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91_SB0890
LRB9105132JSpcA
1 AN ACT to create the Illinois Financial Institutions Year
2 2000 Safety and Soundness Act.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
6 Illinois Financial Institutions Year 2000 Safety and
7 Soundness Act.
8 Section 5. Findings and declarations of policy. The
9 General Assembly hereby finds and declares that:
10 (1) the economic strength and general welfare of
11 Illinois depends on strong, safe and sound financial
12 institutions that command the highest levels of public
13 confidence among the citizens of this State;
14 (2) Illinois financial institutions are highly
15 monitored and closely supervised by federal and state
16 regulatory agencies which impose strict compliance
17 standards and conduct regular and frequent examinations
18 on these institutions;
19 (3) countless computer systems, software programs,
20 microchips, and integrated circuits have been created,
21 distributed, installed, and relied upon throughout this
22 State and the world which are not capable of recognizing
23 certain dates in 1999 and after December 31, 1999, and
24 which will read dates in the year 2000 and thereafter as
25 if those dates represent the year 1900 or thereafter, or
26 which will fail to process those dates (commonly referred
27 to as the "Year 2000 Problem");
28 (4) the federal and state regulatory agencies which
29 regulate Illinois financial institutions have required
30 these institutions to undergo exhaustive planning,
31 remediation, testing, and contingency preparedness to
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1 properly address the Year 2000 Problem with respect to
2 both internal and external mission critical computer
3 systems, internal and external non-mission critical
4 computer systems, third party vendors, customers, and
5 other possible sources of business interruption, and are
6 closely monitoring, examining, and supervising these
7 efforts on an institution by institution basis;
8 (5) Illinois financial institutions have expended
9 hundreds of millions of dollars on reprogramming,
10 replacing and testing their computer systems to properly
11 address the Year 2000 Problem and continue to be
12 accountable to their federal and state regulatory
13 agencies for meeting the strict safety and soundness
14 standards imposed on them in connection with the Year
15 2000 Problem;
16 (6) Illinois financial institutions are integral to
17 the payments system and credit and savings bases relied
18 on by all other businesses, governmental entities, and
19 citizens of this State irrespective of whether those
20 businesses, governmental entities, and citizens have
21 addressed and implemented solutions in connection with
22 the Year 2000 Problem; and
23 (7) it is in the interests of this State to
24 recognize the unique and rigorous standards required of
25 Illinois financial institutions in connection with the
26 Year 2000 Problem and their integral role in maintaining
27 the payments system and credit and savings bases in this
28 State and to preserve public confidence in these
29 institutions and ensure their safety and soundness,
30 thereby protecting and enhancing the economy and general
31 welfare of this State, by providing uniform and judicious
32 legal standards for Illinois financial institutions in
33 connection with the Year 2000 Problem.
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1 Section 15. Definitions. For the purposes of this Act:
2 (a) The term "Illinois financial institution" means:
3 (1) a State bank, a national bank, or an
4 out-of-state bank, as those terms are defined in the
5 Illinois Banking Act, or any subsidiary of a State bank,
6 a national bank, or an out-of-state bank;
7 (2) a foreign banking corporation, as that term is
8 defined in the Foreign Banking Office Act, or any
9 subsidiary of a foreign banking corporation;
10 (3) a corporate fiduciary, as that term is defined
11 in the Corporate Fiduciary Act, or any subsidiary of a
12 corporate fiduciary;
13 (4) a savings bank organized under the Savings Bank
14 Act, an out-of-state savings bank chartered under the
15 laws of a state other than Illinois, a territory of the
16 United States, or the District of Columbia, or a federal
17 savings bank organized under federal law, or any
18 subsidiary of a savings bank, an out-of-state savings
19 bank or a federal savings bank;
20 (5) an association or federal association, as those
21 terms are defined in the Illinois Savings and Loan Act of
22 1985, or any subsidiary of an association or federal
23 association;
24 (6) an out-of-state savings and loan association
25 chartered under the laws of a state other than Illinois,
26 a territory of the United States, or the District of
27 Columbia, or a federal savings and loan association
28 organized under federal law whose principal business
29 office is located outside of Illinois, or any subsidiary
30 of an out-of-state savings and loan association or
31 federal savings and loan association whose principal
32 business office is located outside of Illinois;
33 (7) a credit union, as defined in the Illinois
34 Credit Union Act, or any subsidiary of a credit union;
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1 (8) a network owned by one or more financial
2 institutions, as those terms are defined in the
3 Electronic Fund Transfer Act;
4 (9) a lender subject to licensing under the
5 Consumer Installment Loan Act or the Residential Mortgage
6 License Act of 1987, in connection with any credit
7 subject to the provisions of those Acts; or
8 (10) a sales finance agency subject to the Sales
9 Finance Agency Act, the Retail Installment Sales Act, or
10 the Motor Vehicle Retail Installment Sales Act, in
11 connection with any credit subject to the provisions of
12 those Acts.
13 The terms in this subsection (a) also shall be deemed to
14 include a direct or indirect holding company of an Illinois
15 financial institution in connection with a Year 2000 claim
16 involving the Illinois financial institution directly or
17 indirectly owned by such holding company.
18 (b) The term "Year 2000 failure" means any failure by
19 any device or system (including, without limitation, any
20 computer system and any microchip or integrated circuit
21 embedded in another device or product), or any software,
22 firmware, or other set or collection of processing
23 instructions, however constructed, in processing,
24 calculating, comparing, sequencing, displaying, storing,
25 transmitting, or receiving date-related data during the years
26 1999 and 2000 or from, into, or between the twentieth
27 century and the twenty-first century, or the failure to
28 recognize or accurately process any specific date, or the
29 failure to accurately account for the status of the year 2000
30 as a leap year.
31 (c) The term "Year 2000 action" means a civil action of
32 any kind brought under Illinois law, except for a civil
33 action brought by a federal or state agency that regulates
34 the Illinois financial institution, in which:
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1 (1) a Year 2000 claim is asserted; or
2 (2) any claim or defense is related, directly or
3 indirectly, to a Year 2000 claim.
4 (d) The term "Year 2000 claim" means any claim or cause
5 of action of any kind, whether asserted by way of claim,
6 counterclaim, cross-claim, third-party claim, or otherwise,
7 in which a party or other person's loss or harm is alleged to
8 have resulted, directly or indirectly, from any act or
9 omission in connection with an actual or potential Year 2000
10 failure, except for claims involving physical injury to the
11 extent of the claim of physical injury.
12 (e) The term "physical injury" means any physical injury
13 to a natural person, including the death of the person, but
14 does not include mental suffering, emotional distress, or
15 other similar elements of injury that do not constitute
16 physical harm to a natural person.
17 Section 15. Action for damages. No Illinois financial
18 institution shall be liable to any person for actual or
19 consequential damages in a Year 2000 action, except for an
20 act or omission that constitutes intentional willful and
21 wanton conduct or that constitutes fraud. No Illinois
22 financial institution shall be liable to any person for
23 punitive damages in a Year 2000 action.
24 Section 20. Employees, officers, directors, and agents.
25 No employee, officer, director, or agent of an Illinois
26 financial institution shall be liable to any person for
27 damages in a Year 2000 action, except for an act or omission
28 that constitutes fraud.
29 Section 25. Unaffected rights. The provisions of this
30 Act shall not affect the rights of parties under Articles 3,
31 4, 4A, and 8 of the Uniform Commercial Code and other rules
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1 governing the processing of check, credit, debit, ACH, and
2 wire transactions, provided that such rights shall be
3 strictly construed to further the purposes and policies of
4 the provisions therein and the application of such
5 construction is not likely to impair the safety and soundness
6 of the Illinois financial institution.
7 Section 90. Severability. The provisions of this Act
8 are severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.
9 Section 99. Effective Date. This Act takes effect upon
10 becoming law.
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