Full Text of SB1434 95th General Assembly
SB1434eng 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| AN ACT concerning citizen participation.
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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 |
| Citizen Participation
Act.
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| Section 5. Public policy. Pursuant to the fundamental | 7 |
| philosophy of the
American
constitutional form of government, | 8 |
| it is declared to be the public policy of
the State of Illinois | 9 |
| that the constitutional rights of citizens and
organizations to | 10 |
| be involved and participate freely in the process of
government | 11 |
| must be
encouraged and safeguarded with great diligence. The | 12 |
| information, reports,
opinions, claims, arguments, and other | 13 |
| expressions provided by citizens are
vital to effective law | 14 |
| enforcement, the operation of government, the making of
public | 15 |
| policy and decisions, and the continuation of representative | 16 |
| democracy.
The laws, courts, and other agencies of this State | 17 |
| must provide the utmost
protection for the free exercise of | 18 |
| these rights of petition, speech,
association, and
government | 19 |
| participation.
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| Civil actions for money damages have been filed against | 21 |
| citizens and
organizations of this State as a result of their | 22 |
| valid exercise of their
constitutional rights to petition, | 23 |
| speak freely, associate freely, and
otherwise
participate in |
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| and communicate with government. There has been a disturbing
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| increase in lawsuits termed "Strategic Lawsuits Against Public | 3 |
| Participation"
in
government or "SLAPPs" as they are popularly | 4 |
| called.
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| The threat of SLAPPs
significantly chills and diminishes | 6 |
| citizen participation in government,
voluntary public service, | 7 |
| and the exercise of these important constitutional
rights. This | 8 |
| abuse of the judicial process can and has been used as a means | 9 |
| of
intimidating, harassing, or punishing citizens and | 10 |
| organizations for involving
themselves in public affairs.
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| It is in the public interest and it is the purpose of this | 12 |
| Act to strike a
balance between the rights of persons to file | 13 |
| lawsuits for injury and the
constitutional rights of persons to | 14 |
| petition, speak freely, associate freely,
and
otherwise | 15 |
| participate in government; to protect and encourage public
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| participation in government to the maximum extent permitted by | 17 |
| law; to
establish an efficient process for identification and | 18 |
| adjudication of SLAPPs;
and to provide for attorney's fees and | 19 |
| costs
to prevailing movants.
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| Section 10. Definitions.
In this Act:
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| "Government" includes a branch, department, agency,
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| instrumentality, official, employee, agent, or other person | 23 |
| acting under color
of law of the United States, a state, a | 24 |
| subdivision of a state, or another
public authority including | 25 |
| the electorate.
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| "Person" includes any individual, corporation, | 2 |
| association,
organization, partnership, 2 or more persons | 3 |
| having a joint or common
interest, or other legal entity.
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| "Judicial claim" or "claim" include any lawsuit, cause of
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| action, claim, cross-claim, counterclaim, or other judicial | 6 |
| pleading or filing
alleging injury.
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| "Motion" includes any motion to dismiss, for summary
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| judgment, or to strike, or any other judicial pleading filed to | 9 |
| dispose
of a judicial claim.
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| "Moving party" means any person on whose behalf a motion
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| described in subsection (a) of Section 20 is filed seeking | 12 |
| dismissal of a
judicial claim.
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| "Responding party" means any person against whom a motion
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| described in subsection (a) of Section 20 is filed.
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| Section 15. Applicability.
This Act applies to any motion | 16 |
| to dispose of a claim in a judicial proceeding
on the grounds | 17 |
| that the claim is based on, relates to, or is in response to | 18 |
| any
act or acts of the moving party in furtherance of the | 19 |
| moving party's rights of
petition, speech, association, or to | 20 |
| otherwise participate in government.
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| Acts in furtherance of the constitutional rights to | 22 |
| petition, speech,
association, and participation in government | 23 |
| are immune from liability,
regardless of intent or purpose, | 24 |
| except when not genuinely aimed at procuring
favorable | 25 |
| government action, result, or outcome.
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| Section 20. Motion procedure and standards.
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| (a) On the filing of any motion as described in Section 15, | 3 |
| a hearing and
decision on the motion must occur within 90 days | 4 |
| after notice of the motion is
given to the
respondent.
An | 5 |
| appellate
court shall expedite any appeal or other writ, | 6 |
| whether interlocutory or not,
from a trial court order denying | 7 |
| that motion or from a trial court's failure to
rule on that | 8 |
| motion within 90 days after that trial court order or failure | 9 |
| to
rule.
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| (b) Discovery shall be suspended pending a decision on the | 11 |
| motion. However,
discovery may be taken, upon leave of court | 12 |
| for good cause shown, on the issue
of whether the movants
acts | 13 |
| are not immunized from, or are not in furtherance of acts | 14 |
| immunized
from, liability by this Act.
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| (c) The court shall grant the motion and dismiss the | 16 |
| judicial claim unless
the court finds that the responding party | 17 |
| has produced clear and convincing
evidence that the acts of the | 18 |
| moving party are not immunized from, or are not
in
furtherance | 19 |
| of acts immunized from, liability by this Act.
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| Section 25. Attorney's fees and costs.
The court shall | 21 |
| award a moving party who prevails in a motion under this Act
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| reasonable attorney's fees and costs incurred in connection | 23 |
| with the motion.
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| Section 30. Construction of Act.
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| (a) Nothing in this Act shall limit or preclude any rights | 3 |
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moving party may have under any other constitutional, | 4 |
| statutory, case or common
law, or rule provisions.
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| (b) This Act shall be construed liberally to effectuate its | 6 |
| purposes and
intent fully.
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| Section 35. Severability. The provisions of this Act
are | 8 |
| severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 10 |
| becoming law. |
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