Bill Amendment: IL HB2500 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: SEAL OR EXPUNGE-OBJECTIONS

Status: 2019-04-12 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB2500 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2019-HB2500-House_Amendment_001.html

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Rep. Emanuel Chris Welch

Filed: 4/8/2019

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AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 2500
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 2500 by replacing
everything after the enacting clause with the following:
"Section 1. Purpose.
(a) This Act provides for the purpose of maintaining
complete and accurate criminal records of the Department of
State Police and it is necessary for all policing bodies of
this State, the clerk of the circuit court, the Department of
Corrections, the sheriff of each county, and State's Attorney
of each county to submit certain criminal arrest, charge, and
disposition information to the Department of State Police for
filing at the earliest time possible. This Act also provides
that it shall be the duty of all policing bodies of this State,
the clerk of the circuit court, the Department of Corrections,
the sheriff of each county, and the State's Attorney of each
county to report such information, both in the form and manner
required by the Department of State Police and within 30 days

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of the criminal history event. Specifically, this information
is: (1) arrest information; (2) charge information; and (3)
disposition information.
(b) Circuit clerks, law enforcement, and courts throughout
this State all operate on unique information technology
systems. Some jurisdictions have been unable to digitize older
court records and those remain paper based.
(c) Individuals seeking to have records sealed or expunged
have to know their complete criminal history, which includes
everywhere they have been arrested and what is the disposition
of each arrest. Official criminal history rap sheets are often
times incomplete and not updated and charging information and
disposition information are not available on arrests.
Municipal ordinance arrests and certain misdemeanors are not
reported which leads to cases showing up in clerk's records,
but not on the official record.
(d) When filing expungement and sealing petitions,
accuracy is important and knowing the proper waiting period for
sealing from point of last sentence. Once an individual
receives his or her complete criminal history transcript from
the Department of State Police, the disposition needs to be
verified in each appropriate clerk's system. Due to the lack of
clear reporting, individuals must deal with the discrepancies
because the reports do not always correspond.
(e) Within each jurisdiction exists differing filing
procedures, and while filing fees for the indigent and

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juveniles is waived, the Department's fee is currently a
standard $60, however, county level filing fees differ all over
the State.
(f) State law provides that objections to a petition to
expunge or seal must be filed within 60 days of the date of
service of the petition, which has had varying interpretations.
The courts do not have an imposed time limit to set a court
date. Lengthy court dates are an obstacle to getting orders
signed in higher volume court systems and obtaining a court
date may take as long as 9 months to actually get an order
signed, which is several months after the objection period.
(g) While the petitioner faces challenges navigating the
process for a variety of reasons, the court, clerks of the
circuit court, and law enforcement struggle with complying with
the sealing and expungement process, a combination of competing
priorities, technology, and adequate staffing. As a result,
sealing and expungement orders are sometimes granted for
incidents which are ineligible. During the past few years, the
General Assembly has made several well-intentioned changes to
the sealing and expungement statute, however these changes can
sometimes be redundant, inconsistent, and confusing. Future
changes should be more readable, understandable, and
consistent.
Section 5. The Criminal Identification Act is amended by
adding Section 6 as follows:

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(20 ILCS 2630/6 new)
Sec. 6. Expungement and Sealing Task Force.
(a) The Expungement and Sealing Task Force is created. The
purpose of the Task Force is to conduct an intensive study and
analysis of this State's expungement and sealing laws. The goal
of this analysis should include, but not be limited to,
identifying strengths and weaknesses in the following areas:
criminal history record information, petition filing, petition
notice, court proceedings, challenges for petitioners filing
pro se, resources, personnel, technology and dissemination of
criminal history information and to recommend improvements and
propose legislative initiatives to the sealing and expungement
law to the General Assembly.
(b) The Task Force shall consist of 21 members as follows:
(1) one member each, appointed by the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the House
of Representatives, the President of the Senate, and the
Minority Leader of the Senate;
(2) 2 members representing circuit court clerks,
appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives;
(3) 3 members appointed by the Governor, 2 of which are
members of organizations working in adult and juvenile
sealing and expungement matters;
(4) one member appointed by the Director of State
Police;

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(5) one member representing an association
representing State's Attorneys, appointed by the Speaker
of the House of Representatives;
(6) one member representing an association
representing chiefs of police, appointed by the Minority
Leader of the House of Representatives;
(7) one member representing an association
representing sheriffs, appointed by the Senate Minority
Leader;
(8) one member representing the Office of the State
Appellate Defender;
(9) one member representing the Office of the State
Appellate Prosecutor;
(10) one member representing an association
representing Illinois lawyers, appointed by the Senate
President; and
(11) 5 members appointed by the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court, including one member with experience with
sealing and expungement standardized forms.
(c) At the direction of the Supreme Court, the
Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts shall provide
administrative support to the Task Force.
(d) The Task Force shall submit a report containing its
findings and any recommendations to the Supreme Court and the
General Assembly by April 1, 2020.
(e) The Task Force is dissolved on January 1, 2021.

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(f) This Section is repealed on January 1, 2022.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.".