&Session=&print=true)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09600HB3999eng&GA=96&SessionId=76&DocTypeId=HB&LegID=46837&DocNum=3999&GAID=10&Session=&print=true)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09600HB3999enr&GA=96&SessionId=76&DocTypeId=HB&LegID=46837&DocNum=3999&GAID=10&Session=&print=true)

## Votes

- Third Reading — **115–0** (pass) · lower
- Third Reading — **58–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Mary E. Flowers — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2009-02-26** Filed with the Clerk by Rep. Mary E. Flowers `filing`
- **2009-02-26** First Reading `reading-1`
- **2009-02-26** Referred to Rules Committee `referral-committee`
- **2009-03-03** Assigned to Higher Education Committee `referral-committee`
- **2009-03-11** Do Pass / Short Debate Higher Education Committee; 007-000-000 `committee-passage`
- **2009-03-12** Placed on Calendar 2nd Reading - Short Debate
- **2009-03-17** Second Reading - Short Debate `reading-2`
- **2009-03-17** Placed on Calendar Order of 3rd Reading - Short Debate
- **2009-03-18** Third Reading - Short Debate - Passed 115-000-000 `reading-3, passage`
- **2009-03-19** Arrive in Senate `introduction`
- **2009-03-19** Placed on Calendar Order of First Reading March 24, 2009 `reading-1`
- **2009-03-23** Chief Senate Sponsor Sen. Iris Y. Martinez
- **2009-03-24** First Reading `reading-1`
- **2009-03-24** Referred to Assignments `referral-committee`
- **2009-04-22** Assigned to Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2009-04-29** Do Pass Higher Education; 008-000-000 `committee-passage`
- **2009-04-29** Placed on Calendar Order of 2nd Reading April 30, 2009
- **2009-05-13** Second Reading `reading-2`
- **2009-05-13** Placed on Calendar Order of 3rd Reading ** May 18, 2009
- **2009-05-19** Added as Alternate Chief Co-Sponsor Sen. Edward D. Maloney
- **2009-05-19** Third Reading - Passed; 058-000-000 `reading-3, passage`
- **2009-05-19** Passed Both Houses
- **2009-06-17** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2009-08-13** Governor Approved `executive-signature`
- **2009-08-13** Effective Date August 13, 2009
- **2009-08-13** Public Act . . . . . . . . . 96-0411 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a7e29710-7446-42dd-8f1a-6a8069429ba0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Illinois legislature records).