(McGuire, D-Crest Hill; Fortner, R-West Chicago) allows a board of review to serve by electronic means if the taxing district consents to electronic service and provides the board of review with a valid e-mail address for this purpose if a change in assessed valuation of $100,000 or more is sought. Effective July 15, 2016.
(Link, D-Gurnee; Jackson, D- E. St. Louis) reduces from seven to five years before unclaimed property held by the government or court is considered to be abandoned. Effective January 1, 2017.
(Hernandez, D-Cicero; Martinez, D-Chicago) increases the amount of civil penalties for civil rights violations in real estate transactions. Effective January 1, 2017.
Court entered written order dismissing Plaintiff Park District's petition for writ of prohibition against City and its Human Relations Commission, finding Commission has jurisdiction to proceed with its claim of unlawful retaliation against District pursuant to City Code. As legislature did not provide park district with authority to discriminate in employment matters but did provide for local governments to police discrimination, Commission was not interfering with District's statutory authority by bringing discrimination claim against District. City had authority to prohibit an employer from retaliating aginst employee for filing claim of racial discrimination. Park District Code does not permit park districts to terminate their employees in a discriminatory manner. Tort Immunity Act does not affect Commission's jurisdiction in this case. (KNECHT and TURNER, concurring.)
(Haine, D-Alton; Zalewski, D-Chicago) clarifies that a county or municipality may assess an administrative fee for impounding vehicles only for violations listed in the current Vehicle Code. If the administrative hearing officer finds that a county or municipality exceeded its authority to impound a vehicle under the Vehicle Code, the county or municipality is liable to the car’s owner for the storage fees and reasonable attorney’s fees. Makes other changes. Passed both chambers.
(McSweeney, R-Cary; Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park) requires that school districts, community colleges, and non-home rule units of local government regulate travel, meal, and lodging expenses of officers and employees and members of their governing boards. Prohibits reimbursing entertainment expenses. The ordinance or resolution must include: (1) the types of official business for which travel, meal, and lodging expenses are allowable; (2) maximum allowable reimbursement for those expenses; and (3) a standardized form for submission of those expenses. Requires that the governing board or corporate authority must approve by a roll call vote at an open meeting any expenses of a member of the governing board and expenses of officers and employees over the maximum amount. The submitted documents are public records under the FOIA Act. Passed both chambers.
(Ives, R-Wheaton; Connelly, R-Naperville) requires public bodies to give access to verbatim recordings and minutes of closed meetings to officials filling vacancies of elected officials in public bodies. Access is to be granted in the public body’s main office or official storage location in the presence of a records secretary, an administrative official of the public body, or any elected official of the public body. These records may not be recorded or removed from official storage unless the pubic body votes otherwise or so ordered by the courts. Effective June 20, 2016.
(Nekritz, D-Buffalo Grove; Steans, D-Chicago) makes a number of changes to this Act. (1) Exempts from FOIA any information collected by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. This exemption does not extend to educational, training, and outreach material, statistical data, or operational information maintained by the Department in administering the Act. (2) Clarifies that neither the Ombudsperson nor the Department has the authority to consider matters that may constitute unlawful discrimination under local, State, or federal law. (3) Makes numerous technical changes including deleting the registration requirement by an entity. (4) Pushes back the repeal date of the entire Act by one year to July 1, 2022. Passed both chambers.
(Althoff, R-McHenry; Nekritz, D-Buffalo Grove) extends the sunset for current law until December 31, 2020. It requires work to be done or materials furnished to obtain a lien within three years for residential property and five years for any other kind of property. Passed both chambers.
(Biss, D-Skokie; Williams, D-Chicago) makes the following changes to the Act.
(1) Expands the definition of protected “personal information” to include a person’s first name or first initial and the last name that is encrypted or redacted but the unlocking keys have been breached if one of several “data elements” have also been unlawfully acquired. (2) Expands “data elements” to include medical information, health insurance information, unique biometric data. (3) Expands protected “personal information” to include user name or email address and password or security question information that permits a person’s online accounts to be breached. (4) Requires a data collector that owns or licenses, or maintains or stores but does not own or license, records that contain personal information of Illinois resident to implement and maintain reasonable security measures to protect those records from unauthorized access or use. (5) Compliance with the federal HIPAA complies with this Act as long as the covered entity provides notice of a breach to the Illinois Attorney General within notifying the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Effective January 1, 2017.