[ Search ] [ Legislation ]
[ Home ] [ Back ] [ Bottom ]
| [ Introduced ] | [ Enrolled ] | [ House Amendment 001 ] |
| [ Senate Amendment 001 ] | [ Senate Amendment 002 ] |
91_SB0673eng SB673 Engrossed LRB9105945MWgc 1 AN ACT in relation to sexual assault nurse examiners. 2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 3 represented in the General Assembly: 4 Section 5. The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Act 5 is amended by adding Section 7.1 as follows: 6 (20 ILCS 3930/7.1 new) 7 Sec. 7.1. Sexual assault nurse examiner pilot program. 8 (a) Legislative findings and intent. The General 9 Assembly finds that the compassionate treatment of sexual 10 assault victims in hospital emergency rooms is necessary to 11 help alleviate the suffering of sexual assault victims. The 12 General Assembly also finds that the effective collection and 13 presentation of forensic evidence in sexual assault cases is 14 necessary to increase the success rate of prosecutions for 15 sex crimes in Illinois. 16 The General Assembly intends to create a pilot program to 17 establish 4 sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) projects in 18 the State of Illinois. For each project, specially trained 19 sexual assault nurse examiners will provide health 20 assessments and collect forensic evidence from sexual assault 21 victims in the emergency room. The nurses will also testify 22 to victims' injuries during criminal prosecutions. 23 (b) Definitions. In this Section: 24 (1) "Sexual assault nurse examiner" means a 25 registered nurse who has completed a sexual assault nurse 26 examiner (SANE) training program that meets the Forensic 27 Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Education Guidelines 28 established by the International Association of Forensic 29 Nurses. 30 (2) "Hospital" means a facility licensed by the 31 Department of Public Health under the Hospital Licensing SB673 Engrossed -2- LRB9105945MWgc 1 Act or that meets both the definition of hospital and the 2 exemption provisions of that Act. 3 (3) "Hospital emergency services" means the health 4 care delivered to outpatients within or under the care 5 and supervision of personnel working in a designated 6 emergency department or emergency room of a hospital. 7 (c) SANE pilot program. The Authority shall, subject to 8 appropriation, establish a SANE pilot program to operate 4 9 pilot projects in Illinois. The projects shall be established 10 in the emergency rooms of hospitals in 4 counties 11 geographically distributed throughout the State. Each 12 project must provide the following services: 13 (1) Compassionate health assessment and effective 14 forensic evidence collection for sexual assault victims 15 by a trained sexual assault nurse examiner in a hospital 16 emergency room as part of the provision of hospital 17 emergency services. 18 (2) Presentation of testimony regarding victims' 19 injuries during criminal prosecutions for sex offenses. 20 Hospitals located throughout the State may apply to the 21 Authority to participate in the program. 22 The 4 pilot projects established by the Authority under 23 this Section shall be in existence for a minimum of 3 years. 24 (d) Report. No later than 2 years after the 25 establishment of pilot projects under this Section, the 26 Authority must report to the General Assembly on the efficacy 27 of SANE programs. 28 (e) Rules. The Authority shall adopt rules to implement 29 this Section.