093_HB2579

 
                                     LRB093 10944 LRD 11511 b

 1        AN ACT concerning vehicles.

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

 4        Section 5.  The  Illinois  Vehicle  Code  is  amended  by
 5    changing Section 12-612 as follows:

 6        (625 ILCS 5/12-612)
 7        Sec.  12-612.  False  or  secret  compartment  in a motor
 8    vehicle.
 9        (a)  Offenses.  It is unlawful for any person to  own  or
10    operate  any motor vehicle he or she knows to contain a false
11    or secret compartment. It  is  unlawful  for  any  person  to
12    knowingly  install,  create, build, or fabricate in any motor
13    vehicle a false or secret compartment.
14        (b)  Definitions.  For purposes of this Section, a "false
15    or secret compartment" means any enclosure that  is  intended
16    and  designed  to  be  used  to  conceal,  hide,  and prevent
17    discovery by law enforcement officers of the false or  secret
18    compartment,  or its contents, and which is integrated into a
19    vehicle.   For purpose of this Section, a person's  intention
20    to  use a false or secret compartment to conceal the contents
21    of the compartment from a  law  enforcement  officer  may  be
22    inferred  from  factors  including,  but  not limited to, the
23    discovery of a  person,  firearm,  controlled  substance,  or
24    other  contraband  within the false or secret compartment, or
25    from the discovery of evidence of the previous placement of a
26    person, firearm, controlled substance,  or  other  contraband
27    within the false or secret compartment.
28        (c)  Forfeiture.  Any motor vehicle containing a false or
29    secret   compartment,  as  well  as  any  items  within  that
30    compartment, shall be subject to seizure by the Department of
31    State  Police  or  by  any  municipal  or  other  local   law
 
                            -2-      LRB093 10944 LRD 11511 b
 1    enforcement agency within whose jurisdiction that property is
 2    found  as  provided in Sections 36-1 and 36-2 of the Criminal
 3    Code of 1961 (720 ILCS 5/36-1 and 5/36-2).   The  removal  of
 4    the  false  or  secret compartment from the motor vehicle, or
 5    the promise to do so, shall not be the basis for a defense to
 6    forfeiture of the motor vehicle under  Section  36-2  of  the
 7    Criminal  Code  of  1961  and  shall not be the basis for the
 8    court to release the vehicle to the owner.
 9        (d)  Sentence.  A violation of this Section is a Class  4
10    felony C misdemeanor.
11    (Source: P.A. 91-359, eff. 1-1-00.)