Public Act 093-0748
 
HB4370 Enrolled LRB093 20768 BDD 46668 b

    AN ACT concerning counties.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Counties Code is amended by changing Section
5-39001 as follows:
 
    (55 ILCS 5/5-39001)  (from Ch. 34, par. 5-39001)
    Sec. 5-39001. Establishment and use; fee. The county board
of any county may establish and maintain a county law library,
to be located in any county building or privately or publicly
owned building at the county seat of government. The term
"county building" includes premises leased by the county from a
public building commission created under the Public Building
Commission Act. After August 2, 1976, the county board of any
county may establish and maintain a county law library at the
county seat of government and, in addition, branch law
libraries in other locations within that county as the county
board deems necessary.
    The facilities of those libraries shall be freely available
to all licensed Illinois attorneys, judges, other public
officers of the county, and all members of the public, whenever
the court house is open.
    The expense of establishing and maintaining those
libraries shall be borne by the county. To defray that expense,
in any county having established a county law library or
libraries, the clerk of all trial courts located at the county
seat of government shall charge and collect a county law
library fee of $2, and the county board may authorize a county
law library fee of not to exceed $13 $10, to be charged and
collected by the clerks of all trial courts located in the
county. The fee shall be paid at the time of filing the first
pleading, paper, or other appearance filed by each party in all
civil cases, but no additional fee shall be required if more
than one party is represented in a single pleading, paper, or
other appearance.
    Each clerk shall commence those charges and collections
upon receipt of written notice from the chairman of the county
board that the board has acted under this Division to establish
and maintain a law library.
    The fees shall be in addition to all other fees and charges
of the clerks, assessable as costs, remitted by the clerks
monthly to the county treasurer, and retained by the county
treasurer in a special fund designated as the County Law
Library Fund. Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph,
disbursements from the fund shall be by the county treasurer,
on order of a majority of the resident circuit judges of the
circuit court of the county. In any county with more than
2,000,000 inhabitants, the county board shall order
disbursements from the fund and the presiding officer of the
county board, with the advice and consent of the county board,
may appoint a library committee of not less than 9 members,
who, by majority vote, may recommend to the county board as to
disbursements of the fund and the operation of the library. In
single county circuits with 2,000,000 or fewer inhabitants,
disbursements from the County Law Library Fund shall be made by
the county treasurer on the order of the chief judge of the
circuit court of the county. In those single county circuits,
the number of personnel necessary to operate and maintain the
county law library shall be set by and those personnel shall be
appointed by the chief judge. The county law library personnel
shall serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority. The
salaries of those personnel shall be fixed by the county board
of the county. Orders shall be pre-audited, funds shall be
audited by the county auditor, and a report of the orders and
funds shall be rendered to the county board and to the judges.
    Fees shall not be charged in any criminal or quasi-criminal
case, in any matter coming to the clerk on change of venue, or
in any proceeding to review the decision of any administrative
officer, agency, or body.
(Source: P.A. 90-92, eff. 1-1-98; 90-589, eff. 6-5-98.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.