Full Text of HB6083 99th General Assembly
HB6083 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016 HB6083 Introduced 2/11/2016, by Rep. Terri Bryant SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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5 ILCS 140/11 | from Ch. 116, par. 211 |
740 ILCS 180/2 | from Ch. 70, par. 2 |
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Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Provides that if the court determines that a public body willfully and intentionally failed to comply with the Act, or otherwise acted in bad faith, the court shall also impose upon the public body a civil penalty of not less than $2,500 nor more than $10,000 (instead of $5,000) for each occurrence. Provides that if the public body fails to comply with the court's order after 30 days, the court shall impose an additional $1,000 penalty for each day the violation continues. Amends the Wrongful Death Act. Provides that an action under the Act shall be commenced within 2 years after the discovery of evidence indicating that a wrongful death may have occurred (instead of "within 2 years after the death
of such person"). Provides that the amendatory Act may be referred to as Molly's law.
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| | A BILL FOR |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning the disclosure of information.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 1. This Act may be referred to as Molly's Law. | 5 | | Section 5. The Freedom of Information Act is amended by | 6 | | changing Section 11 as follows:
| 7 | | (5 ILCS 140/11) (from Ch. 116, par. 211)
| 8 | | Sec. 11.
(a) Any person denied access to inspect or copy | 9 | | any public
record by a public body
may file suit for injunctive | 10 | | or
declaratory relief.
| 11 | | (b) Where the denial is from a public body of the State, | 12 | | suit
may be filed in the circuit court for the county where the | 13 | | public body has
its principal office or where the person denied | 14 | | access resides.
| 15 | | (c) Where the denial is from a municipality or other public
| 16 | | body, except as provided in subsection (b) of this Section, | 17 | | suit may be filed
in the circuit court for the county where the | 18 | | public body is located.
| 19 | | (d) The circuit court shall have the jurisdiction to enjoin | 20 | | the public
body from withholding public records and to order | 21 | | the production of any
public records improperly withheld from | 22 | | the person seeking access. If the
public body can show that |
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| 1 | | exceptional circumstances exist, and that the
body is | 2 | | exercising due diligence in responding to the request, the | 3 | | court
may retain jurisdiction and allow the agency additional | 4 | | time to complete
its review of the records.
| 5 | | (e) On motion of the plaintiff, prior to or after in camera
| 6 | | inspection, the court shall order the public body
to provide an | 7 | | index of the records to which access has been denied. The
index | 8 | | shall include the following:
| 9 | | (i) A description of the nature or contents of each | 10 | | document
withheld, or each deletion from a released | 11 | | document, provided, however,
that the public body shall not | 12 | | be required to disclose the information
which it asserts is | 13 | | exempt; and
| 14 | | (ii) A statement of the exemption or exemptions claimed | 15 | | for each such
deletion or withheld document.
| 16 | | (f) In any action considered by the court, the court shall | 17 | | consider the
matter de novo, and shall conduct such in camera | 18 | | examination of the requested
records as it finds appropriate to | 19 | | determine if such records or any part
thereof may be withheld | 20 | | under any provision of this Act. The burden shall
be on the | 21 | | public body to establish that its refusal to permit public | 22 | | inspection
or copying is in accordance with the provisions of | 23 | | this Act. Any public body that asserts that a record is exempt | 24 | | from disclosure has the burden of proving that it is exempt by | 25 | | clear and convincing evidence.
| 26 | | (g) In the event of noncompliance with an order of the |
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| 1 | | court to disclose,
the court may enforce its order against any | 2 | | public official or employee
so ordered or primarily responsible | 3 | | for such noncompliance through the court's
contempt powers.
| 4 | | (h) Except as to causes the court considers to be of | 5 | | greater importance,
proceedings arising under this Section | 6 | | shall take precedence on the docket
over all other causes and | 7 | | be assigned for hearing and trial at the earliest
practicable | 8 | | date and expedited in every way.
| 9 | | (i) If a person seeking the right to inspect or receive a | 10 | | copy of a public
record prevails in a
proceeding under this | 11 | | Section, the court shall award such
person reasonable | 12 | | attorney's attorneys' fees and costs. In determining what | 13 | | amount of attorney's fees is reasonable, the court shall | 14 | | consider the degree to which the relief obtained relates to the | 15 | | relief sought. The changes contained in this subsection apply | 16 | | to an action filed on or after January 1, 2010 ( the effective | 17 | | date of Public Act 96-542) this amendatory Act of the 96th | 18 | | General Assembly .
| 19 | | (j) If the court determines that a public body willfully | 20 | | and intentionally failed to comply with this Act, or otherwise | 21 | | acted in bad faith, the court shall also impose upon the public | 22 | | body a civil penalty of not less than $2,500 nor more than | 23 | | $10,000 $5,000 for each occurrence. In assessing the civil | 24 | | penalty, the court shall consider in aggravation or mitigation | 25 | | the budget of the public body and whether the public body has | 26 | | previously been assessed penalties for violations of this Act. |
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| 1 | | If the public body fails to comply with the court's order after | 2 | | 30 days, the court shall impose an additional $1,000 penalty | 3 | | for each day the violation continues. The changes contained in | 4 | | this subsection that are made by Public Act 96-542 apply to an | 5 | | action filed on or after January 1, 2010 ( the effective date of | 6 | | Public Act 96-542) this amendatory Act of the 96th General | 7 | | Assembly . | 8 | | (Source: P.A. 96-542, eff. 1-1-10; 97-813, eff. 7-13-12; | 9 | | revised 10-14-15.)
| 10 | | Section 10. The Wrongful Death Act is amended by changing | 11 | | Section 2 as follows:
| 12 | | (740 ILCS 180/2) (from Ch. 70, par. 2)
| 13 | | Sec. 2. Every such action shall be brought by and in the | 14 | | names of
the personal representatives of such deceased person, | 15 | | and, except as
otherwise hereinafter provided, the amount | 16 | | recovered in every such
action shall be for the exclusive | 17 | | benefit of the surviving spouse and
next of kin of such | 18 | | deceased person. In every such action the jury
may give such | 19 | | damages as they shall deem a fair and just compensation
with | 20 | | reference to the pecuniary
injuries resulting from such death, | 21 | | including damages for grief, sorrow, and mental suffering, to
| 22 | | the surviving spouse and next of kin of such deceased person.
| 23 | | The amount recovered in any such action shall be | 24 | | distributed by the
court in which the cause is heard or, in the |
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| 1 | | case of an agreed
settlement, by the circuit court, to each of | 2 | | the surviving spouse and
next of kin of such deceased person in | 3 | | the proportion, as determined by
the court, that the percentage | 4 | | of dependency of each such person upon
the deceased person | 5 | | bears to the sum of the percentages of dependency of
all such | 6 | | persons upon the deceased person.
| 7 | | Where the deceased person left no surviving spouse or next | 8 | | of kin
entitled to recovery, the damages shall, subject to the | 9 | | following
limitations inure, to the exclusive benefit of the | 10 | | following persons, or
any one or more of them:
| 11 | | (a) to the person or persons furnishing hospitalization or | 12 | | hospital
services in connection with the last illness or injury | 13 | | of the deceased
person, not exceeding $450;
| 14 | | (b) to the person or persons furnishing medical or surgical | 15 | | services
in connection with such last illness or injury, not | 16 | | exceeding $450;
| 17 | | (c) to the personal representatives, as such, for the costs | 18 | | and
expenses of administering the estate and prosecuting or | 19 | | compromising the
action, including a reasonable attorney's | 20 | | fee. In any such case the
measure of damages to be recovered | 21 | | shall be the total of the reasonable
value of such | 22 | | hospitalization or hospital service, medical and surgical
| 23 | | services, funeral expenses, and such costs and expenses of
| 24 | | administration, including attorney fees, not exceeding the | 25 | | foregoing
limitations for each class of such expenses and not | 26 | | exceeding $900 plus
a reasonable attorney's fee.
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| 1 | | Every such action shall be commenced within 2 years after | 2 | | the discovery of evidence indicating that a wrongful death may | 3 | | have occurred, death
of such person but an action against a | 4 | | defendant arising from a crime committed
by the defendant in | 5 | | whose name an escrow account was established under the
| 6 | | "Criminal Victims' Escrow Account Act" shall be commenced | 7 | | within 2 years
after the establishment of such account. For the | 8 | | purposes of this Section
2, next of kin includes
an adopting | 9 | | parent and an adopted child, and they shall be treated as a
| 10 | | natural parent and a natural child, respectively. However, if a | 11 | | person
entitled to recover benefits under this Act, is, at the | 12 | | time the cause
of action accrued, within the age of 18 years, | 13 | | he or she may cause such
action to be brought within 2 years | 14 | | after attainment of the age of 18.
| 15 | | In any such action to recover damages, it
shall not be a | 16 | | defense that the death was caused in whole or in part by
the | 17 | | contributory negligence of one or more of the beneficiaries on
| 18 | | behalf of whom the action is brought, but the amount of
damages | 19 | | given shall
be reduced in the following manner.
| 20 | | The trier of fact shall first determine the decedent's
| 21 | | contributory fault in accordance with Sections 2-1116 and | 22 | | 2-1107.1 of the Code
of Civil Procedure. Recovery of damages | 23 | | shall be barred or diminished
accordingly. The trier of fact | 24 | | shall then determine the contributory fault, if
any, of each | 25 | | beneficiary on behalf of whom the action was brought:
| 26 | | (1) Where the trier of fact finds that the contributory |
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| 1 | | fault of a
beneficiary on whose behalf the action is | 2 | | brought is
not more than 50% of the proximate cause of the | 3 | | wrongful death of the
decedent, then the damages allowed to | 4 | | that beneficiary shall be
diminished in proportion to the
| 5 | | contributory fault attributed to that beneficiary. The | 6 | | amount of the reduction
shall not be
payable by any | 7 | | defendant.
| 8 | | (2) Where the trier of fact finds that the contributory | 9 | | fault of a
beneficiary on whose behalf the action is | 10 | | brought is
more than 50% of the proximate cause of the | 11 | | wrongful death of the decedent,
then the beneficiary shall | 12 | | be barred from recovering damages and the amount of
damages | 13 | | which would have been payable to that beneficiary, but for | 14 | | the
beneficiary's contributory fault, shall not inure to | 15 | | the benefit of the
remaining beneficiaries and shall not be | 16 | | payable by any defendant.
| 17 | | The trial judge shall conduct a hearing to determine the | 18 | | degree of
dependency of each beneficiary upon the decedent. The | 19 | | trial judge shall
calculate the amount of damages to be awarded | 20 | | each beneficiary, taking into
account any reduction arising | 21 | | from either the decedent's or the beneficiary's
contributory | 22 | | fault.
| 23 | | This amendatory Act of the 91st General Assembly applies to | 24 | | all actions
pending
on or filed after the effective date of | 25 | | this amendatory Act.
| 26 | | This amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly applies to |
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| 1 | | causes of actions accruing on or after its effective date.
| 2 | | (Source: P.A. 95-3, eff. 5-31-07.)
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