HB5523ham001 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Judiciary I - Civil Law Committee

Filed: 3/3/2010

09600HB5523ham001 LRB096 18361 AJO 37859 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 5523

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 5523 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 5. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by adding Section 9-106.2 as follows:

(735 ILCS 5/9-106.2 new)

Sec. 9-106.2. Affirmative defense for violence.

(a) It shall be an affirmative defense to an action maintained under this Article IX if the demand for possession is:

(1) based solely on the tenant's, lessee's, or household member's status as a victim of domestic violence or sexual violence as those terms are defined in Section 10 of the Safe Homes Act, stalking as that term is defined in the Criminal Code of 1961, or dating violence;

(2) based solely upon an incident of actual or threatened domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, or sexual violence against a tenant, lessee, or household member; or

(3) based solely upon criminal activity directly relating to domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, or sexual violence engaged in by a member of a tenant's or lessee's household or any guest or other person under the tenant's, lessee's, or household member's control, and against the tenant, lessee, or household member.

(b) When asserting the affirmative defense, at least one form of the following types of evidence shall be provided to support the affirmative defense: medical, court, or police records documenting the violence or a statement from an employee of a victim service organization, attorney, or medical professional from whom the tenant, lessee, or household member has sought services.

(c) Nothing in subsection (a) shall prevent the landlord from seeking possession solely against a tenant, household member, or lessee of the premises who perpetrated the violence that was the cause of the action for possession.

(d) Nothing in subsection (a) shall prevent the landlord from seeking possession against the entire household, including the tenant, lessee, or household member who is a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, or sexual violence if the tenant, lessee, or household member's continued tenancy would pose an actual and imminent threat to other tenants, lessees, household members, the landlord or their agents at the property.

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