Creates the Firewall Protection Act. Provides that all multi-family structures containing 3 or more living units or any living units in a structure containing any type of commercial activity shall be constructed with separation walls, floors, and roofs with a minimum 2-hour fire rating. Denies home rule powers.
Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Requires each prosecutor and defense attorney who is certified by the Illinois Supreme Court as a member of the Capital Litigation Trial Bar to receive periodic training in specified areas and the Supreme Court shall retain experts on those subjects to conduct training and prepare training manuals on those topics.
Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Provides that all petitions for executive clemency on behalf of a person who is sentenced to death must be filed with the Prisoner Review Board within 30 days from the date that the Supreme Court has issued a final order setting the execution date. Provides that the Governor or the Chairman of the Prisoner Review Board may waive the 30-day requirement if the petitioner has just cause for not filing the petition within the appropriate time limitations.
Creates the Childhood Hunger Relief Act and amends the School Breakfast and Lunch Program Act. Requires the board of education for certain school districts to utilize available federal funding to establish a school breakfast program and a summer food service program. Provides that applications for participation in the school food programs shall be filed with the State Board of Education and information about the child's status shall be provided by the Department of Human Services upon written request. Makes changes concerning the breakfast incentive program. Effective immediately.
Amends the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. Provides that before conducting an interrogation of a suspect in a homicide case, the peace officer shall make a reasonable attempt to determine the suspect's mental capacity and if the suspect reasonably appears to the officer to be mentally retarded, the peace officer may only ask the suspect nonleading questions and shall be prohibited from conveying to the suspect the impression that the officer believes that the suspect is guilty of the homicide.
Amends the Property Tax Code. Creates a homestead improvement exemption for the installation and maintenance of a residential fire safety sprinkler system. Provides that homestead properties that have been improved with a fire safety sprinkler system after January 1, 2004 are entitled to a fire safety sprinkler homestead improvement exemption, limited to $2,500 or the actual cost of installation, whichever is less, for the year that the system is installed, and $100 each year thereafter that the system remains in place, when that property is owned and used exclusively for a residential purpose. Further amends the Property Tax Code and the Criminal Code of 1961 to add cross-references. Amends the State Mandates Act to require implementation without reimbursement from the State. Effective immediately.
Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Provides that a person who is mentally retarded is unfit to be executed. Provides that the question of fitness to be executed may be raised after pronouncement of the death sentence. Defines mentally retarded. Establishes procedures for raising the question of the defendant's mental retardation.
Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Provides that the court or jury, in determining whether the death penalty may be imposed, must weigh the factors in aggravation and mitigation (rather than determine that there are no mitigating factors sufficient to preclude the imposition of the death penalty).
Amends the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. Provides that in capital cases, the trial court shall allow DNA testing if the testing may produce evidence that significantly advances the defendant's claim of innocence but the evidence need not completely exonerate the defendant.
Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Provides that if the jury sentences the offender to death for first degree murder, the death penalty may only be imposed if the court concurs with the jury's determination. If the court does not concur, the defendant shall be sentenced to life imprisonment.
