745 ILCS 48/ Illinois Financial Institutions Year 2000 Safety and Soundness Act.

(745 ILCS 48/1)

Sec. 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Illinois Financial Institutions Year 2000 Safety and Soundness Act.

(Source: P.A. 91-645, eff. 8-20-99.)

(745 ILCS 48/5)

Sec. 5. Findings and declarations of policy. The General Assembly hereby finds and declares that:

(1) the economic strength and general welfare of Illinois depends on strong, safe and sound financial institutions that command the highest levels of public confidence among the citizens of this State;

(2) Illinois financial institutions are highly monitored and closely supervised by federal and state regulatory agencies which impose strict compliance standards and conduct regular and frequent examinations on these institutions;

(3) countless computer systems, software programs, microchips, and integrated circuits have been created, distributed, installed, and relied upon throughout this State and the world which are not capable of recognizing certain dates in 1999 and after December 31, 1999, and which will read dates in the year 2000 and thereafter as if those dates represent the year 1900 or thereafter, or which will fail to process those dates (commonly referred to as the "Year 2000 Problem");

(4) the federal and state regulatory agencies which regulate Illinois financial institutions have required these institutions to undergo exhaustive planning, remediation, testing, and contingency preparedness to properly address the Year 2000 Problem with respect to both internal and external mission critical computer systems, internal and external non-mission critical computer systems, third party vendors, customers, and other possible sources of business interruption, and are closely monitoring, examining, and supervising these efforts on an institution by institution basis;

(5) Illinois financial institutions have expended hundreds of millions of dollars on reprogramming, replacing, and testing their computer systems to properly address the Year 2000 Problem and continue to be accountable to their federal and state regulatory agencies for meeting the strict safety and soundness standards imposed on them in connection with the Year 2000 Problem;

(6) Illinois financial institutions are integral to the payments system and credit and savings bases relied on by all other businesses, governmental entities, and citizens of this State irrespective of whether those businesses, governmental entities, and citizens have addressed and implemented solutions in connection with the Year 2000 Problem; and

(7) it is in the interests of this State to recognize the unique and rigorous standards required of Illinois financial institutions in connection with the Year 2000 Problem and their integral role in maintaining the payments system and credit and savings bases in this State and to preserve public confidence in these institutions and ensure their safety and soundness, thereby protecting and enhancing the economy and general welfare of this State, by providing uniform and judicious legal standards for Illinois financial institutions in connection with the Year 2000 Problem.

(Source: P.A. 91-645, eff. 8-20-99.)

(745 ILCS 48/10)

Sec. 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this Act:

(a) The term "Illinois financial institution" means:

(1) a State bank, a national bank, or an out-of-state bank, as those terms are defined in the Illinois Banking Act, or any subsidiary of a State bank, a national bank, or an out-of-state bank;

(2) a foreign banking corporation, as that term is defined in the Foreign Banking Office Act, or any subsidiary of a foreign banking corporation;

(3) a corporate fiduciary, as that term is defined in the Corporate Fiduciary Act, or any subsidiary of a corporate fiduciary;

(4) a savings bank organized under the Savings Bank Act, an out-of-state savings bank chartered under the laws of a state other than Illinois, a territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, or a federal savings bank organized under federal law, or any subsidiary of a savings bank, an out-of-state savings bank, or a federal savings bank;

(5) an association or federal association, as those terms are defined in the Illinois Savings and Loan Act of 1985, or any subsidiary of an association or federal association;

(6) an out-of-state savings and loan association chartered under the laws of a state other than Illinois, a territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, or a federal savings and loan association organized under federal law whose principal business office is located outside of Illinois, or any subsidiary of an out-of-state savings and loan association or federal savings and loan association whose principal business office is located outside of Illinois;

(7) a credit union, as defined in the Illinois Credit Union Act, or any subsidiary of a credit union; or

(8) a network owned by one or more financial institutions, as those terms are defined in the Electronic Fund Transfer Act.

The terms in this subsection (a) also shall be deemed to include a direct or indirect holding company of an Illinois financial institution in connection with a Year 2000 claim involving the Illinois financial institution directly or indirectly owned by such holding company.

(b) The term "Year 2000 failure" means any failure by any device or system (including, without limitation, any computer system and any microchip or integrated circuit embedded in another device or product), or any software, firmware, or other set or collection of processing instructions, however constructed, in processing, calculating, comparing, sequencing, displaying, storing, transmitting, or receiving date-related data during the years 1999 and 2000 or from, into, or between the twentieth century and the twenty-first century, or the failure to recognize or accurately process any specific date, or the failure to accurately account for the status of the year 2000 as a leap year.

(c) The term "Year 2000 action" means a civil action of any kind brought under Illinois law, except for a civil action brought by a federal or state agency that regulates the Illinois financial institution, in which:

(1) a Year 2000 claim is asserted; or

(2) any claim or defense is related, directly or indirectly, to a Year 2000 claim.

(d) The term "Year 2000 claim" means any claim or cause of action of any kind, whether asserted by way of claim, counterclaim, cross-claim, third-party claim, or otherwise, in which a party or other person's loss or harm is alleged to have resulted, directly or indirectly, from any act or omission in connection with an actual or potential Year 2000 failure, except for claims involving physical injury to the extent of the claim of physical injury.

(e) The term "physical injury" means any physical injury to a natural person, including the death of the person, but does not include mental suffering, emotional distress, or other similar elements of injury that do not constitute physical harm to a natural person.

(Source: P.A. 91-645, eff. 8-20-99.)

(745 ILCS 48/15)

Sec. 15. Action for damages. An Illinois financial institution shall not be liable in a Year 2000 action brought by or for damages incurred by persons not in privity of contract with the Illinois financial institution in connection with the transaction that gave rise to the Year 2000 claim.

(Source: P.A. 91-645, eff. 8-20-99.)

(745 ILCS 48/20)

Sec. 20. Notice of claim. No person shall bring a Year 2000 action or make a Year 2000 claim against an Illinois financial institution unless the person has given written notice to the Illinois financial institution of the person's Year 2000 claim and the Illinois financial institution has been afforded at least 60 days after receipt of the notice to resolve the claim.

(Source: P.A. 91-645, eff. 8-20-99.)

(745 ILCS 48/25)

Sec. 25. Employees, officers, and directors. No employee, officer, or director of an Illinois financial institution shall be liable to any person for damages in a Year 2000 action, except for an act or omission that constitutes fraud; provided that this Section shall not preclude a Year 2000 action against an Illinois financial institution that is otherwise permitted by law based on the actions of an employee, officer, or director of the financial institution.

(Source: P.A. 91-645, eff. 8-20-99.)

(745 ILCS 48/30)

Sec. 30. Unaffected rights. The provisions of this Act shall not affect the rights of parties under Articles 3, 4, 4A, and 8 of the Uniform Commercial Code and other rules governing the processing of check, credit, debit, ACH, and wire transactions, provided that such rights shall be strictly construed to further the purposes and policies of the provisions therein and the application of such construction is not likely to impair the safety and soundness of the Illinois financial institution.

(Source: P.A. 91-645, eff. 8-20-99.)

(745 ILCS 48/90)

Sec. 90. Severability. The provisions of this Act are severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.

(Source: P.A. 91-645, eff. 8-20-99.)

(745 ILCS 48/92)

Sec. 92. Amendatory provisions; text omitted).

(Source: P.A. 91-645, eff. 8-20-99; text omitted.)

(745 ILCS 48/99)

Sec. 99. Effective Date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.

(Source: P.A. 91-645, eff. 8-20-99.)