Full Text of HB1299 94th General Assembly
HB1299eng 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| AN ACT concerning civil law.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 1.
Short title.
This Act may be cited as the | 5 |
| Predator Accountability Act. | 6 |
| Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds: | 7 |
| (1) The United Nations Convention of December 2, 1949 | 8 |
| proclaimed that prostitution and sex trafficking are | 9 |
| "incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human | 10 |
| person and endanger the welfare of the individual, the | 11 |
| family and the community." Sex trade activities and sex | 12 |
| trafficking are supported by inequality and oppression | 13 |
| based on gender, race, socioeconomic status, sexual | 14 |
| orientation, and age. The sex trade and sex trafficking | 15 |
| disproportionately affect women and children, particularly | 16 |
| women of color. Men are also trafficked and exploited in | 17 |
| the sex trade. | 18 |
| (2) Regardless of the specific pathway the women took | 19 |
| to trading sex, their initial experiences could not have | 20 |
| occurred in the absence of an environment that was | 21 |
| supportive of their sex trade activities, as well as | 22 |
| partners who were willing to pay for sex. Research and | 23 |
| evidence suggests that the sex trade is inherently | 24 |
| coercive, abusive, and exploitative. Individuals, | 25 |
| organizations, and entities often recruit and maintain | 26 |
| persons, largely women and girls, in the sex trade through | 27 |
| predatory behaviors including coercion, violence, abuse, | 28 |
| and exploitation.
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| (3) These practices often cause severe trauma and | 30 |
| long-term physical, emotional, and psychological damage. | 31 |
| Often, individuals enter sex trade-related activities | 32 |
| prior to age 18, are homeless or runaways, victims of |
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| childhood sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, or have | 2 |
| mental health or substance abuse issues. Many adult persons | 3 |
| in the sex trade are victimized by many forms of violence | 4 |
| and abuse while in the sex trade. This violence is often | 5 |
| perpetrated to maintain their participation in the sex | 6 |
| trade.
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| (4) Many persons, organizations, and entities that | 8 |
| subject individuals to or maintain them in the sex trade | 9 |
| are not held accountable by the criminal justice system. In | 10 |
| some parts of the State, less than 1% of all prostitution | 11 |
| related arrests are for pimps or panderers. | 12 |
| (5) This Act allows persons who have been or are | 13 |
| subjected to the sex trade to seek civil damages and | 14 |
| remedies from individuals and entities that recruited, | 15 |
| profited from, or maintained them in the sex trade.
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| Section 10. Definitions.
As used in this Act: | 17 |
| "Sex trade" means any type of sexual activity in exchange | 18 |
| for any type of consideration, including a single incident of | 19 |
| activity. Forms of "sex trade" include, but are not limited to, | 20 |
| sex trafficking, street-level sex trade activity, stripping, | 21 |
| massage parlors, pornography, and escort services and involve | 22 |
| adults and youth of all gender and sexual orientations, whether | 23 |
| or not physical contact is involved.
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| Section 15. Cause of action.
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| (a) An individual subjected to the sex trade has a cause of | 26 |
| action against a person or entity who: | 27 |
| (1) recruited, hired, offered, agreed, or attempted to | 28 |
| hire the individual to engage in the sex trade;
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| (2) procured, enticed, led away, pimped, trafficked, | 30 |
| financed, or profited from his or her sex trade activity; | 31 |
| (3) collected or received any of the individual's | 32 |
| earnings derived from the sex trade; or
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| (4) advertised or published advertisements for | 34 |
| purposes of recruitment into illegal sex trade activity.
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| (b) A separate cause of action may be brought under this | 2 |
| Act against any individual who has engaged in retaliation | 3 |
| against any plaintiff in a proceeding under this Act, any | 4 |
| member of a plaintiff's family, any person who in good faith | 5 |
| has opposed anything that he or she reasonably believed to be a | 6 |
| violation of this Act, or any person who has filed a complaint, | 7 |
| testified, assisted, or participated in a proceeding pursuant | 8 |
| to this Act. | 9 |
| Section 20. Relief. A prevailing plaintiff shall be | 10 |
| entitled to all relief that would make the plaintiff whole. | 11 |
| This includes, but is not limited to: | 12 |
| (1) declaratory relief; | 13 |
| (2) injunctive relief; | 14 |
| (3) recovery of costs and attorney fees, including but | 15 |
| not limited to costs for expert testimony and witness fees; | 16 |
| (4) profits from sex trade activity; | 17 |
| (5) compensatory damages, such as (i) economic loss, | 18 |
| including damage, destruction, or loss of use of personal | 19 |
| property and loss of past or future income or earning | 20 |
| capacity, and (ii) damages for death, personal injury, | 21 |
| disease, and mental and emotional harm, including medical, | 22 |
| rehabilitation, and burial expenses, and pain and | 23 |
| suffering, including physical impairment; and | 24 |
| (6) punitive damages.
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| Section 25. Non-defenses.
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| (a) It is not a defense to an action under this Act that: | 27 |
| (1) the plaintiff consented to engage in acts of the | 28 |
| sex trade; | 29 |
| (2) the plaintiff and defendant had a marital or | 30 |
| consenting sexual relationship;
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| (3) the defendant is related to plaintiff by blood or | 32 |
| marriage, or has lived with the defendant in any formal or | 33 |
| informal household arrangement; | 34 |
| (4) the plaintiff was paid or otherwise compensated for |
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| sex trade activity; | 2 |
| (5) the plaintiff engaged in sex trade activity prior | 3 |
| to any involvement with the defendant; | 4 |
| (6) the defendant had not engaged in prior sex trade | 5 |
| activity with the plaintiff; | 6 |
| (7) the plaintiff owed a debt to the defendant, | 7 |
| monetary or otherwise; | 8 |
| (8) the defendant signed a legal or illegal contract | 9 |
| with the plaintiff; | 10 |
| (9) the plaintiff apparently initiated involvement | 11 |
| with the defendant; | 12 |
| (10) the plaintiff made no attempt to escape, flee, or | 13 |
| otherwise terminate contact with the defendant; | 14 |
| (11) the plaintiff continued to engage in sex trade | 15 |
| activity after terminating contact with defendant; | 16 |
| (12) as a condition of employment, the defendant | 17 |
| required the plaintiff to agree not to engage in the sex | 18 |
| trade; or
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| (13) the defendant's place of business was posted with | 20 |
| signs prohibiting illegal sex trade activity. | 21 |
| (b) Any illegality of the sex trade activities on the part | 22 |
| of the plaintiff shall not be an affirmative defense to any | 23 |
| action brought under this Act. | 24 |
| Section 30. Evidence. In the course of litigation under | 25 |
| this Act, any transaction about which a plaintiff testifies or | 26 |
| produces evidence does not subject the plaintiff to criminal | 27 |
| prosecution or any penalty or forfeiture. Any testimony or | 28 |
| evidence, documentary or otherwise, or information directly or | 29 |
| indirectly derived from that testimony or evidence that is | 30 |
| given or produced by a plaintiff or a witness for a plaintiff | 31 |
| may not be used against that person in any other investigation | 32 |
| or proceeding, other than a criminal investigation or | 33 |
| proceeding for perjury committed while giving the testimony or | 34 |
| producing the evidence. | 35 |
| Evidence of any prior convictions, particularly for sex |
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| trade or sex trade-related offenses, shall be inadmissible in a | 2 |
| proceeding brought under this Act for purposes of attacking the | 3 |
| plaintiff's credibility. If the court admits evidence of prior | 4 |
| convictions for purposes permitted under the rules of evidence | 5 |
| with respect to motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, | 6 |
| plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident, | 7 |
| the fact finder may consider the evidence solely for those | 8 |
| purposes and shall disregard details offered to prove any fact | 9 |
| that is not relevant.
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| Section 35. Statute of limitations.
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| (a) If the person entitled to bring the action was a minor | 12 |
| at the time the cause of action accrued, the action must be | 13 |
| commenced within 10 years after the person reaches the age of | 14 |
| 18. An action for damages under this Act must be commenced | 15 |
| within 10 years of the time the plaintiff knew and fully | 16 |
| understood: | 17 |
| (1) that the plaintiff had been injured; and | 18 |
| (2) that the injury was caused by conduct of the | 19 |
| defendant described in this Act.
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| (b) The court shall toll the limitations period upon a | 21 |
| showing that the plaintiff was or is unable, due to sex | 22 |
| trade-related injury, to commence the action within the | 23 |
| limitations period. The injury may be psychological and need | 24 |
| not be traceable to any action by the defendant. A plaintiff | 25 |
| may not be compelled to personally appear to attest to these | 26 |
| facts. Affidavits from the plaintiff and the plaintiff's doctor | 27 |
| stating the required facts shall be sufficient to constitute a | 28 |
| showing as required by this subsection (b). | 29 |
| (c) The court shall toll the limitations period upon a | 30 |
| showing that despite reasonable efforts, the plaintiff was | 31 |
| unable to ascertain the identity, true name, or location of the | 32 |
| defendant during the limitations period. In determining | 33 |
| whether the plaintiff's efforts were reasonable, the court | 34 |
| shall consider the totality of the plaintiff's circumstances | 35 |
| during the limitations period, including the plaintiff's |
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| emotional condition, financial resources, freedom of movement | 2 |
| and communication, and reasonable fear of the defendant for | 3 |
| self or others. | 4 |
| (d) The court shall toll the limitations period upon a | 5 |
| showing that the defendant in any way inhibited the plaintiff's | 6 |
| understanding of the right to pursue the cause of action or the | 7 |
| plaintiff's ability to pursue the cause of action. Behavior | 8 |
| constituting inhibition includes, but is not limited to: | 9 |
| (1) minimizing by words or deeds the harm inflicted | 10 |
| upon plaintiff; | 11 |
| (2) isolating plaintiff from access to legal | 12 |
| representation; | 13 |
| (3) threatening plaintiff with retaliation for | 14 |
| pursuing the claim; and
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| (4) misrepresenting the injury as the plaintiff's | 16 |
| fault rather than the fault of the abuser. | 17 |
| (e) There is no limitation of time on actions for | 18 |
| declaratory or injunctive relief under this Act. | 19 |
| Section 40. Other remedies preserved. The provisions of | 20 |
| this Act do not affect the right of any person to bring an | 21 |
| action or use any remedy available under other law, including | 22 |
| common law, to recover damages arising out of the use of the | 23 |
| individual in the sex trade nor does this Act limit or restrict | 24 |
| the liability of any person under other law. This Act does not | 25 |
| reflect a determination of a policy regarding the applicability | 26 |
| of strict liability to activities relating to the sex trade. | 27 |
| Section 45. Double recovery prohibited. A person who | 28 |
| recovers damages under this Act may not recover the same costs | 29 |
| or damages under any other Act. A person who recovers damages | 30 |
| under any other Act may not recover for the same costs or | 31 |
| damages under this Act.
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| Section 50. Avoidance of liability. No person may avoid | 33 |
| liability under this Act by means of any conveyance of any |
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| right, title, or interest in real property, or by any | 2 |
| indemnification, hold harmless agreement, or similar agreement | 3 |
| that purports to show consent of the plaintiff.
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| Section 55. Severability. If any provision of this Act or | 5 |
| its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, | 6 |
| the invalidity of that provision or its application does not | 7 |
| affect other provisions or applications of this Act that can be | 8 |
| given effect without the invalid provision or application.
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 10 |
| becoming law.
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