SB2541 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB102 16219 LNS 21598 b

102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
SB2541

Introduced 2/26/2021, by Sen. Melinda Bush

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

740 ILCS 21/10
740 ILCS 22/213
815 ILCS 518/5
815 ILCS 615/15	from Ch. 29, par. 1051-15

Amends the Stalking No Contact Order Act. Includes electronic communication in the definition of "contact". Amends the Civil No Contact Order Act. Provides that the court may provide relief in a civil no contact order by restraining the respondent from having any electronic communication with the petitioner. Amends the Internet Dating, Internet Child Care, Internet Senior Care, and Internet Home Care Safety Act. Changes the definition of "internet dating service" to remove the qualifier that such services be performed for a fee. Makes a corresponding change to the Dating Referral Services Act.

A BILL FOR

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 Section 10 as follows:

(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 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; placing an object on, or delivering an object to, property owned, leased, or occupied by the victim; electronic communication as defined in Section 26.5-0.1 of the Criminal Code of 2012; 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. 100-1000, eff. 1-1-19.)

Section 10. The Civil No Contact Order Act is amended by changing Section 213 as follows:

(740 ILCS 22/213)

Sec. 213. Civil no contact order; remedies.

(a) If the court finds that the petitioner has been a victim of non-consensual sexual conduct or non-consensual sexual penetration, a civil no contact order shall issue; provided that the petitioner must also satisfy the requirements of Section 214 on emergency orders or Section 215 on plenary orders. The petitioner shall not be denied a civil no contact order because the petitioner or the respondent is a minor. The court, when determining whether or not to issue a civil no contact order, may not require physical injury on the person of the victim. Modification and extension of prior civil no contact orders shall be in accordance with this Act.

(a-5) When a petition for a civil no contact order is granted, the order shall not be publicly available until the order is served on the respondent.

(b) (Blank).

(b-5) The court may provide relief as follows:

(1) prohibit the respondent from knowingly coming within, or knowingly remaining within, a specified distance from the petitioner;

(2) restrain the respondent from having any contact, including nonphysical contact and electronic communication as defined in Section 26.5-0.1 of the Criminal Code of 2012, with the petitioner directly, indirectly, or through third parties, regardless of whether those third parties know of the order;

(3) prohibit the respondent from knowingly coming within, or knowingly remaining within, a specified distance from the petitioner's residence, school, day care or other specified location;

(4) order the respondent to stay away from any property or animal owned, possessed, leased, kept, or held by the petitioner and forbid the respondent from taking, transferring, encumbering, concealing, harming, or otherwise disposing of the property or animal; and

(5) order any other injunctive relief as necessary or appropriate for the protection of the petitioner.

(b-6) When the petitioner and the respondent attend the same public or private elementary, middle, or high school, the court when issuing a civil no contact order and providing relief shall consider the severity of the act, any continuing physical danger or emotional distress to the petitioner, the educational rights guaranteed to the petitioner and respondent under federal and State law, the availability of a transfer of the respondent to another school, a change of placement or a change of program of the respondent, the expense, difficulty, and educational disruption that would be caused by a transfer of the respondent to another school, and any other relevant facts of the case. The court may order that the respondent not attend the public, private, or non-public elementary, middle, or high school attended by the petitioner, order that the respondent accept a change of placement or program, as determined by the school district or private or non-public school, or place restrictions on the respondent's movements within the school attended by the petitioner. The respondent bears the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that a transfer, change of placement, or change of program of the respondent is not available. The respondent also bears the burden of production with respect to the expense, difficulty, and educational disruption that would be caused by a transfer of the respondent to another school. A transfer, change of placement, or change of program is not unavailable to the respondent solely on the ground that the respondent does not agree with the school district's or private or non-public school's transfer, change of placement, or change of program or solely on the ground that the respondent fails or refuses to consent to or otherwise does not take an action required to effectuate a transfer, change of placement, or change of program. When a court orders a respondent to stay away from the public, private, or non-public school attended by the petitioner and the respondent requests a transfer to another attendance center within the respondent's school district or private or non-public school, the school district or private or non-public school shall have sole discretion to determine the attendance center to which the respondent is transferred. In the event the court order results in a transfer of the minor respondent to another attendance center, a change in the respondent's placement, or a change of the respondent's program, the parents, guardian, or legal custodian of the respondent is responsible for transportation and other costs associated with the transfer or change.

(b-7) The court may order the parents, guardian, or legal custodian of a minor respondent to take certain actions or to refrain from taking certain actions to ensure that the respondent complies with the order. In the event the court orders a transfer of the respondent to another school, the parents or legal guardians of the respondent are responsible for transportation and other costs associated with the change of school by the respondent.

(c) Denial of a remedy may not be based, in whole or in part, on evidence that:

(1) the respondent has cause for any use of force, unless that cause satisfies the standards for justifiable use of force provided by Article 7 of the Criminal Code of 2012;

(2) the respondent was voluntarily intoxicated;

(3) the petitioner acted in self-defense or defense of another, provided that, if the petitioner utilized force, such force was justifiable under Article 7 of the Criminal Code of 2012;

(4) the petitioner did not act in self-defense or defense of another;

(5) the petitioner left the residence or household to avoid further non-consensual sexual conduct or non-consensual sexual penetration by the respondent; or

(6) the petitioner did not leave the residence or household to avoid further non-consensual sexual conduct or non-consensual sexual penetration by the respondent.

(d) Monetary damages are not recoverable as a remedy.

(Source: P.A. 101-255, eff. 1-1-20.)

Section 15. The Internet Dating, Internet Child Care, Internet Senior Care, and Internet Home Care Safety Act is amended by changing Section 5 as follows:

(815 ILCS 518/5)

Sec. 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Criminal background screening" means a name search for a person's criminal convictions initiated by an Internet dating service provider, an Internet child care service provider, an Internet senior care service provider, or an Internet home care provider and conducted by:

(1) searching available and regularly updated government public record databases for criminal convictions so long as such databases, in the aggregate, provide substantial national coverage; or

(2) searching a database maintained by a private vendor that is regularly updated and is maintained in the United States with substantial national coverage of criminal history records and sexual offender registries.

"Internet dating service" means a person or entity in the business, for a fee, of providing dating, romantic relationship, or matrimonial services principally on or through the Internet.

"Internet child care service" means a person or entity, in the business, for a fee, of providing access to a database, principally on or through the Internet, of seekers and providers of child care services.

"Internet senior care service" means a person or entity in the business, for a fee, of providing access to a database, principally on or through the Internet, of seekers and providers of senior care services.

"Internet home care service" means a person or entity in the business, for a fee, of providing access to a database, principally on or through the Internet, of seekers and providers of domestic home care services including, dog walkers, pet sitters, housekeepers, house cleaners, house sitters, and tutors.

"Member" means a customer, client, or participant who submits to an Internet dating service, Internet child care service, Internet senior care service, or Internet home care service information required to access the service for the purpose of engaging in dating, relationship, compatibility, matrimonial, or social, child care, senior care, or home care referral.

"Illinois member" means a member who provides an Illinois billing address or zip code when registering with the service.

"Criminal conviction" means a conviction for any crime including but not limited to any sex offense that would qualify the offender for registration pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration Act or under another jurisdiction's equivalent statute.

(Source: P.A. 97-1056, eff. 8-24-12; 98-458, eff. 8-16-13.)

Section 20. The Dating Referral Services Act is amended by changing Section 15 as follows:

(815 ILCS 615/15) (from Ch. 29, par. 1051-15)

Sec. 15. Written contract required. Every contract for dating referral services shall be in writing and shall be subject to this Act. All provisions, requirements, and prohibitions that are mandated by this Act and the Internet Dating, Internet Child Care, Internet Senior Care, and Internet Home Care Safety Act shall be contained in the written contract before it is signed by the customer. A copy of the written contract shall be given to the customer at the time the customer signs the contract. Dating referral enterprises shall maintain original copies of all contracts for services for as long as the contracts are in effect and for a period of 3 years thereafter.

(Source: P.A. 87-450.)