SB1496 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB100 11163 HEP 21458 b

100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2017 and 2018
SB1496

Introduced 2/9/2017, by Sen. Omar Aquino

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

705 ILCS 35/2f

from Ch. 37, par. 72.2f

Amends the Circuit Courts Act. Provides that in the year following each federal decennial census, the General Assembly shall redraw the boundaries of the subcircuits of the Circuit of Cook County to reflect the results of the census.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning courts.

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

Section 5. The Circuit Courts Act is amended by changing Section 2f as follows:

(705 ILCS 35/2f) (from Ch. 37, par. 72.2f)

Sec. 2f. (a) The Circuit of Cook County shall be divided into 15 units to be known as subcircuits. The subcircuits shall be compact, contiguous, and substantially equal in population. The General Assembly shall create the subcircuits by law on or before July 1, 1991, using population data as determined by the 1990 Federal census. In the year following each federal decennial census, the General Assembly shall redraw the boundaries of the subcircuits to reflect the results of the census.

(b) The 165 resident judges to be elected from the Circuit of Cook County shall be determined under paragraph (4) of subsection (a) of Section 2 of the Judicial Vacancies Act.

(c) The Supreme Court shall allot (i) the additional resident judgeships provided by paragraph (4) of subsection (a) of Section 2 of the Judicial Vacancies Act and (ii) all vacancies in resident judgeships existing on or occurring on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1990, with respect to the other resident judgeships of the Circuit of Cook County, for election from the various subcircuits until there are 11 resident judges to be elected from each of the 15 subcircuits (for a total of 165). A resident judgeship authorized before the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1990 that became vacant and was filled by appointment by the Supreme Court before that effective date shall be filled by election at the general election in November of 1992 from the unit of the Circuit of Cook County within Chicago or the unit of that Circuit outside Chicago, as the case may be, in which the vacancy occurred.

(d) As soon as practicable after the subcircuits are created by law, the Supreme Court shall determine by lot a numerical order for the 15 subcircuits. That numerical order shall be the basis for the order in which resident judgeships are assigned to the subcircuits. After the first round of assignments, the second and all later rounds shall be based on the same numerical order. Once a resident judgeship is assigned to a subcircuit, it shall continue to be assigned to that subcircuit for all purposes.

(e) A resident judge elected from a subcircuit shall continue to reside in that subcircuit as long as he or she holds that office. A resident judge elected from a subcircuit after January 1, 2008, must retain residency as a registered voter in the subcircuit to run for retention from the circuit at large thereafter.

(Source: P.A. 95-610, eff. 9-11-07.)