HB4886 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB093 20877 RAS 46827 b

93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2003 and 2004
HB4886

Introduced 02/04/04, by Ruth Munson, JoAnn D. Osmond

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

5 ILCS 175/5-120

Amends the Electronic Commerce Security Act. Provides that government agencies are authorized but not required to accept electronic signature technology. Requires a government agency that accepts electronic signatures to take adequate precautions to protect personal information. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning electronic signatures.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Electronic Commerce Security Act is amended by changing Section 5-120 as follows:

(5 ILCS 175/5-120)

Sec. 5-120. Electronic signatures.

(a) Where a rule of law requires a signature, or provides for certain consequences if a document is not signed, an electronic signature satisfies that rule of law. A government agency is authorized, but is not required, to accept electronic signatures. In addition to complying with any security requirements of this Act, a government agency that accepts electronic signatures must take adequate precautions to protect the signer's personal information, which may include name, address, telephone number, and social security number.

(b) An electronic signature may be proved in any manner, including by showing that a procedure existed by which a party must of necessity have executed a symbol or security procedure for the purpose of verifying that an electronic record is that of such party in order to proceed further with a transaction.

(c) The provisions of this Section shall not apply:

(1) when its application would involve a construction of a rule of law that is clearly inconsistent with the manifest intent of the lawmaking body or repugnant to the context of the same rule of law, provided that the mere requirement of a "signature" or that a record be "signed" shall not by itself be sufficient to establish such intent;

(2) to any rule of law governing the creation or execution of a will or trust, living will, or healthcare power of attorney; and

(3) to any record that serves as a unique and transferable instrument of rights and obligations including, without limitation, negotiable instruments and other instruments of title wherein possession of the instrument is deemed to confer title, unless an electronic version of such record is created, stored, and transferred in a manner that allows for the existence of only one unique, identifiable, and unalterable original with the functional attributes of an equivalent physical instrument, that can be possessed by only one person, and which cannot be copied except in a form that is readily identifiable as a copy.

(Source: P.A. 90-759, eff. 7-1-99.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.