Visitation standing. House Bill 3010 (Lindner, R-Sugar Grove) amends the visitation-standing statute for grandparents or siblings (Sec. 607). It deletes the requirement that there be “an unreasonable denial of visitation” before any of the possible standing subsections are considered. In its place it substitutes “a denial of visitation.”

Sec. 503(g) trusts of IMDMA. Senate Bill 454 (Silverstein, D-Chicago; Lindner, R-Sugar Grove) expands §503(g) trusts in family law cases to specifically authorize them for expenses incurred for the “physical and mental health” of a minor. Current law authorizes these trusts for support, maintenance, education and general welfare of any minor.

Child-support enforcement. House Bill 1747 (Soto, D-Chicago) makes two changes. (1) Authorize municipalities to impound motor vehicles owned by responsible relatives who are delinquent in child-support payments according to the Illinois HFS. By rule HFS will provide this certificate of delinquency to the municipalities based on a court order or an administrative order by HFS or an administrative agency of any other state.

Juvenile interrogation. House Bill 1380 (Cullerton, D-Chicago) requires counsel be provided to a juvenile during interrogation for a murder or sex crime if the juvenile is less than 17 years of age (now 13).

Juvenile-court jurisdiction. House Bill 1517 (Collins, D-Chicago; Cullerton, D-Chicago) raises the age of juvenile court jurisdiction from 17 to 18 for misdemeanor offenses only.

Public accommodations. Senate Bill 593 (Cullerton, D-Chicago) amends the Illinois Human Rights Act to redefine a “place of public accommodation” to replace the statutory examples with a specific list that includes but is not limited to that list. It specifically lists a lawyer's office as a place of public accommodation. But it is not a civil rights violation for a professional-service provider to refer or refuse to provide services for any non-discriminatory reason if the provider would do the same for the same reason for any other person.

FOIA. House Bill 511 (Joyce, D-Chicago; Ronen, D-Chicago) amends the Freedom of Information Act to redefine a "public record” to include the portion of a settlement agreement entered into by or on behalf of a public body that shows the total amount of any moneys or total financial value of other agreements from a financial payment to or by the public body. This will also include the amount expended by or on behalf of the public body for the prosecution, defense, or settlement of any litigation.

Medical and legal records. Senate Bill 472 (Cullerton, D-Chicago; Scully, D-Chicago) amends the Code of Civil Procedure affecting the retrieval of consumer's medical or legal records. (1) Allows for the charging for the actual postage or shipping charge of the records. (2) Clarifies that records retrieved from scanning, digital imaging, electronic information or other digital format do not qualify as microfiche or microfilm retrieval for calculating charges under this statute. (3) Allows a charge of 75 cents for each CD ROM, DVD, or other digital media for electronic records. If the records are already maintained in an electronic or digital format, they must be provided in an electronic format if requested. Makes other technical and formatting changes.