ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers: Senate Bill 965, House Bill 1604 and House Bill 1589. Information on each bill is available below the video.

Automated Speed Enforcement. Senate Bill 965 creates the Automated Speed Enforcement system for cities of more than one million residents for safety zones. The safety zones are around schools, parks, and recreational facilities. Owners of vehicles will be cited for violation of speed of more than five miles an hour at a $100 per violation. The violation will not be reported to the Secretary of State unless the owner has five or more unpaid tickets. Violations closer than 1/8 of a mile of a safety zone will be handled as all other traffic violations. It passed the Senate 32-24-0 and is awaiting a hearing in House Executive Committee. If passed, its effective date would be July 1, 2012.

Visitation interference. House Bill 1604 (Howard, D-Chicago; Sullivan, D-Rushville) allows a court to order the following relief for visitation abuse: (1) suspend the defendant’s driving privileges; (2) suspend the defendant’s professional license; and (3) fine the defendant for not more than $500 as a petty offense; (4) requires a finding that a party engaged in visitation abuse constitutes “a change in circumstances of the child or his custodian” under Section 610 of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution Act. It is scheduled for a hearing next week in Senate Judiciary Committee.

Modification of custody or visitation orders for military deployment. House Bill 1589 (Pritchard, R-DeKalb; Jacobs, D-Moline) does five things: (1) Expands existing law to address modification of custody or visitation caused solely by a parent being deployed for active military duty. (2) Preserves judicial discretion and supervision to ensure that any accommodation for a deployed parent is in the best interest of the child. (3) Limits modification orders for deployment to temporary status, so that when the deployment is ended the service member does not bear a clear and convincing burden of proof to restore the prior custodial order. (4) Provides for expedited custody hearings for deployed service members and authorizes participation by electronic means. (5) Authorizes “substitute visitation” while the parent is deployed if the judge determines it is in the best interest of the child. Awaiting a Senate concurrence vote on a House amendment.