By Jim Covington
Director of Legislative Affairs

The General Assembly has started its spring session now that the primary elections are over. Here are a few of the bills that are under consideration.

Quitclaims deeds. House Bill 4698 (Ford, D-Chicago) requires the recorder of deeds to send a notice by certified or registered mail to any party with an interest of record in the real property if a quitclaim deed is recorded or filed affecting that property. Current law requires a postcard notice to interested parties for quitclaim deeds recorded or filed in Cook County. It also requires quitclaim deeds to be recorded within seven days of execution by the grantor, grantee, or any party who is in possession of an executed quitclaim deed. The person who records the deed must pay for the recorder's certified or registered notices of quitclaim deeds.

FOIA. House Bill 4270 (Black, R-Danville) requires public bodies to do three things under FOIA. (1) Provide the record in any form or format requested if readily accessible in that form or format. (2) Make reasonable efforts to maintain FOIA records in form or format that are "reproducible." (3) Make reasonable efforts to search for requested records in electronic format unless it would significantly interfere with the operations of the public body's automated information system.

State RICO. House Bill 409 (Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora) creates a state RICO Act modeled after the federal RICO Act. Makes it a Class 1 felony for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and applies to accountability under Article 5 of the commission of any crime with forfeiture provisions. Allows prosecution under this Act for all incidents of racketeering activity as long as the last incident of racketeering activity occurred within seven years' from the first incident. Prohibits a state's attorney from prosecuting under this Act unless the Attorney General gives written approval.

Electronic visitation. House Bill 4220 (Mun-son, R-Elgin) defines "reasonable visitation" to include electronic communication. Allows the court to grant a reasonable amount of electronic communication at reasonable hours to a parent when the child is not in that parent's physical custody. But electronic communication may not replace or substitute for other visitation the noncustodial parent may receive.

Consecutive sentences. House Bill 4783 (Reboletti, R-Addison) requires the trial court to impose a consecutive sentence if a defendant is convicted of a felony while on probation, conditional discharge, parole, or mandatory supervised release for a prior felony.

New eavesdrop exemption. House Bill 4785 (Reboletti, R-Addison) makes it legal to eavesdrop conversations in the course of an investigation of a felony drug violation. Requires participation by a law enforcement officer or any person acting at the direction of a law-enforcement officer.

Child-support enforcement. House Bill 4284 (Boland, D-Moline) adds counties and sheriffs to the current authority of municipalities to impound vehicles for failure to pay child support.

Loan-forgiveness program. Senate Bill 1923 (Schoenberg, D-Evanston) creates a State loan-forgiveness program for public-interest lawyers such as assistant state's attorneys, public defenders, public guardians, and legal-aid lawyers. Those eligible may receive up to $6,000 per year in loan repayments with a lifetime maximum of $30,000 in exchange for a renewable yearly commitment to serve the public.

DNA collection. House Bill 4466 (Mendoza, D-Chicago) requires every person arrested for a felony to give a DNA sample.

Tax sales. House Bill 4769 (Tyron, R-Crystal Lake) requires mortgagees to forward certain notices concerning tax sales to each mortgagor and personally consult with them before incurring costs to redeem the property. If the mortgagee fails to do this, then the mortgagee may not attempt to collect any redemption cost from the mortgagor.