104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB3262
 
Introduced 2/18/2025, by Rep. Patrick Sheehan
 
SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
55 ILCS 80/4.5
    Amends the Children's Advocacy Center Act. Provides that a person charged with a criminal offense involving abuse or neglect of a child does not have standing to object to the failure to comply with the electronic recording requirement of a forensic interview. Provides that it is not a violation of the Act if a forensic interview is not recorded because: (1) the recording equipment malfunctions and the malfunction is not the result of a failure to maintain the equipment or provide adequate supplies for the equipment; or (2) due to circumstances that could not have been reasonably foreseen by the interviewer, the interviewer does not have the necessary recording equipment.


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A BILL FOR
 
HB3262LRB104 08783 RTM 18838 b

1    AN ACT concerning local government.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Children's Advocacy Center Act is amended 
5by changing Section 4.5 as follows:
 
6    (55 ILCS 80/4.5)
7    Sec. 4.5. Forensic interviews; electronic recordings.
8    (a) Consent is not required for a forensic interview to be 
9electronically recorded. Failure to record does not render a 
10forensic interview inadmissible. A person charged with a 
11criminal offense involving abuse or neglect of a child does 
12not have standing to object to the failure to comply with the 
13electronic recording requirement of a forensic interview. 
14    (b) A forensic interview, an electronic recording, or a 
15forensic interview transcription or electronic recording is 
16confidential and exempt from public inspection and copying 
17under Section 7.5 of the Freedom of Information Act and may 
18only be viewed by a court, attorneys, investigators, or 
19experts for the purpose of judicial and administrative 
20hearings and shall not be disseminated except pursuant to a 
21court's protective order.
22    (c) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit or 
23prohibit electronically recorded forensic interviewing in 
 
 
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1accordance with Article 14 of the Criminal Code of 2012 or 
2Article 108A or Article 108B of the Code of Criminal Procedure 
3of 1963.
4    (d) It is not a violation of this Act if a forensic 
5interview is not recorded because:
6        (1) the recording equipment malfunctions and the 
7    malfunction is not the result of a failure to maintain the 
8    equipment or provide adequate supplies for the equipment; 
9    or
10        (2) due to circumstances that could not have been 
11    reasonably foreseen by the interviewer, the interviewer 
12    does not have the necessary recording equipment. 
13(Source: P.A. 101-236, eff. 1-1-20.)