Bill Text: IL HB1429 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Bill of Rights for the Homeless Act. Prohibits the State or a unit of local government from creating or enforcing policies or ordinances imposing fines or criminal penalties against people experiencing unsheltered homelessness for occupying or engaging in life-sustaining activities on public property. Provides exceptions to maintain access to property or address risks to public health and safety. Creates a necessity defense for charges alleging violation of laws criminalizing life-sustaining activities while the individual was experiencing unsheltered homelessness. Defines terms. Limits the exercise of concurrent home rule powers.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 31)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2026-04-17 - House Floor Amendment No. 3 Rule 19(c) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB1429 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-HB1429-Introduced.html

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104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 HB1429 Introduced , by Rep. Kevin John Olickal SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
775 ILCS 45/10
Amends the Bill of Rights for the Homeless Act. Prohibits the State or a unit of local government from creating or enforcing policies or ordinances imposing fines or criminal penalties against people experiencing unsheltered homelessness for occupying or engaging in life-sustaining activities on public property. Provides exceptions to maintain access to property or address risks to public health and safety. Creates a necessity defense for charges alleging violation of laws criminalizing life-sustaining activities while the individual was experiencing unsheltered homelessness. Defines terms. Limits the exercise of concurrent home rule powers.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning human rights.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Bill of Rights for the Homeless Act is
amended by changing Section 10 as follows:
(775 ILCS 45/10)
Sec. 10. Bill of Rights.
(a) No person's rights, privileges, or access to public
services may be denied or abridged solely because he or she is
homeless. Such a person shall be granted the same rights and
privileges as any other citizen of this State. A person
experiencing homelessness has the following rights:
(1) the right to use and move freely in public spaces,
including but not limited to public sidewalks, public
parks, public transportation, and public buildings, in the
same manner as any other person and without discrimination
on the basis of his or her housing status;
(2) the right to equal treatment by all State and
municipal agencies, without discrimination on the basis of
housing status;
(3) the right not to face discrimination while
maintaining employment due to his or her lack of permanent
mailing address, or his or her mailing address being that

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of a shelter or social service provider;
(4) the right to emergency medical care free from
discrimination based on his or her housing status;
(5) the right to vote, register to vote, and receive
documentation necessary to prove identity for voting
without discrimination due to his or her housing status;
(6) the right to protection from disclosure of his or
her records and information provided to homeless shelters
and service providers to State, municipal, and private
entities without appropriate legal authority; and the
right to confidentiality of personal records and
information in accordance with all limitations on
disclosure established by the federal Homeless Management
Information Systems, the federal Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act, and the federal
Violence Against Women Act; and
(7) the right to a reasonable expectation of privacy
in his or her personal property to the same extent as
personal property in a permanent residence.
(b) As used in this Act: ,
"Enforcing entity" means the State or a unit of local
government as well as their representatives.
"Housing housing status" means the status of having or not
having a fixed or regular residence, including the status of
living on the streets, in a shelter, or in a temporary
residence.

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"Life-sustaining activities" includes, but are not limited
to, moving, resting, sitting, standing, lying down, sleeping,
protecting oneself from the elements, eating, drinking, and
storing such personal property as needed to shelter oneself.
"Unsheltered homelessness" means the status of not having
a fixed or regular residence, including the status of living
on the streets because of a lack of access to a legally
operated indoor shelter or other temporary residence that is
appropriate and safe.
"Notice" in this instance is met when:
Written notice: Notification by the enforcing entity
in a conspicuous location 7 days before enforcement at the
site of removal, including, but not limited to, at the
entrance of the area or near the site and if possible on
the belongings of the unsheltered person.
Verbal notice shall be provided if the enforcing
entity's representatives and persons subject to
enforcement are present at a location simultaneously
during the 7-day time period.
(c) Neither the State or any unit of local government may
establish or enforce ordinances or policies that include fines
or criminal penalties against people experiencing unsheltered
homelessness for occupying or engaging in life-sustaining
activities on public property.
(d) Subject to other provisions of this Act, the State or a
unit of local government may enforce ordinances, policies, or

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procedures without fines or criminal penalties against people
experiencing unsheltered homelessness to maintain public
access to a property or address serious and imminent risks to
public health and safety.
(e) Unless the enforcing entity determines that there is
an emergency related to public access to a property or public
health and safety, before enforcing any such ordinances,
policies and procedures, the enforcing entity shall provide
notice, as defined under this Section, to persons subject to
the enforcement. All enforcement under this Section shall
comply with the Community Emergency Services and Support Act
and other sections of this Act. The enforcing entity shall
make, without limitation, a good faith effort to provide or
refer persons subject to enforcement with transportation,
social services, and other resources to remedy their immediate
shelter and long-term housing needs.
(f) In determining whether an actual emergency exists, the
enforcing entity shall declare an emergency only when there is
an imminent risk to individuals or community members that can
only be mitigated by requiring unsheltered individuals to move
themselves or their belongings. In emergencies, as much notice
as is practicable shall be provided. The enforcing entity
shall make, without limitation, a good faith effort to also
provide or refer persons subject to enforcement with
transportation, social services, and other resources to remedy
their immediate shelter and long-term housing needs.

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(g) It is an affirmative defense to a charge of violating a
statute or ordinance criminalizing one or more life-sustaining
activities that the individual was experiencing unsheltered
homelessness. It shall be the responsibility of the court to
notify the charged individual of the availability of this
defense and how to raise it. Once the defense is raised, there
is a rebuttable presumption that the person was experiencing
unsheltered homelessness and the burden of proving otherwise
is on the prosecution.
(h) A home rule unit may not enact rules or regulations
that are inconsistent with this Section. This amendatory Act
is a limitation under subsection (i) of Section 6 of Article
VII of the Illinois Constitution on the concurrent exercise by
home rule units of powers and functions exercised by the
State.
(Source: P.A. 98-516, eff. 8-22-13.)