Public Act 098-0529
 
SB1609 EnrolledLRB098 08542 RLC 38654 b


  
    AN ACT concerning criminal law.
  
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
 
represented in the General Assembly:
  
 
 
    Section 5. The Criminal Code of 2012 is amended  by changing 
Section 12-9 as follows:
 


    (720 ILCS 5/12-9)  (from Ch. 38, par. 12-9)


    Sec. 12-9. Threatening public officials; human service 
providers. 

    (a) A person commits threatening a public official or human 
service provider when:


        (1) that person knowingly delivers or conveys, 
    directly
or indirectly, to a public official or human 
    service provider by any means a communication:


            (i) containing a threat that would place
the public 
        official or human service provider or a member of his 
        or her immediate family in reasonable
apprehension of 
        immediate or future bodily harm, sexual assault, 
        confinement,
or restraint; or


            (ii) containing a threat that would place the 
        public official
or human service provider or a member 
        of his or her immediate family in reasonable 
        apprehension that
damage will occur to property in the 
        custody, care, or control of the public
official or his 
        or her immediate family; and


        (2) the threat was conveyed because of the performance 
    or nonperformance
of some public duty or duty as a human 
    service provider, because of hostility of the person making 
    the threat
toward the status or position of the public 
    official or the human service provider, or because of any

    other factor related to the official's public existence.

    (a-5)   For purposes of a threat to a sworn law enforcement 
officer, the threat  must contain specific facts indicative of a 
unique threat to the person, family or property of the officer 
and not a generalized threat of harm.

    (a-6)  For purposes of a threat to a social worker, 
caseworker, or investigator, or human service provider, the 
threat must contain specific facts indicative of a unique 
threat to the person, family or property of the individual and 
not a generalized threat of harm. 
    (b) For purposes of this Section:


        (1) "Public official"
means a person who is elected to 
    office in accordance with a statute or
who is appointed to 
    an office which is established, and the qualifications
and 
    duties of which are prescribed, by statute, to discharge a 
    public duty
for the State or any of its political 
    subdivisions or in the case of
an elective office any 
    person who has filed the required documents for
nomination 
    or election to such office. "Public official" includes a

    duly
appointed assistant State's Attorney, assistant 
    Attorney General, or Appellate Prosecutor; a sworn law 
    enforcement or peace officer;  a social worker, caseworker, 
    or investigator employed by the Department of Healthcare 
    and Family Services, the Department of Human Services, or 
    the Department of Children and Family Services.

        (1.5)  "Human service provider" means a social worker, 
    case worker, or investigator employed by an agency or 
    organization providing social work, case work, or 
    investigative services under a contract with or a grant 
    from the Department of Human Services, the Department of 
    Children and Family Services, the Department of Healthcare 
    and Family Services, or the Department on Aging. 

        (2) "Immediate family" means a
public official's 
    spouse or child or children.

    (c) Threatening a public official or human service provider 
is a Class 3 felony for a
first offense and a Class 2 felony for 
a second or subsequent offense.

(Source: P.A. 96-1551, eff. 7-1-11; 97-1079, eff. 1-1-13.)