HB4729eng 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB4729 Engrossed LRB100 17438 LNS 32606 b

AN ACT concerning transportation.

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

Section 5. The Illinois Vehicle Code is amended by changing Section 4-103 as follows:

(625 ILCS 5/4-103) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 4-103)

Sec. 4-103. Offenses relating to motor vehicles and other vehicles - Felonies.

(a) Except as provided in subsection (a-1), it is a violation of this Chapter for:

(1) A person not entitled to the possession of a vehicle or essential part of a vehicle to receive, possess, conceal, sell, dispose, or transfer it while knowing or recklessly disregarding that the vehicle or essential part of a vehicle has been stolen or converted , knowing it to have been stolen or converted; additionally the General Assembly finds that the acquisition and disposition of vehicles and their essential parts are strictly controlled by law and that such acquisitions and dispositions are reflected by documents of title, uniform invoices, rental contracts, leasing agreements and bills of sale. The trier of fact may infer that a person knows or recklessly disregards that the vehicle or essential part of a vehicle has been stolen or converted if the person: (i) operates a vehicle or possesses an essential part of a vehicle without the consent of the owner; or (ii) exercises unexplained possession over a vehicle or an essential part of a vehicle It may be inferred, therefore that a person exercising exclusive unexplained possession over a stolen or converted vehicle or an essential part of a stolen or converted vehicle has knowledge that such vehicle or essential part is stolen or converted, regardless of whether the date on which such vehicle or essential part was stolen is recent or remote;

(2) A person to knowingly remove, alter, deface, destroy, falsify, or forge a manufacturer's identification number of a vehicle or an engine number of a motor vehicle or any essential part thereof having an identification number;

(3) A person to knowingly conceal or misrepresent the identity of a vehicle or any essential part thereof;

(4) A person to buy, receive, possess, sell or dispose of a vehicle, or any essential part thereof, with knowledge that the identification number of the vehicle or any essential part thereof having an identification number has been removed or falsified;

(5) A person to knowingly possess, buy, sell, exchange, give away, or offer to buy, sell, exchange or give away, any manufacturer's identification number plate, mylar sticker, federal certificate label, State police reassignment plate, Secretary of State assigned plate, rosette rivet, or facsimile of such which has not yet been attached to or has been removed from the original or assigned vehicle. It is an affirmative defense to subsection (a) of this Section that the person possessing, buying, selling or exchanging a plate mylar sticker or label described in this paragraph is a police officer doing so as part of his official duties, or is a manufacturer's authorized representative who is replacing any manufacturer's identification number plate, mylar sticker or Federal certificate label originally placed on the vehicle by the manufacturer of the vehicle or any essential part thereof;

(6) A person to knowingly make a false report of the theft or conversion of a vehicle to any police officer of this State or any employee of a law enforcement agency of this State designated by the law enforcement agency to take, receive, process, or record reports of vehicle theft or conversion.

(a-1) A person engaged in the repair or servicing of vehicles does not violate this Chapter by knowingly possessing a manufacturer's identification number plate for the purpose of reaffixing it on the same damaged vehicle from which it was originally taken, if the person reaffixes or intends to reaffix the original manufacturer's identification number plate in place of the identification number plate affixed on a new dashboard that has been or will be installed in the vehicle. The person must notify the Secretary of State each time the original manufacturer's identification number plate is reaffixed on a vehicle. The person must keep a record indicating that the identification number plate affixed on the new dashboard has been removed and has been replaced by the manufacturer's identification number plate originally affixed on the vehicle. The person also must keep a record regarding the status and location of the identification number plate removed from the replacement dashboard. The Secretary shall adopt rules for implementing this subsection (a-1).

(a-2) The owner of a vehicle repaired under subsection (a-1) must, within 90 days of the date of the repairs, contact an officer of the Illinois State Police Vehicle Inspection Bureau and arrange for an inspection of the vehicle, by the officer or the officer's designee, at a mutually agreed upon date and location.

(b) Sentence. A person convicted of a violation of this Section shall be guilty of a Class 2 felony.

(c) The offenses set forth in subsection (a) of this Section shall not include the offense set forth in Section 4-103.2 of this Code.

(Source: P.A. 93-456, eff. 8-8-03.)

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