ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers Illinois Vehicle Code (Senate Bill 2980), Illinois Administrative Procedure Act (House Bill 4372), The Parentage Act of 2015 (House Bill 4447), Income shares and child support (House Bill 3982), Six-person juries and increased fees (House Bill 3256) and Limited Liability Company Act (House Bill 4361). More information on each bill is available below the video.

Illinois Vehicle Code. Senate Bill 2980 (Haine, D-Alton) provides that a person may not drive or be in actual physical control of any vehicle while there is any amount in excess of the prescribed amount in the person’s prescription for the controlled substance. Just introduced and referred to the Senate Committee on Assignments.

Illinois Administrative Procedure Act. House Bill 4372 (Andersson, R-Geneva) amends the Administrative Review Article to ensure that litigants appealing an administrative decision to the appellate court don’t get thrown out jurisdictionally because of a scrivener’s error, such as naming “The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund” instead of “The Board of Trustees of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund.” Scheduled for a hearing next week in House Judiciary Committee.

The Parentage Act of 2015. House Bill 4447 (Burke, D-Oak Lawn) amends the recently enacted Parentage Act of 2015. That Act was drafted to be in compliance with a proposed Illinois Supreme Court Rule that required the name and date of birth of children to be replaced with their initials and year of birth. This proposed Supreme Court Rule (now rescinded) also required that child support orders contain only the last four digits of a child’s and parents’ social security number. It is not possible to effectively administer the Title IV-D child support program that requires compliance with federal law and cooperation with other states without this necessary personal information. House Bill 4447 corrects this problem by requiring the needed personal information but requires that this information be non-public.

The Act did not contain the phrase “the allocation of parental responsibilities” as created by the recent rewrite of the IMDMA. This amendment would replace the word “custody” where applicable with “the allocation of parental responsibilities” to use the same terminology and to be consistent with the IMDMA.
 
House Bill 4447 clarifies the required notices on the acknowledgment of parentage form. House Bill 4447 also provides that any voluntary acknowledgment or denial or rescission of acknowledgement of parentage that was completed before the effective date of the Act is valid if it met all criteria for validity at the time it was signed.
 
In the section concerning temporary orders, House Bill 4447 specifies that “child” includes a non-minor child with a disability to be consistent with the IMDMA and to provide for non-minor disabled children born to unmarried couples.

House Bill 4447 applies to all pending actions and proceedings commenced before its effective date for issues on which a judgment has not been entered.

Income shares and child support. House Bill 3982 (Burke, D-Oak Lawn) moves Illinois into the majority of other states that have an “income shares” model for adjudicating child support. Scheduled for hearing in House Judiciary Committee next week.

Six-person juries and increased fees. House Bill 3256 (Sandack, R-Downers Grove) repeals the provisions for a six-person jury in civil cases and increased juror fees in all cases. Scheduled for hearing in House Judiciary Committee next week.

Limited Liability Company Act. House Bill 4361 (Nekritz, D-Buffalo Grove) is a major rewrite of the Limited Liability Company Act. Scheduled for hearing in House Judiciary Committee next week.