205 ILCS 658/12-4

(205 ILCS 658/12-4)

Sec. 12-4. TOMA Consumer Protection Fund.

(a) The special income-earning fund in the State treasury is known as the TOMA Consumer Protection Fund.

(b) All moneys paid into the fund together with all accumulated undistributed income thereon shall be held as a special fund in the State treasury. The fund shall be used solely for the purpose of providing restitution to consumers who have suffered monetary loss arising out of a transaction regulated by this Act.

(c) The fund shall be applied only to restitution when restitution has been ordered by the Secretary. Restitution shall not exceed the amount actually lost by the consumer. The fund shall not be used for the payment of any attorney or other fees.

(d) The fund shall be subrogated to the amount of the restitution, and the Secretary shall request the Attorney General to engage in all reasonable collection steps to collect restitution from the party responsible for the loss and reimburse the fund.

(e) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Section, the payment of restitution from the fund shall be a matter of grace and not of right, and no consumer shall have any vested rights in the fund as a beneficiary or otherwise. Before seeking restitution from the fund, the consumer or beneficiary seeking payment of restitution shall apply for restitution on a form provided by the Secretary. The form shall include any information the Secretary may reasonably require in order to determine that restitution is appropriate.

(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section, moneys in the TOMA Consumer Protection Fund may be transferred to the Professions Indirect Cost Fund, as authorized under Section 2105-300 of the Department of Professional Regulation Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois.

(Source: P.A. 103-991, eff. 8-9-24.)