Honors Helen Jett-Caldwell for her many years of dedication to the State of Illinois by naming April 30, 2003 as Helen Jett-Caldwell Day.
Amends the Credit Card Issuance Act. Provides that a credit card issuer who offers to an Illinois resident a credit card with a fixed annual percentage rate may not increase the annual percentage rate or rates of interest applicable to that credit card account, or prematurely remove or increase any introductory annual percentage rate or rates of interest applicable to the account, for reasons other than actions or omissions of the card holder that are directly related to the account and that are clearly and conspicuously described to the card holder at the time the credit card is issued. Effective immediately.
Amends the Department of Public Health Powers and Duties Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Provides that the Department shall conduct an education and outreach campaign in order to raise awareness about the auto-immune disease lupus.
Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Requires the Prisoner Review Board to parole a person eligible for parole and set the time for parole, if the Board finds the person to be an acceptable risk through use of specified Parole Release Risk Assessment Instruments. Provides that if parole is denied, a parole hearing shall be rescheduled no later than one year from the date of denial of the parole. Provides for the release of terminally ill prisoners who are eligible for parole. Limits the parole period of parolees who were sentenced under the law in effect before January 1, 1973 to the period of parole for persons sentenced under the law in effect after that date. Effective July 1, 2003.
Amends the Juvenile Court Act of 1987. Provides that statements made by a minor suspect at a custodial interrogation at a police station or other place of detention in investigations for homicide and certain sex offenses are presumed inadmissible unless the minor is represented by counsel.
Amends the Code of Civil Procedure. Provides that, in counties with a population of more than 1,000,000 when process is to be served in a case in which a party is receiving child support enforcement services under Article X of the Illinois Public Aid Code, process may be served, without special appointment, by a person who is licensed or registered as a private detective under the Private Detective, Private Alarm, Private Security, and Locksmith Act of 2004 or by a registered employee of a private detective agency certified under that Act. Effective July 1, 2004.
Amends the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Act. Provides that the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority employ experts to conduct a study of proportionality in capital sentencing. Provides that the experts look at all cases in the State in which a defendant was charged with the offense of first degree murder committed on or after June 21, 1977, in violation of Section 9-1 of the Criminal Code of 1961 to determine whether the race, ethnicity, or gender of the defendant or the victim, the location of the offense, or some combination of these factors influenced the sentence of death. Provides that there is a moratorium on the execution of all capital sentences in Illinois until the study is completed.
Amends the Automobile Renting Occupation and Use Tax Act. In a provision that excludes from the definition of "gross receipts" certain receipts received by an automobile manufacturer or service contract provider for the use of an automobile by a person while that person's automobile is being repaired, provides that the exclusion applies whether the automobile is provided from the automobile dealer's inventory or provided by a lease from a car rental or car leasing company.
Amends the Illinois Human Rights Act. Provides that the Department of Human Rights shall establish a Systemic Unit to initiate and investigate charges of unlawful discrimination in employment in instances in which discriminatory patterns and practices are identified. Effective January 1, 2005.
Amends the Beer Industry Fair Dealing Act. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the short title.
