Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

Updating the database of the Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS) is an ongoing process. Recent laws may not yet be included in the ILCS database, but they are found on this site as Public Acts soon after they become law. For information concerning the relationship between statutes and Public Acts, refer to the Guide.

Because the statute database is maintained primarily for legislative drafting purposes, statutory changes are sometimes included in the statute database before they take effect. If the source note at the end of a Section of the statutes includes a Public Act that has not yet taken effect, the version of the law that is currently in effect may have already been removed from the database and you should refer to that Public Act to see the changes made to the current law.

55 ILCS 5/5-39001

(55 ILCS 5/5-39001) (from Ch. 34, par. 5-39001)

Sec. 5-39001. Establishment and use; fee.

The county board of any
county may establish and maintain a county law library, to be located in
any county building or privately or publicly owned building at the county
seat of government.  The term "county building" includes premises leased by
the county from a public building commission created under the Public
Building Commission Act. After August 2, 1976, the county board of any
county may establish and maintain a county law library at the county seat
of government and, in addition, branch law libraries  in other locations
within that county as the county board deems necessary.

The facilities of those libraries shall be freely available to all
licensed Illinois attorneys, judges,  other public officers of the county,
and all members of the public, whenever the court house is open, and may include self-help centers and other legal assistance programs for the public as part of the services it provides on-site and online.

The expense of establishing and maintaining those libraries shall be
borne by the county.  To defray that expense, including the expense of any attendant self-help centers and legal assistance programs, in any county having
established a county law library or libraries, the clerk of all
trial courts located at the county seat of government shall charge and
collect a county law library fee of $2, and the county board may
authorize a county law library fee of not to exceed $21 through December 31, 2021 and $20 on and after January 1, 2022,
to be charged and collected by the clerks of all trial courts located in
the county.
 The fee shall be paid at the time of filing the first pleading,
paper, or other appearance filed by each party in all civil cases, but no
additional fee shall be required if more than one party is represented in a
single pleading, paper, or other appearance.

Each clerk shall commence those charges and collections upon
receipt of written notice from the chairman of the county board that
the board has acted under this Division to establish and
maintain a law library.

The fees shall be in addition to all other fees and charges of the
clerks, assessable as costs, remitted by the clerks monthly to the county
treasurer, and retained by the county treasurer in a special fund
designated as the County Law Library Fund.  Except as otherwise provided in
this paragraph, disbursements from the fund
shall be by the county treasurer, on order of a majority of the resident
circuit judges of the circuit court of the county. In any
county with more than 2,000,000 inhabitants,
the
county board shall
order disbursements from the fund and the presiding officer of the
county board, with the advice and consent of the county board, may
appoint a library committee of not less than 9 members, who, by majority
vote, may recommend to the county board as to disbursements of
the fund and the operation of the library.  In single county circuits with
2,000,000 or fewer
inhabitants, disbursements from the County Law Library Fund shall be made by
the county treasurer on the order of the chief judge of the circuit court of
the county.  In those single county circuits, the number of personnel necessary
to
operate and maintain the county law library shall be set by and those personnel
shall be appointed
by the chief judge.  The county law library personnel shall serve at the
pleasure
of the appointing authority.  The salaries of those personnel shall be fixed by
the county board of the county.
 Orders shall be
pre-audited, funds shall be audited by the county auditor, and
a report of the orders and funds shall be rendered to
the county board and to the judges.

Fees shall not be charged in any criminal or quasi-criminal
case, in any matter coming to the clerk on change of venue, or in
any proceeding to review the decision of any administrative officer,
agency, or body.

No moneys distributed from the County Law Library Fund may be directly or indirectly used for lobbying activities, as defined in Section 2 of the Lobbyist Registration Act or as defined in any ordinance or resolution of a municipality, county, or other unit of local government in Illinois.

(Source: P.A. 98-351, eff. 8-15-13; 99-859, eff. 8-19-16.)