ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers Condominium Property Act (House Bill 2644), Decriminalization of cannabis (House Bill 218) and Body cameras (Public Act 99-352). More information on each bill is available below the video.

Condominium Property Act. House Bill 2644 (Cassidy, D-Chicago; Steans, D-Chicago) deletes a provision in current law that allows unit owners to enforce a provision in a declaration that would otherwise be void and ineffective if at least 75% of the owners approve at a any time after the election of the first unit-owner board of managers. Governor Rauner vetoed this because he believes that this is an unnecessary restriction on the rights of condominium owners with respect to their property.

Decriminalization of cannabis. House Bill 218 (Cassidy, D-Chicago; Noland, D-Elgin) imposes a minimum fine of $55 and a maximum fine of $125 for possession of 15 grams or less of cannabis. (2) Establishes a per se standard for Cannabis-DUI of 15 nano/milliliter of blood or 25 nano/milliliter of saliva in system instead of a trace of cannabis. (3) Allows for alternative ways to test for cannabis DUI using “any bodily substance” (including saliva) for testing. This is an expansion from current law of breath, blood, and urine. (4) Keeps ordinance and civil violation dispositions of minors confidential to reflect the intent of the Juvenile Court Act and limit collateral damage to minors.

Governor Rauner issued an amendatory veto HB 218 to make the following changes, which the General Assembly must either accept or override. If the General Assembly does neither, the bill is dead. The amendatory veto does three things:

(1) Reduces the amount of cannabis subject to this civil proceeding 10 grams instead of 15 grams.

(2) Increases the fine from a minimum of $55 to $100 and the maximum of $125 to $200.

(3) Reduces the DUI per se standard from 15 nano/milliliter of blood to 5 nano/milliliter.

Body cameras. Public Act 99-352 (Raoul, D-Chicago; Sims, D-Chicago) is a comprehensive package that includes authorization and minimum standards for officer-worn video cameras. It permits use of body cameras and establishes minimum standards for retention (90 days for flagged incidents) for individuals captured on camera.

It requires independent investigation of officer-involved incidents if members of the public are killed, mandates minimum training for those principally investigating those incidents, and clarifies the process by which an independent prosecutor ought to be appointed to review such incidents. It also adds a new requirement for officers to provide persons subjected to “Terry Stops” with a stop receipt that would include officer-identifying information and the rationale for the stop.

Effective January 1, 2016 for most of these changes.