Public Act 1000 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB3411 Enrolled LRB100 19997 HEP 35278 b

Public Act 100-1000

AN ACT concerning civil law.

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

Section 5. The Stalking No Contact Order Act is amended by changing Sections 5, 10, and 15 as follows:

(740 ILCS 21/5)

Sec. 5. Purpose. Stalking generally refers to a course of conduct, not a single act. Stalking behavior includes following a person, conducting surveillance of the person, appearing at the person's home, work or school, making unwanted phone calls, sending unwanted emails, unwanted messages via social media, or text messages, leaving objects for the person, vandalizing the person's property, or injuring a pet. Stalking is a serious crime. Victims experience fear for their safety, fear for the safety of others and suffer emotional distress. Many victims alter their daily routines to avoid the persons who are stalking them. Some victims are in such fear that they relocate to another city, town or state. While estimates suggest that 70% of victims know the individuals stalking them, only 30% of victims have dated or been in intimate relationships with their stalkers. All stalking victims should be able to seek a civil remedy requiring the offenders stay away from the victims and third parties.

(Source: P.A. 96-246, eff. 1-1-10.)

(740 ILCS 21/10)

Sec. 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this Act:

"Course of conduct" means 2 or more acts, including but not limited to acts in which a respondent directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means follows, monitors, observes, surveils, or threatens, or communicates to or about, a person, workplace, school, or place of worship, engages in other contact, or interferes with or damages a person's property or pet. A course of conduct may include contact via electronic communications. The incarceration of a person in a penal institution who commits the course of conduct is not a bar to prosecution under this Section.

"Emotional distress" means significant mental suffering, anxiety or alarm.

"Contact" includes any contact with the victim, that is initiated or continued without the victim's consent, or that is in disregard of the victim's expressed desire that the contact be avoided or discontinued, including but not limited to being in the physical presence of the victim; appearing within the sight of the victim; approaching or confronting the victim in a public place or on private property; appearing at the workplace or residence of the victim; entering onto or remaining on property owned, leased, or occupied by the victim; or placing an object on, or delivering an object to, property owned, leased, or occupied by the victim; and appearing at the prohibited workplace, school, or place of worship.

"Petitioner" means any named petitioner for the stalking no contact order or any named victim of stalking on whose behalf the petition is brought. "Petitioner" includes an authorized agent of a place of employment, an authorized agent of a place of worship, or an authorized agent of a school.

"Reasonable person" means a person in the petitioner's circumstances with the petitioner's knowledge of the respondent and the respondent's prior acts.

"Stalking" means engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person, and he or she knows or should know that this course of conduct would cause a reasonable person to fear for his or her safety, the safety of a workplace, school, or place of worship, or the safety of a third person or suffer emotional distress. Stalking does not include an exercise of the right to free speech or assembly that is otherwise lawful or picketing occurring at the workplace that is otherwise lawful and arises out of a bona fide labor dispute, including any controversy concerning wages, salaries, hours, working conditions or benefits, including health and welfare, sick leave, insurance, and pension or retirement provisions, the making or maintaining of collective bargaining agreements, and the terms to be included in those agreements.

"Stalking No Contact Order" means an emergency order or plenary order granted under this Act, which includes a remedy authorized by Section 80 of this Act.

(Source: P.A. 96-246, eff. 1-1-10.)

(740 ILCS 21/15)

Sec. 15. Persons protected by this Act. A petition for a stalking no contact order may be filed when relief is not available to the petitioner under the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986:

(1) by any person who is a victim of stalking; or

(2) by a person on behalf of a minor child or an adult who is a victim of stalking but, because of age, disability, health, or inaccessibility, cannot file the petition; .

(3) by an authorized agent of a workplace;

(4) by an authorized agent of a place of worship; or

(5) by an authorized agent of a school.

(Source: P.A. 96-246, eff. 1-1-10.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2019