Senate Week in Review

Aug. 5-9, 2013

From State Senator Tim Bivins

Bill signings have recently moved into high gear as the Governor faces an end-of-August deadline for acting on most measures approved by the General Assembly during the spring legislative session.

I sponsored six of the new laws signed into law from Aug. 2-9:

TIF – Orangeville (HB 1709): Extends the life of the Village of Orangeville TIF district by 12 years. Orangeville originally instituted its TIF on July 6, 1998.

Hospice (HB 1233): Expands the number of licensed hospice homes in the state to allow five in any county.

Community Associations (HB 1773): Clarifies that a Common Interest Community Association cannot enter into a contract with a current board member or with a corporation for which a board member or member’s family controls 25% of the corporation’s interests.

Contact Lens Providers (SB 2218): Prohibits anyone other than a licensed optometrist, licensed pharmacist, or physician from dispensing contact lenses to patients. Also clarifies that decorative and colored contact lenses are treated as contacts and therefore must be dispensed by the proper medical professional.

Fingerprinting Fee (SB 1853): Allows local law enforcement to charge a reasonable fee for offering fingerprinting services.

House Arrest (SB 1854): Allows a person who is sentenced to jail on a misdemeanor or probationable felony to be considered committed to the custody of the Sheriff and may serve their sentence at home, i.e. “house arrest,” through an electronic home detention program under the terms and conditions of the Sheriff.

In other action, dozens of other legislative measures covering topics as wide-ranging as student athletes, domestic violence, rehabilitation of criminals, and hunting were signed into law during the week of Aug. 5-9.

Student Athlete Insurance

Prompted by the death of a high school football player, injured during a game, “Rocky’s Law” requires all Illinois high schools to offer catastrophic insurance coverage for student athletes.

Rasul “Rocky” Clark, who played for Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, suffered a spinal cord injury, which left him paralyzed from the neck down. In May 2011, he reached his insurance benefit limit of $5 million and his coverage was dropped, leaving him and his family with mounting medical bills. Clark passed away in January 2012 from surgical complications.

Senate Bill 2178 requires all public and private high schools in the state to provide a minimum policy covering $3 million in benefits or five years of coverage relating to medical injuries for athletes who participate in an IHSA school-sponsored athletic event.

Domestic Violence Protections

Several bills targeting crime were also signed into law during the week, including several measures targeting domestic violence.

One of these new laws cracks down on individuals with repeat domestic battery convictions. Currently, many domestic crimes are considered misdemeanors, and are punishable by lighter sentences such as probation or conditional discharge. Seeking to keep chronic domestic abusers off the street and send a strong message this type of crime won’t be tolerated, House Bill 958 will classify domestic battery as a Class 3 felony if a defendant had three prior convictions, or a Class 2 felony for four or more previous domestic battery convictions—punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Similarly, House Bill 3300 seeks to protect domestic violence victims who are covered by their abuser’s insurance policy. Under the new law, insurance companies will be required to comply with requests to communicate with victims of domestic crime through specific channels, whether it is through email, telephone, etc. House Bill 3300 seeks to ensure that an abuser doesn’t involuntarily gain access to their victim’s personal information, such as their address.

Teen Dating Violence

Another new law targets the unfortunately common occurrence of teen dating violence. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that about one in five women and nearly one in seven men, who have experienced rape, physical violence and/or were stalked by a partner, had initially experienced some sort of physical violence between the ages of 11 and 17.

House Bill 3379 seeks to reduce those numbers by increasing awareness among Illinois’ youth about dating violence. All public school districts will be required to adopt a policy prohibiting this type of crime, and to educate both students and school employees on how to recognize, respond to and report teen dating violence.

Violence Task Forces

Two bills targeting crime were signed into law this week. House Bill 2879 establishes a Violence Prevention Task Force whose members are charged with gathering information to help in providing future job, training and shelter opportunities to at-risk young people and adults. Proponents of the law hope to increase the potential for personal and professional success as a way to reduce violence. House Bill 3236 will extend by one year the Eradicate Domestic Violence Task Force’s deadline to submit its report to the General Assembly. The task force now has until April 1, 2014, to present its recommendations.

While laws seeking to increase criminal penalties and deter crime are always popular in the Statehouse, this year lawmakers advanced several measures to give former criminal offenders a fresh start. At this time, more than half of Illinois inmates return to prison within three years of their release.

Traffic Safety Bills Honor Victims

Two tragic traffic accidents led to the approval of legislation named in honor of the victims.

“Patricia’s Law” (House Bill 1010) would prohibit a judge from giving court supervision for offenses that caused of the death of another person. This legislation is in direct response to the case of Patricia McNamara, who was killed by a distracted driver in McHenry County in 2011, when the driver rammed into her car after running through a stop sign.

The driver, who had three previous speeding tickets, pled guilty only to failure to obey a stop sign. He was fined and sentenced to court supervision, which meant no conviction would appear on his record.

Kelsey’s Law

Another measure, known as “Kelsey’s Law,” grew out of a serious accident in Grundy County, when Kelsey Little was struck by the passenger-side mirror of a truck as she and several friends were walking along the side of road in 2011, where there was no sidewalk. The truck was driven by a 15-year-old boy who had only his learner’s permit.

Just days after the accident, the boy was able to obtain his graduated driver’s license because the existing form did not require him to disclose he had a pending traffic ticket.  House Bill 1009 prohibits the issuance of a graduated driver’s license to anyone with a pending traffic citation and allows the Secretary of State to pull the graduated license of anyone who had a pending citation at the time the license was issued.

Hunting and Fishing Measures Pass

Several measures will affect those who enjoy hunting and fishing. House Bill 1651 gives hunters a safer ammunition alternative for taking fur bearing mammals, such as foxes and coyotes, by allowing the use of shotguns loaded with slugs. It has been against the law to take any species of wild game with a shotgun loaded with slugs except for white tailed deer. Shotgun slugs are used to provide rifle-like accuracy, but not range, from a shotgun. They offer an alternative in cases where the range of a rifle can present a safety hazard, but traditional buckshot is ineffective.

Another measure makes the common-sense declaration that water is not considered “bait.” House Bill 1003 was enacted to clarify that the law prohibiting hunters from using bait to attract deer and turkey does not apply to water. This will assure that farm ponds or other bodies of water will not be considered as “bait.” However, the water cannot have any additives.

Senate Bill 1538 will allow those interested in non-traditional forms of fishing to use a “sling bow” to take certain fish.

Senate Bill 1620 makes it illegal for any person having control over harvested game mammals, game birds, or migratory game birds that have a bag limit, to waste or destroy usable meat of the game. This targets situations where outfitters and their clients are killing deer, removing the head/antlers as a trophy and then dumping the carcass.