The legislature passed new laws for Illinois in 2016. Do you know about them? At O’Dekirk, Allred and Associates in Joliet, we believe that keeping you aware of changes like this will ensure you’re always on the right side of the law. With hundreds of new laws becoming effective this year, there are many that may directly affect your life.
From Patch.com, we pulled a brief summary of some of the changes to the laws, including those related to: police, hunting, breastfeeding, pets, drunken drivers, teen drinking, the elderly, schools, divorce, child custody, intoxicants, health, driving violations, animal cruelty and more.
Law Enforcement Changes in 2016
- Prohibiting police from using chokeholds, except when deadly force is justified
- Requiring an independent review of officer-involved deaths
- Making investigation results a part of public record if an officer involved in a death is not charged with a crime
- Expanding police officer training to include topics like the use of force
- Creating a database of officers who have been fired or resigned due to misconduct
- Allowing police departments to choose to use body cameras or not, but if they choose to, the officers must keep their cameras on when conducting law enforcement activities with the exception of meeting with a confidential informant, or at the request of a victim or witness
- Requiring officers to let people know they are recording with a body camera if they enter a home
- Requiring body camera videos to be kept for 90 days, unless flagged for specific reasons
- Allowing for grants via a $5 fee increase for every $40 on criminal and traffic offenses, to go toward body cameras and new training
- Making a phony 911 call without reasonable grounds for making the call or transmission and knowing the call or transmission could result in the emergency response of any public safety agency, could cost the caller to pay up to $10,000
Animal Law Changes in 2016
- Prohibiting an owner from exposing their dog or cat to a life-threatening situation for a prolonged period of time in extreme heat or cold conditions
- Providing a fine of $250 and community service for 100 hours or more to a person convicted of a cruel treatment of animals violation upon a pet in the presence of a child
- Approval of bobcat hunting from November 1 to February 15 due to bobcats being removed from the Illinois Threatened Species Act
Alcohol Law Changes in 2016
- Banning powdered alcohol, or “palcohol,” which can be used to surreptitiously spike someone’s drink
- Requiring an interlock device, a breath-testing contraption connected to a vehicle’s ignition, for four-time DUI convicts, for the rest of their lives
- Allowing for a restricted driving permit for the 5,000 four-time DUI offenders who are currently banned from driving if they can prove they’ve turned their lives around – with the stipulation that another conviction will lead to a lifelong ban
- Giving immunity from criminal charges to underage drinkers who call 911 for a friend in medical need, to encourage teens to call for emergency medical help
School Law Changes in 2016
- Requiring all schools to have a concussion-oversight team to develop a protocol for athletes, which will include education and recovery plans
- Curtailing suspensions and expulsions in public schools – administrators are now required to exhaust every option before expelling a student or giving an out-of-school suspension
- Requiring carbon monoxide detectors in all schools
Drug Law Changes in 2016
- Making synthetic marijuana, or K2, illegal
- Stipulating that an employer or a property and casualty insurer is not required reimburse a person for costs related to the medical use of cannabis
Family Law Changes in 2016
- Requiring divorces granted in Illinois to be “no-fault divorces”, but spouses must show irreconcilable differences after attempts to retrieve the marriage have failed
- Amending the Adoption Act to allow birth grandparents to use the Adoption Registry and a confidential intermediary
- Allowing families and residents in nursing home facilities to utilize recording devices and cameras to monitor activity in their own rooms
- Creating a new Silver Alert system to help find missing adults who’ve wandered off due to dementia or Alzheimer’s
- Requiring certain airports to provide a location, by Jan. 1, 2017, on each airport terminal behind the security screening area, for women to express breast milk in private
Business Law Changes in 2016
- Requiring the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to develop and maintain a website to assist people wanting to start a business in Illinois or relocate a business to Illinois
- Requiring state agencies to examine and identify their small business rules, administrative regulation, and permit processes that are unreasonable, unduly burdensome, duplicative, or onerous to small businesses
Health Law Changes in 2016
- Requiring new coded locks on pill bottles, featuring numerical locking device with a combination, for prescribed opioid medication
- Prohibiting gay-conversion therapy (sexual-orientation change efforts) with a person younger than age 18
- Prohibiting advertising that depicts homosexuality as a mental disease, disorder or illness
Miscellaneous Law Changes in 2016
- Making pumpkin pie the official state pie, noting Illinois is the nation’s leading producer of pumpkins
- Making it illegal to buy, sell or plant bush honeysuckle, olive, teasel, knotweed, salt cedar, poison hemlock, oriental bittersweet, and giant hogweed, because these plants have been added to the Exotic Weed Act
O’Dekirk, Allred and Associates in Joliet knows it’s important to understand the new laws for Illinois 2016, especially if you are currently involved in a case affected by the changes. For help with any of these changes, please contact us for a free consultation.