(20 ILCS 4005/8) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 1308)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2025)

Sec. 8. (a) A special fund is created in the State Treasury known as the Vehicle Hijacking and Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention and Insurance Verification Trust Fund, which shall be administered by the Secretary at the direction of the Council. All interest earned from the investment or deposit of monies accumulated in the Trust Fund shall, pursuant to Section 4.1 of the State Finance Act, be deposited in the Trust Fund.

(b) Money deposited in this Trust Fund shall not be considered general revenue of the State of Illinois.

(c) Money deposited in the Trust Fund shall be used only to enhance efforts to effectuate the purposes of this Act as determined by the Council and shall not be appropriated, loaned or in any manner transferred to the General Revenue Fund of the State of Illinois.

(d) Prior to April 1, 1991, and prior to April 1 of each year thereafter, each insurer engaged in writing private passenger motor vehicle insurance coverages which are included in Class 2 and Class 3 of Section 4 of the Illinois Insurance Code, as a condition of its authority to transact business in this State, may collect and shall pay into the Trust Fund an amount equal to $1.00, or a lesser amount determined by the Council, multiplied by the insurer's total earned car years of private passenger motor vehicle insurance policies providing physical damage insurance coverage written in this State during the preceding calendar year.

(e) Money in the Trust Fund shall be expended as follows:

(1) To pay the Secretary's costs to administer the Council and the Trust Fund, but for this purpose in an amount not to exceed 10% in any one fiscal year of the amount collected pursuant to paragraph (d) of this Section in that same fiscal year.

(2) To achieve the purposes and objectives of this Act, which may include, but not be limited to, the following:

(A) To provide financial support to law enforcement and correctional agencies, prosecutors, and the judiciary for programs designed to reduce vehicle hijacking and motor vehicle theft and to improve the administration of motor vehicle theft laws.

(B) To provide financial support for federal and State agencies, units of local government, corporations and neighborhood, community or business organizations for programs designed to reduce motor vehicle theft and to improve the administration of vehicle hijacking and motor vehicle theft laws.

(C) To provide financial support to conduct programs designed to inform owners of motor vehicles about the financial and social costs of vehicle hijacking, interstate shootings, and motor vehicle theft and to suggest to those owners methods for preventing motor vehicle theft.

(D) To provide financial support for plans, programs and projects designed to achieve the purposes of this Act.

(3) To provide funding to the Secretary's Vehicle Services Department for the creation, implementation, and maintenance of an electronic motor vehicle liability insurance policy verification program by allocating no more than 75% of each dollar collected for the first calendar year after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 100th General Assembly and no more than 10% of each dollar collected for every calendar year after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly. The Secretary shall distribute the funds to the Vehicle Services Department at the beginning of each calendar year.

(f) Insurers contributing to the Trust Fund shall have a property interest in the unexpended money in the Trust Fund, which property interest shall not be retroactively changed or extinguished by the General Assembly.

(g) In the event the Trust Fund were to be discontinued or the Council were to be dissolved by act of the General Assembly or by operation of law, then, notwithstanding the provisions of Section 5 of the State Finance Act, any balance remaining therein shall be returned to the insurers writing private passenger motor vehicle insurance in proportion to their financial contributions to the Trust Fund and any assets of the Council shall be liquidated and returned in the same manner after deduction of administrative costs.

(Source: P.A. 102-904, eff. 1-1-23.)