Public Act 103-0671
 
HB4351 EnrolledLRB103 36160 LNS 66252 b

    AN ACT concerning civil law.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by
changing Section 2-202 as follows:
 
    (735 ILCS 5/2-202)  (from Ch. 110, par. 2-202)
    Sec. 2-202. Persons authorized to serve process; place of
service; failure to make return.
    (a) Process shall be served by a sheriff, or if the sheriff
is disqualified, by a coroner of some county of the State. In
matters where the county or State is an interested party,
process may be served by a special investigator appointed by
the State's Attorney of the county, as defined in Section
3-9005 of the Counties Code. A sheriff of a county with a
population of less than 2,000,000 may employ civilian
personnel to serve process. Process In counties with a
population of less than 2,000,000, process may be served,
without special appointment, by a person who is licensed or
registered as a private detective under the Private Detective,
Private Alarm, Private Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and
Locksmith Act of 2004 or by a registered employee of a private
detective agency certified under that Act as defined in
Section (a-5). A private detective or licensed employee must
supply the sheriff of any county in which he serves process
with a copy of his license or certificate; however, the
failure of a person to supply the copy shall not in any way
impair the validity of process served by the person. The court
may, in its discretion upon motion, order service to be made by
a private person over 18 years of age and not a party to the
action. It is not necessary that service be made by a sheriff
or coroner of the county in which service is made. If served or
sought to be served by a sheriff or coroner, he or she shall
endorse his or her return thereon, and if by a private person
the return shall be by affidavit. In a county of 3,000,000 or
more, any person who is licensed or registered as a private
detective under the Private Detective, Private Alarm, Private
Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and Locksmith Act of 2004 or by
a registered employee of a private detective agency certified
under that Act and hired to serve summons shall remit $5 of
each service fee to the county sheriff.
    (a-5) Upon motion and in its discretion, the court may
appoint as a special process server a private detective agency
certified under the Private Detective, Private Alarm, Private
Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and Locksmith Act of 2004. Under
the appointment, any employee of the private detective agency
who is registered under that Act may serve the process. The
motion and the order of appointment must contain the number of
the certificate issued to the private detective agency by the
Department of Professional Regulation under the Private
Detective, Private Alarm, Private Security, Fingerprint
Vendor, and Locksmith Act of 2004. A private detective or
private detective agency shall send, one time only, a copy of
his, her, or its individual private detective license or
private detective agency certificate to the county sheriff in
each county in which the detective or detective agency or his,
her, or its employees serve process, regardless of the size of
the population of the county. As long as the license or
certificate is valid and meets the requirements of the
Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, a new
copy of the current license or certificate need not be sent to
the sheriff. A private detective agency shall maintain a list
of its registered employees. Registered employees shall
consist of:
        (1) an employee who works for the agency holding a
    valid Permanent Employee Registration Card;
        (2) a person who has applied for a Permanent Employee
    Registration Card, has had his or her fingerprints
    processed and cleared by the Illinois State Police and the
    FBI, and as to whom the Department of Financial and
    Professional Regulation website shows that the person's
    application for a Permanent Employee Registration Card is
    pending;
        (3) a person employed by a private detective agency
    who is exempt from a Permanent Employee Registration Card
    requirement because the person is a current peace officer;
    and
        (4) a private detective who works for a private
    detective agency as an employee.
A detective agency shall maintain this list and forward it to
any sheriff's department that requests this list within 5
business days after the receipt of the request.
    (b) Summons may be served upon the defendants wherever
they may be found in the State, by any person authorized to
serve process. An officer may serve summons in his or her
official capacity outside his or her county, but fees for
mileage outside the county of the officer cannot be taxed as
costs. The person serving the process in a foreign county may
make return by mail.
    (c) If any sheriff, coroner, or other person to whom any
process is delivered, neglects or refuses to make return of
the same, the plaintiff may petition the court to enter a rule
requiring the sheriff, coroner, or other person, to make
return of the process on a day to be fixed by the court, or to
show cause on that day why that person should not be attached
for contempt of the court. The plaintiff shall then cause a
written notice of the rule to be served on the sheriff,
coroner, or other person. If good and sufficient cause be not
shown to excuse the officer or other person, the court shall
adjudge him or her guilty of a contempt, and shall impose
punishment as in other cases of contempt.
    (d) Except as provided in Sections 1-19, 3-17, 4-14, and
5-252 of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987, if process is served
by a sheriff, coroner, or special investigator appointed by
the State's Attorney, the court may tax the fee of the sheriff,
coroner, or State's Attorney's special investigator as costs
in the proceeding. If process is served by a private person or
entity, the court may establish a fee therefor and tax such fee
as costs in the proceedings.
    (e) In addition to the powers stated in Section 8.1a of the
Housing Authorities Act, in counties with a population of
3,000,000 or more inhabitants, members of a housing authority
police force may serve process for eviction actions commenced
by that housing authority and may execute eviction orders for
that housing authority.
    (f) In counties with a population of 3,000,000 or more,
process may be served, with special appointment by the court,
by a private process server or a law enforcement agency other
than the county sheriff in proceedings instituted under
Article IX of this Code as a result of a lessor or lessor's
assignee declaring a lease void pursuant to Section 11 of the
Controlled Substance and Cannabis Nuisance Act.
(Source: P.A. 102-538, eff. 8-20-21; 103-379, eff. 7-28-23.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2025