Public Act 0597 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB4078 Enrolled LRB096 08471 RLC 18590 b

Public Act 096-0597

AN ACT concerning criminal law.

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

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Elected Officials Misconduct Forfeiture Act.

Section 5. Definitions. For the purposes of this Act, "elected official" means any former elected official whose term of office is terminated by operation of law for conviction of an offense, who is removed from office on conviction of impeachment for misconduct in office, or who resigned from office prior, upon, or after conviction; and "proceeds" means any interest in property of any kind acquired through or caused by an act or omission, or derived from the act or omission, directly or indirectly, and any fruits of this interest, in whatever form.

Section 10. Purposes. The General Assembly finds that it has compelling governmental interests in: (1) preventing criminals from profiting from their crimes, and (2) ensuring that the victims of crime are compensated by those who harm them. Further, the General Assembly finds that the unlawful or deceitful actions of elected officials can erode the public's confidence in its government and debase the public's belief in a fair democratic process.

Section 15. Forfeiture action. The Attorney General may file an action in circuit court on behalf of the people of Illinois against an elected official who has, by his or her violation of Article 33 of the Criminal Code of 1961 or violation of a similar federal offense, injured the people of Illinois. The purpose of such suit is to recover all proceeds traceable to the elected official's offense and by so doing, prevent, restrain or remedy violations of Article 33 of the Criminal Code of 1961 or similar federal offenses.

Section 20. Procedure.

(a) The circuit court has jurisdiction to prevent, restrain, and remedy violations of Article 33 of the Criminal Code of 1961 or violations of a similar federal offense after a hearing or trial, as appropriate, by issuing appropriate orders. Prior to a determination of liability such orders may include, but are not limited to, issuing seizure warrants, entering findings of probable cause for in personam or in rem forfeiture, or taking such other actions, in connection with any property or other interest subject to forfeiture or other remedies or restraints pursuant to this Section as the court deems proper.

(b) If the Attorney General prevails in his or her action, the court shall order the forfeiture of all proceeds traceable to the elected official's violations of Article 33 of the Criminal Code of 1961 or similar federal offenses. Proceeds seized and forfeited as a result of the Attorney General's action will be deposited into the General Revenue Fund or the corporate county fund, as appropriate.

Section 25. Term of forfeiture. The maximum term of a civil forfeiture under this Act shall be equal to the term of imprisonment, probation and mandatory supervised release or parole received by the elected official as a result of his or her conviction for violating Article 33 of the Criminal Code of 1961 or similar federal offenses.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.