HB2731 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 10049 RTM 20120 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB2731

Introduced 2/6/2025, by Rep. Daniel Didech - Rita Mayfield - Bob Morgan

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act
55 ILCS 5/3-9005	from Ch. 34, par. 3-9005

Creates the Victim Centered Approach Pilot Program Act. Provides that the Lake County State's Attorney shall develop a program to represent noncitizen victims of violent crimes in the filing of victim remedies before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Office administrative body. Provides that the Lake County State's Attorney shall use any funding provided to the pilot program to represent or give counsel to 50 noncitizen victims annually for the next 5 years who were victimized by violent crimes in Lake County. Provides that the to be eligible for assistance under the program, an individual must: (1) be a noncitizen victim, who has never been placed in removal proceedings; (2) have suffered a violent crime in Lake County; and (3) not be barred from the immigration remedies before the administrative body. Amends the Counties Code. Provides that, in counties with a population of more than 500,000, a State's Attorney may act, without fee or appointment, as an attorney to a noncitizen victim in an immigration case only if the noncitizen victim was victimized within the county the State's Attorney serves and is located within the geographic boundaries of the county served by the State's Attorney.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning local government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. This Act may be cited as the Victim Centered Approach Pilot Program Act.

Section 5. Findings and purpose. The purpose of the victim centered approach pilot program is to address significant barriers to noncitizen victims who are victimized in the county who can't afford counsel for the filing of an immigration remedy before the administrative body. The program aims to provide free immigration counsel and representation to victims for the next 5 years. Lack of affordable attorneys and qualified organizations create a barrier for victims who are already suffering from a crime of violence and this program supports victims on their path to safety. The program shall provide funding to the office of the Lake County State's Attorney to create a victim focused legal service where State's Attorney may act, without fee or appointment, as an attorney to a noncitizen victim who experienced victimization in the geographic boundaries of the circuit court for the county served by the State's Attorney. The victim centered approach pilot program empowers survivors by providing them with immediate legal services that will put them on a path to legal status which is often delayed due to lack of funding or resources. This approach, even though lengthy, starts the survivor's ability to stabilize the survivor's situation and the survivor's family's situation economically or emotionally. Thus, fostering resilience and enhanced quality of life after undergoing a violent crime.

Section 10. State's Attorney victim centered approach pilot program.

(a) The Lake County State's Attorney shall develop a program to represent noncitizen victims of violent crimes in the filing of victim remedies before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Office administrative body. The Lake County State's Attorney shall use any funding provided to the pilot program to represent or give counsel to 50 noncitizen victims annually for the next 5 years who were victimized by violent crimes in Lake County. To be eligible for assistance under the program, an individual must:

(1) be a noncitizen victim, who has never been placed in removal proceedings;

(2) have suffered a violent crime in Lake County; and

(3) not be barred from the immigration remedies before the administrative body.

(b) The assistance provided by the Pilot Program includes immigration representation of the noncitizen victim before the administrative body for a victim remedy.

Section 15. The Counties Code is amended by changing Section 3-9005 as follows:

(55 ILCS 5/3-9005) (from Ch. 34, par. 3-9005)

Sec. 3-9005. Powers and duties of State's Attorney.

(a) The duty of each State's Attorney shall be:

(1) To commence and prosecute all actions, suits, indictments and prosecutions, civil and criminal, in the circuit court for the county, in which the people of the State or county may be concerned.

(2) To prosecute all forfeited bonds and recognizances, and all actions and proceedings for the recovery of debts, revenues, moneys, fines, penalties and forfeitures accruing to the State or the county, or to any school district or road district in the county; also, to prosecute all suits in the county against railroad or transportation companies, which may be prosecuted in the name of the People of the State of Illinois.

(3) To commence and prosecute all actions and proceedings brought by any county officer in the county officer's official capacity.

(4) To defend all actions and proceedings brought against the county, or against any county or State officer, in the county or State officer's official capacity, within the county.

(5) To attend the examination of all persons brought before any judge on habeas corpus, when the prosecution is in the county.

(6) To attend before judges and prosecute charges of felony or misdemeanor, for which the offender is required to be recognized to appear before the circuit court, when in the State's Attorney's power so to do.

(7) To give the State's Attorney's opinion, without fee or reward, to any county officer in the county, upon any question or law relating to any criminal or other matter, in which the people or the county may be concerned.

(8) To assist the Attorney General whenever it may be necessary, and in cases of appeal from the county to the Supreme Court, to which it is the duty of the Attorney General to attend, the State's Attorney shall furnish the Attorney General at least 10 days before such is due to be filed, a manuscript of a proposed statement, brief and argument to be printed and filed on behalf of the people, prepared in accordance with the rules of the Supreme Court. However, if such brief, argument or other document is due to be filed by law or order of court within this 10-day period, then the State's Attorney shall furnish such as soon as may be reasonable.

(9) To pay all moneys received by the State's Attorney in trust, without delay, to the officer who by law is entitled to the custody thereof.

(10) To notify, by first class mail, complaining witnesses of the ultimate disposition of the cases arising from an indictment or an information.

(11) To perform such other and further duties as may, from time to time, be enjoined on the State's Attorney by law.

(12) To appear in all proceedings by collectors of taxes against delinquent taxpayers for judgments to sell real estate, and see that all the necessary preliminary steps have been legally taken to make the judgment legal and binding.

(13) To notify, by first-class mail, the State Superintendent of Education, the applicable regional superintendent of schools, and the superintendent of the employing school district or the chief school administrator of the employing nonpublic school, if any, upon the conviction of any individual known to possess a certificate or license issued pursuant to Article 21 or 21B, respectively, of the School Code of any offense set forth in Section 21B-80 of the School Code or any other felony conviction, providing the name of the certificate holder, the fact of the conviction, and the name and location of the court where the conviction occurred. The certificate holder must also be contemporaneously sent a copy of the notice.

(b) The State's Attorney of each county shall have authority to appoint one or more special investigators to serve subpoenas and summonses, make return of process, and conduct investigations which assist the State's Attorney in the performance of the State's Attorney duties. In counties of the first and second class, the fees for service of subpoenas and summonses are allowed by this Section and shall be consistent with those set forth in Section 4-5001 of this Act, except when increased by county ordinance as provided for in Section 4-5001. In counties of the third class, the fees for service of subpoenas and summonses are allowed by this Section and shall be consistent with those set forth in Section 4-12001 of this Act. A special investigator shall not carry firearms except with permission of the State's Attorney and only while carrying appropriate identification indicating the special investigator's employment and in the performance of the special investigator's assigned duties.

Subject to the qualifications set forth in this subsection, special investigators shall be peace officers and shall have all the powers possessed by investigators under the State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor's Act.

No special investigator employed by the State's Attorney shall have peace officer status or exercise police powers unless the special investigator successfully completes the basic police training course mandated and approved by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board or such board waives the training requirement by reason of the special investigator's prior law enforcement experience or training or both. Any State's Attorney appointing a special investigator shall consult with all affected local police agencies, to the extent consistent with the public interest, if the special investigator is assigned to areas within that agency's jurisdiction.

Before a person is appointed as a special investigator, the person's fingerprints shall be taken and transmitted to the Department of State Police. The Department shall examine its records and submit to the State's Attorney of the county in which the investigator seeks appointment any conviction information concerning the person on file with the Department. No person shall be appointed as a special investigator if the person has been convicted of a felony or other offense involving moral turpitude. A special investigator shall be paid a salary and be reimbursed for actual expenses incurred in performing the special investigator's assigned duties. The county board shall approve the salary and actual expenses and appropriate the salary and expenses in the manner prescribed by law or ordinance.

(c) The State's Attorney may request and receive from employers, labor unions, telephone companies, and utility companies location information concerning putative fathers and noncustodial parents for the purpose of establishing a child's paternity or establishing, enforcing, or modifying a child support obligation. In this subsection, "location information" means information about (i) the physical whereabouts of a putative father or noncustodial parent, (ii) the putative father or noncustodial parent's employer, or (iii) the salary, wages, and other compensation paid and the health insurance coverage provided to the putative father or noncustodial parent by the employer of the putative father or noncustodial parent or by a labor union of which the putative father or noncustodial parent is a member.

(d) (Blank).

(e) The State's Attorney shall have the authority to enter into a written agreement with the Department of Revenue for pursuit of civil liability under subsection (E) of Section 17-1 of the Criminal Code of 2012 against persons who have issued to the Department checks or other orders in violation of the provisions of paragraph (1) of subsection (B) of Section 17-1 of the Criminal Code of 2012, with the Department to retain the amount owing upon the dishonored check or order along with the dishonored check fee imposed under the Uniform Penalty and Interest Act, with the balance of damages, fees, and costs collected under subsection (E) of Section 17-1 of the Criminal Code of 2012 or under Section 17-1a of that Code to be retained by the State's Attorney. The agreement shall not affect the allocation of fines and costs imposed in any criminal prosecution.

(f) In a county with less than 2,000,000 inhabitants, and only upon receipt of a written request by the superintendent of the county Veterans Assistance Commission for the county in which the State's Attorney is located, the State's Attorney shall have the discretionary authority to render an opinion, without fee or reward, upon any question of law relating to a matter in which the county Veterans Assistance Commission may be concerned. The State's Attorney shall have the discretion to grant or decline such a request.

(g) In counties with a population of more than 500,000, a State's Attorney may act, without fee or appointment, as an attorney to a noncitizen victim in an immigration case only if the noncitizen victim was victimized within the county the State's Attorney serves and is located within the geographic boundaries of the county served by the State's Attorney.

(Source: P.A. 101-275, eff. 8-9-19; 102-56, eff. 7-9-21.)