Full Text of SB1295 98th General Assembly
SB1295sam001 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY | Sen. Michael Noland Filed: 2/28/2013
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| 1 | | AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 1295
| 2 | | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 1295 by replacing | 3 | | the title with the following: | 4 | | "AN ACT concerning consumer contract protection in | 5 | | Illinois."; and | 6 | | by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the | 7 | | following:
| 8 | | "Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the | 9 | | Consumer Contract Plain Language Act. | 10 | | Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act: | 11 | | "Consumer" means an individual who borrows, buys, or leases | 12 | | services or products under a consumer contract.
| 13 | | "Consumer contract" or "contract" means a written | 14 | | agreement between a consumer and a party, acting in the usual |
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| 1 | | course of business, for products or services made or performed | 2 | | for primarily personal, family, or household purposes. A | 3 | | "consumer contract" includes, but is not limited to, standard | 4 | | form contracts, consumer agreements, forms, or terms.
| 5 | | "Covered entity" means a person who utilizes consumer | 6 | | contracts in the usual course of business.
| 7 | | "Transaction" means a business transaction that occurs | 8 | | between a consumer and a covered entity for the exchange of | 9 | | products or services through the use of a consumer contract.
| 10 | | Section 10. Scope and construction. | 11 | | (a) This Act applies to all consumer contracts, except that | 12 | | this Act does not apply to format or language required by State | 13 | | or federal law or regulation. | 14 | | (b) This Act is to be liberally construed to further its | 15 | | purposes, which are to ensure that consumer contracts are | 16 | | written in a simple format and plain language and to protect | 17 | | consumers against unfair or deceptive form contracts. | 18 | | Section 15. Plain language. A contract entered into on or | 19 | | after the effective date of this Act shall be written in a | 20 | | simple, clear, understandable, and easily readable manner. In | 21 | | determining whether a contract as a whole has been written in a | 22 | | simple, clear, understandable, and easily readable manner, a | 23 | | court, the Attorney General, or proper regulatory agency, shall | 24 | | apply the provisions of Section 20. |
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| 1 | | Section 20. Requirements for contracts. | 2 | | (a) For a contract to be simple, clear, understandable, and | 3 | | easily readable, it must be written in plain language. A | 4 | | contract is written in plain language if: | 5 | | (1) it is written in a clear and coherent manner using | 6 | | words with common and everyday meanings;
use of technical | 7 | | terms or words of art is not, however, in and of itself a | 8 | | violation of this Act; | 9 | | (2) it is appropriately divided and captioned by its | 10 | | various sections;
| 11 | | (3) it uses type of readable size and no less than | 12 | | 10-point font;
| 13 | | (4) it uses layout and spacing that separate the lines, | 14 | | paragraphs, and sections of the contract from each other | 15 | | and from the borders of the paper or medium upon which it | 16 | | is displayed;
| 17 | | (5) it uses simple and active verb forms;
| 18 | | (6) it uses ink that contrasts with the paper or medium | 19 | | upon which it is displayed;
| 20 | | (7) it does not contain a provision that permits the | 21 | | unilateral modification of the contract by the covered | 22 | | entity to the disadvantage of the consumer without explicit | 23 | | consumer consent after the execution of the contract; | 24 | | (8) it uses a table of contents or alphabetical index | 25 | | and definitional glossary for all contracts with more than |
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| 1 | | 2,000 words;
and | 2 | | (9) conditions and exceptions to the main promise of | 3 | | the contract are given prominence equal to that given to | 4 | | the main promise and are in at least 10-point bold type. | 5 | | (b) A contract may not be simple, clear, understandable, or | 6 | | easily readable if it contains one or more the following:
| 7 | | (1) cross references that are confusing;
| 8 | | (2) references to terms not included in the consumer | 9 | | contract that are necessary to understand its material | 10 | | provisions;
| 11 | | (3) sentences that are of greater length than | 12 | | necessary;
| 13 | | (4) sentences that contain double negatives and | 14 | | exceptions to exceptions;
| 15 | | (5) sentences and sections that are in a confusing or | 16 | | illogical order;
| 17 | | (6) the use of words with obsolete meanings or words | 18 | | that differ in their legal meaning from their common, | 19 | | ordinary meaning;
and | 20 | | (7) frequent use of Old English and Middle English | 21 | | words and Latin and French phrases.
| 22 | | Section 25. Content of contracts. A covered entity shall | 23 | | include a clear and conspicuous description of the terms of the | 24 | | contract, including the total cost of all fees and other | 25 | | charges or waiver of rights in connection with the transaction, |
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| 1 | | in English and in the language in which the transaction was | 2 | | conducted. No consumer contract may contain a waiver of any | 3 | | rights granted under this Act. | 4 | | Section 30. Enforcement. The Illinois Attorney General may | 5 | | bring an action to enforce this Act and to obtain injunctive | 6 | | relief in any court of competent jurisdiction not later than 5 | 7 | | years after the date of the violation. Any person or | 8 | | organization, whether or not a party to a covered contract, and | 9 | | any law enforcement official may bring an action to enjoin the | 10 | | use of a contract that violates this Act. | 11 | | Section 35. Safe harbor. There shall be no liability under | 12 | | Section 40 if any of the following occurs: | 13 | | (1) the consumer wrote the contract or the part of it | 14 | | that violates this Act; or
| 15 | | (2) the creditor, seller, or lessor made a good faith | 16 | | and reasonable effort to comply with this Act.
| 17 | | Section 40. Penalties. A person who knowingly violates the | 18 | | requirements of Section 20 shall be liable to the consumer for | 19 | | the following: | 20 | | (1) compensation in an amount equal to the value of any | 21 | | actual loss caused by the violation of this Act;
| 22 | | (2) statutory damages of the lesser of $1,000 or the | 23 | | total amount of the contract;
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| 1 | | (3) court costs;
| 2 | | (4) reasonable attorney's fees; and
| 3 | | (5) any equitable and other relief ordered by the | 4 | | court.
| 5 | | Section 97. Severability. The provisions of this Act are | 6 | | severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.
| 7 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 8 | | becoming law.".
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