Capitol Chronicle

By Jim Covington
Director of Legislative Affairs

The General Assembly is starting to introduce new bills for next spring, which include the following. 

Attorney-issued subpoenas. House Bill 4119 (Black, R-Danville) amends the Code of Civil Procedure to allow an attorney to issue a subpoena in a pending action.  In House Rules Committee. 

Attorneys and village trustees. House Bill 4182 (Osmond, R-Antioch) prohibits one or more village trustees from hiring a separate attorney using public funds unless the village attorney is disqualified from or is recused from representing the individual trustee or trustees. In House Rules Committee. 

QILDRO repeal and Task Force. House Bill 4096 (Black, R-Danville) repeals the Qualified Illinois Domestic Relations Orders (QILDROs) law in two years. But in that interim it creates the QILDRO Task Force to study and make recommendations within 18 months on proposed changes to the QILDRO system. In House Rules Committee.

Student reflection instead of prayer.  House Bill 4180 (Fritchey, D-Chicago; Eddy, R-Hutsonville) amends the Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act to do three things.  (1) It strikes out the word “prayer” wherever it appears in the Act; (2) makes it discretionary instead of mandatory for the teacher to “conduct” instead of “observe” a brief period of silence; and (3) describes it as a silent reflection “as may be desired by each individual pupil.” In House Rules Committee.

Regulation of debt-settlement providers. House Bill 4094 (Fritchey, D-Chicago) creates the Debt Settlement Act to license and regulate debt-settlement providers. In House Rules Committee. 

Condominiums and FED actions.  House Bill 4168 (Molaro, D-Chicago) amends the Forcible Entry and Detainer article to repeal its condominium-specific provisions that now allow the board of managers to sue for possession against a unit owner or tenant of a unit owner for failure to pay common expenses, other expenses, or fines. In House Rules Committee. 

More judges.  House Bill 4101 (Wait, R- Belvidere,) and House Bill 4115 (Pritchard, R-Sycamore) create an additional DeKalb County resident judgeship in the 16th judicial circuit and an additional Boone County resident judgeship in the 17th judicial circuit. Both judges are to be elected in 2008 but authorizes the Illinois Supreme Court to fill the judgeships by appointment until then.  These are not subcircuit judgeships. 

Municipal audits.  House Bill 4132 (Reis, R-Effingham) expands what kinds of municipalities must be audited annually. Under current law the accounts and funds of each municipality must be audited annually if the municipality has (1) a population of 800 or more; (2) has bonded debt; or (3) owns or operates any type of public utility.  House Bill 4132 would require annual audits for a municipality that (1) has a population of 800 or more; (2) has bonded debt of $5 million or more; (3) has a population of 200 or more and has any bonded debt; (4) has a population of 200 or more and owns or operates a public utility. Requires municipalities of less than 800 population that are not audited to file forms annually with the Comptroller giving financial information as required by the Comptroller. In House Rules Committee. 

Townships and city councils. House Bill 4157 (Osmond, R-Antioch) amends the Township Code to provides that the city council of any coterminous city may authorize the township supervisor to preside over portions of city council meetings when the city council is exercising powers that would ordinarily be exercised by the township board. If the township supervisor is authorized to preside over city council meetings, then the township supervisor has one vote and the mayor cannot vote.  In House Rules Committee.