ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers the Nursing Home Act and attorney fees, the Collaborative Process Act, child support law technical corrections, a bill affecting objections to jurisdiction, mandated child abuse or neglect reporters, an omnibus condo bill, and a bill amending the Condominium Property Act.

More information on each bill is available below the video.

Nursing Home Act and attorney fees. Senate Bill 1208 (Brady, R-Bloomington) amends the provision in the Nursing Home Act that allows for the award of attorney fees for a resident. If non-monetary relief is sought under this Section, then the licensee shall also pay costs and attorney fees to a facility resident whose rights, as specified in Part 1 of Article II of this Act are violated. If monetary relief is sought under this Section, then costs and attorney fees are not recoverable by a facility resident whose rights, as specified in Part 1 of Article II of this Act, are violated. A companion bill is House Bill 1953 (Demmer, R-Dixon).

Collaborative Process Act. Senate Bill 67 (Hastings, D-Frankfort; Kelly Burke, D-Oak Lawn) creates the Collaborative Process Act to allow family law matters to be handled in an alternative dispute format. It has passed the Senate and is in the House.

Child support. Senate Bill 69 (Hastings, D-Frankfort) makes a number of technical corrections to the income shares language that goes into effect July 1, 2017. For example, child support “award” becomes child support or child support obligation depending on the context. It does make one substantive change to provide that the parties must take into consideration the federal income tax credit for child care when allocating the cost of child care between the parents. It has passed the Senate and is in the House.

Objections to jurisdiction. House Bill 188 (Thapedi, D-Chicago) amends Section 2-301 of the Code of Civil Procedure. It provides that if an objecting party files a motion under Section 2-1301(e) or a petition under Section 2-1401 or 2-1401.1 before filing a motion in compliance with Section 2-301(a), the party waives all objections to the court’s jurisdiction over the party’s person. This bill will be amended and is in House Judiciary Committee.

Mandated child abuse or neglect reporters. House Bill 3288 (Cassidy, D-Chicago) makes anyone mandated to report child abuse or neglect. It’s called universal reporting, and 18 other states have some form of it. It leaves current exemptions for professionals such as lawyers in the course of the attorney-client relationship. This bill doesn’t appear to be moving right now.

Omnibus condo bill. House Bill 189 (Thapedi, D-Chicago) is a major rewrite of parts of the Condominium Property Act and Common Interest Association Act.

Condominium Property Act. House Bill 3755 (Drury, D-Highwood) provides that in any litigation or arbitration between a unit owner and the association or its board of managers or any individual member of the association or its board of managers regarding specified disputes, if the unit owner is deemed by the court or arbitrator to be the substantially prevailing party, then the court or the arbitrator shall award to the unit owner from the non-prevailing party reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred by the unit owner in the litigation or arbitration. It further provides that certain attorney fees shall be excluded from the demand given under specified provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure. It is in House Judiciary Committee.