093_HB2486eng

 
HB2486 Engrossed                     LRB093 10719 RLC 11107 b

 1        AN ACT in relation to health.

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

 4        Section  1.  Short  title.  This  Act may be cited as the
 5    Illinois Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

 6        Section 5.  Legislative intention.
 7        (a) The purpose of this Act is to protect the freedom  of
 8    families  to make health care decisions and to protect access
 9    to health care in Illinois.
10        (b)  The  General  Assembly  recognizes  that  access  to
11    health care facilities for the purpose of  obtaining  medical
12    counseling  and  treatment  is imperative for the citizens of
13    this State; that the exercise of a person's right to  protest
14    or   counsel  against  certain  medical  procedures  must  be
15    balanced against another person's  right  to  obtain  medical
16    counseling  and treatment in an unobstructed manner; and that
17    preventing the willful obstruction of a  person's  access  to
18    medical  counseling  and  treatment  at a reproductive health
19    care facility is a matter of statewide concern.
20        (c)  Federal law enforcement activities proved  effective
21    between  1993  and  2001  in  reducing  and  punishing crimes
22    intended  to  violate  an  individual's   right   to   access
23    reproductive  health  care.  However, the level and threat of
24    those crimes in 2002 and 2003 remain unacceptably  high,  and
25    continued and increased law enforcement remains necessary.
26        (d)  Federal  actions  that  proved effective in reducing
27    and punishing these crimes include the vigorous criminal  and
28    civil   enforcement  of  the  Freedom  of  Access  to  Clinic
29    Entrances Act of 1994 (18 U.S.C.  Sec.  248)  by  the  United
30    States Department of Justice and the United States Attorney's
31    Office;  security  training and advice provided by the United
 
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 1    States Marshals Service and the Bureau  of  Alcohol,  Tobacco
 2    and  Firearms  to  reproductive health service providers; and
 3    the  protection  provided  by  the  United  States   Marshals
 4    Service,  the  Bureau  of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and
 5    the Federal Bureau of Investigation to those persons most  at
 6    risk from these crimes.
 7        (e)  It  is the intent of the General Assembly that State
 8    and local law enforcement  agencies  continue  and  build  on
 9    these  services  in Illinois. Therefore, the General Assembly
10    declares that it is appropriate  to  enact  legislation  that
11    prohibits   a   person  from  knowingly  obstructing  another
12    person's entry to or exit from a reproductive health services
13    facility.
14        (f)  It is  the  intent  of  the  General  Assembly  that
15    nothing in this Act, and no action by anyone pursuant to this
16    Act,  punish  an  individual  solely  because  of  his or her
17    political beliefs, because of his  or  her  advocacy  of  any
18    lawful  actions,  or  because  of  his or her exercise of the
19    right of free speech, and that nothing in this  Act,  and  no
20    actions  by  anyone pursuant to this Act, otherwise punish an
21    individual because of his or  her  beliefs,  constitutionally
22    protected speech, or lawful actions.

23        Section 10.  Definitions. In this Act:
24        "Crime  of  violence"  means  an  offense  that has as an
25    element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical
26    force against the person or property of another.
27        "Interfere with" means to restrict a person's freedom  of
28    movement.
29        "Intimidate"  means  to  place  a  person  in  reasonable
30    apprehension  of  bodily  harm  to  herself  or himself or to
31    another.
32        "Nonviolent" means conduct that would  not  constitute  a
33    crime of violence.
 
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 1        "Physical  obstruction"  means  rendering  ingress  to or
 2    egress  from  a   reproductive   health   services   facility
 3    impassable  to another person or rendering passage to or from
 4    a  reproductive   health   services   facility   unreasonably
 5    difficult or hazardous to another person.
 6        "Reproductive  health  services"  means  health  services
 7    provided  in a hospital, clinic, physician's office, or other
 8    facility  and  includes  medical,  surgical,  counseling,  or
 9    referral services relating to reproductive health care.
10        "Reproductive  health  services  client,   provider,   or
11    assistant"  means  a person or entity that is or was involved
12    in  obtaining,  seeking  to  obtain,  providing,  seeking  to
13    provide, or assisting or seeking to assist another person, at
14    that  other  person's  request,  to  obtain  or  provide  any
15    services in a reproductive health  services  facility,  or  a
16    person  or  entity  that  is  or  was  involved  in owning or
17    operating or seeking to own or operate a reproductive  health
18    services facility.
19        "Reproductive health services facility" means a hospital,
20    clinic,  physician's  office, or other facility that provides
21    or seeks to provide reproductive health services and includes
22    the building or structure in which the facility is located.

23        Section  15.  Unlawful  interference   with   access   to
24    reproductive health services. A person commits the offense of
25    unlawful  interference  with  access  to  reproductive health
26    services when he or she commits any of the following acts:
27             (1)  By  force,  threat  of   force,   or   physical
28        obstruction,    intentionally    injures,    intimidates,
29        interferes  with,  or  attempts to injure, intimidate, or
30        interfere with, any person or entity because that  person
31        or  entity  is  a  reproductive  health  services client,
32        provider, or assistant, or in  order  to  intimidate  any
33        person  or  entity,  or any class of persons or entities,
 
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 1        from becoming or remaining a reproductive health services
 2        client, provider, or assistant.
 3             (2)  By     nonviolent     physical     obstruction,
 4        intentionally injures, intimidates, or interferes with or
 5        attempts to injure, intimidate,  or  interfere  with  any
 6        person  or  entity  because  that  person  or entity is a
 7        reproductive  health  services   client,   provider,   or
 8        assistant  or in order to intimidate any person or entity
 9        or any class of persons  or  entities  from  becoming  or
10        remaining   a   reproductive   health   services  client,
11        provider, or assistant.
12             (3)  Intentionally damages or destroys the  property
13        of  a  person, entity, or facility, or attempts to do so,
14        because the person, entity, or facility is a reproductive
15        health services client, provider, assistant, or facility.

16        Section 20.  Penalty.
17        (a) A violation of  Section  15  shall  be  penalized  as
18    follows:
19             (1)  A  first  violation  of Section 15 is a Class A
20        misdemeanor;
21             (2)  A second or subsequent violation of Section  15
22        is a Class 4 felony; and
23             (3)  For   an   offense   involving   exclusively  a
24        nonviolent physical obstruction, the first  violation  of
25        Section  15  is  a  Class  C  misdemeanor and a second or
26        subsequent violation is a Class B misdemeanor.
27        (b)  No person shall be convicted under this Section  for
28    conduct  in  violation  of  Section  15  that  was  done on a
29    particular occasion if the identical conduct on that occasion
30    was the basis for a  conviction  of  that  person  under  the
31    federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994 (18
32    U.S.C. Sec. 248).
 
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 1        Section 25.  Damages; costs.
 2        (a)  A  person aggrieved by a violation of Section 15 may
 3    bring  a  civil  action  to   enjoin   the   violation,   for
 4    compensatory  and punitive damages, and for the costs of suit
 5    and reasonable fees for attorneys and expert witnesses.  With
 6    respect  to compensatory damages, the plaintiff may elect, at
 7    any time prior to the  rendering  of  a  final  judgment,  to
 8    recover,  in  lieu  of  actual damages, an award of statutory
 9    damages in the amount of $1,000  per  exclusively  nonviolent
10    violation,  and  $5,000  per  any  other  violation, for each
11    violation committed.
12        (b)  The Attorney General may bring  a  civil  action  to
13    enjoin a violation of Section 15, for compensatory damages to
14    persons aggrieved as described in subsection (a), and for the
15    assessment  of  a  civil penalty against each respondent. The
16    civil penalty shall not  exceed  $2,000  for  an  exclusively
17    nonviolent  first  violation, and $15,000 for any other first
18    violation, and shall not exceed  $5,000  for  an  exclusively
19    nonviolent  subsequent  violation,  and $25,000 for any other
20    subsequent violation. In imposing civil penalties pursuant to
21    this  subsection  (b),  the  court  shall  consider  a  prior
22    violation  of  the  federal  Freedom  of  Access  to   Clinic
23    Entrances  Act  of  1994  (18  U.S.C.  Sec.  248)  or a prior
24    violation of a statute of  another  jurisdiction  that  would
25    constitute  a  violation of Section 20 or the federal Freedom
26    of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of  1994,  to  be  a  prior
27    violation of Section 15.
28        (c)  No  person  shall be found liable under this Section
29    for conduct in violation of Section 15 done on  a  particular
30    occasion  if  the  identical conduct on that occasion was the
31    basis for a finding of liability by  that  person  under  the
32    federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994 (18
33    U.S.C. Sec. 248).
 
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 1        Section 30.  Injunctive relief.
 2        (a)  The court in which a criminal or civil proceeding is
 3    filed  for  a  violation  of Section 15 shall take all action
 4    reasonably required, including granting  restraining  orders,
 5    to  safeguard  the reproductive health, safety, or privacy of
 6    either of the following:
 7             (1)  A   reproductive   health   services    client,
 8        provider,  or  assistant who is a party or witness in the
 9        proceeding;
10             (2)  A person who is a victim  of,  or  at  risk  of
11        becoming a victim of, conduct prohibited by Section 15.
12        (b)  A court may, in its discretion, permit an individual
13    described  in  subsection  (a)  to use a pseudonym in a civil
14    proceeding  described  in  subsection  (a)  when   reasonably
15    required  to  safeguard the health, safety, or privacy of the
16    individual.

17        Section 35.  This Act may not be construed for any of the
18    following purposes:
19        (1)  To impair any constitutionally protected activity or
20    any activity protected by the State of  Illinois  or  federal
21    law.
22        (2)  To  provide  exclusive civil or criminal remedies or
23    to preempt or to preclude  any  county,  city,  or  city  and
24    county  from  passing  any  law  to  provide a remedy for the
25    commission of any of the acts prohibited by this  Act  or  to
26    make any of those acts a crime.
27        (3)  To  interfere  with  the enforcement of any federal,
28    State, or local laws regulating the performance of  abortions
29    or the provision of other reproductive health services.
30        (4)  To  negate,  supercede,  or otherwise interfere with
31    the operation of any provision of the Labor Dispute Act.
32        (5)  To preclude prosecution under this Section  and  any
33    other  provision of law, except as provided in subsection (c)
 
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 1    of Section 20.