101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
SB1599

 

Introduced 2/15/2019, by Sen. Elgie R. Sims, Jr.

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
815 ILCS 505/2QQQ

    Amends the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act in relation to the dissemination of criminal record information. In provisions making it an unlawful practice for a person or entity that publishes for profit a person's criminal record information to fail to correct an error in the individual's criminal record information under specified circumstances, provides that those provisions also apply to other dissemination of the information and to publication in a criminal history report. Provides that nothing in the Act shall be construed to restrict or limit the ability of an aggrieved party to proceed through established federal or State remedies or other alternative methods of redress for similar offenses.


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A BILL FOR

 

SB1599LRB101 10639 JLS 55745 b

1    AN ACT concerning business.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business
5Practices Act is amended by changing Section 2QQQ as follows:
 
6    (815 ILCS 505/2QQQ)
7    Sec. 2QQQ. Criminal record information.
8    (a) It is an unlawful practice for any person engaged in
9publishing or otherwise disseminating criminal record
10information through a print or electronic medium to solicit or
11accept the payment of a fee or other consideration to remove,
12correct, or modify said criminal record information.
13    (b) For the purposes of this Section, "criminal record
14information" includes any and all of the following:
15        (1) descriptions or notations of any arrests, any
16    formal criminal charges, and the disposition of those
17    criminal charges, including, but not limited to, any
18    information made available under Section 4a of the State
19    Records Act or Section 3b of the Local Records Act;
20        (2) photographs of the person taken pursuant to an
21    arrest or other involvement in the criminal justice system;
22    or
23        (3) personal identifying information, including a

 

 

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1    person's name, address, date of birth, photograph, and
2    social security number or other government-issued
3    identification number.
4    (c) A person or entity that publishes or otherwise
5disseminates for profit a person's criminal record information
6on a publicly available Internet website or in any other
7publication or criminal history report that charges a fee for
8removal or correction of the information must correct any
9errors in the individual's criminal history information within
105 business days after notification of an error. Failure to
11correct an error in the individual's criminal record
12information constitutes an unlawful practice within the
13meaning of this Act.
14    (d) A person whose criminal record information is published
15for profit on a publicly available Internet website or in any
16other publication that charges a fee for removal or correction
17of the information may demand the publisher to correct the
18information if the subject of the information, or his or her
19representative, sends a letter, via certified mail, to the
20publishing entity demanding the information be corrected and
21providing documentation of the correct information.
22    (e) Failure by a for-profit publishing entity that
23publishes on a publicly available Internet website or in any
24other publication or criminal history report that charges a fee
25for removal or correction of the information to correct the
26person's published criminal record information within 5

 

 

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1business days after receipt of the notice, demand for
2correction, and the provision of correct information,
3constitutes an unlawful and deceptive practice within the
4meaning of this Act. In addition to any other remedy available
5under this Act, a person who has been injured by a violation of
6this Section is entitled to the damages of $100 per day, plus
7attorney's fees, for the publisher's failure to correct the
8criminal record information.
9    (f) This Section does not apply to a play, book, magazine,
10newspaper, musical, composition, visual work, work of art,
11audiovisual work, radio, motion picture, or television
12program, or a dramatic, literary, or musical work.
13    (g) This Section does not apply to a news medium or
14reporter as defined in Section 8-902 of the Code of Civil
15Procedure.
16    (h) This Section does not apply to the Illinois State
17Police.
18    (i) This Section does not apply to a consumer reporting
19agency as defined under 15 U.S.C. 1681a(f).
20    (j) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to impose
21liability on an interactive computer service, as defined in 47
22U.S.C. 230(f)(2), for content provided by another person.
23    (k) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to restrict or
24limit the ability of an aggrieved party to proceed through
25established federal or State remedies or other alternative
26methods of redress for similar offenses.

 

 

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1(Source: P.A. 100-927, eff. 1-1-19.)