Public Act 0962 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB2967 Enrolled LRB094 18091 RLC 53396 b

Public Act 094-0962

AN ACT concerning criminal law.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The County Jail Act is amended by changing Section 17 as follows:

(730 ILCS 125/17) (from Ch. 75, par. 117)

Sec. 17. Bedding, clothing, fuel, and medical aid; reimbursement for medical or hospital expenses. The Warden of the jail shall furnish necessary bedding, clothing, fuel and medical aid for all prisoners under his charge, and keep an accurate account of the same. When medical or hospital services are required by any person held in custody, the county, private hospital, physician or any public agency which provides such services shall be entitled to obtain reimbursement from the county or from the Arrestee's Medical Costs Fund to the extent that moneys in the Fund are available for the cost of such services. The county board of a county may adopt an ordinance or resolution providing for reimbursement for the cost of those services at the Department of Healthcare and Family Services' Public Aid's rates for medical assistance. To the extent that such person is reasonably able to pay for such care, including reimbursement from any insurance program or from other medical benefit programs available to such person, he or she shall reimburse the county or arresting authority. If such person has already been determined eligible for medical assistance under the Illinois Public Aid Code at the time the person is initially detained pending trial, the cost of such services, to the extent such cost exceeds $500, shall be reimbursed by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services Public Aid under that Code. A reimbursement under any public or private program authorized by this Section shall be paid to the county or arresting authority to the same extent as would have been obtained had the services been rendered in a non-custodial environment.

An arresting authority shall be responsible for any incurred medical expenses relating to the arrestee until such time as the arrestee is placed in the custody of the sheriff. However, the arresting authority shall not be so responsible if the arrest was made pursuant to a request by the sheriff. When medical or hospital services are required by any person held in custody, the county or arresting authority shall be entitled to obtain reimbursement from the Arrestee's Medical Costs Fund to the extent moneys are available from the Fund. To the extent that the person is reasonably able to pay for that care, including reimbursement from any insurance program or from other medical benefit programs available to the person, he or she shall reimburse the county.

The county shall be entitled to a $10 fee for each conviction or order of supervision for a criminal violation, other than a petty offense or business offense. The fee shall be taxed as costs to be collected from the defendant, if possible, upon conviction or entry of an order of supervision. The fee shall not be considered a part of the fine for purposes of any reduction in the fine.

All such fees collected shall be deposited by the county in a fund to be established and known as the Arrestee's Medical Costs Fund. Moneys in the Fund shall be used solely for reimbursement of costs for medical expenses relating to the arrestee while he or she is in the custody of the sheriff and administration of the Fund.

For the purposes of this Section, "arresting authority" means a unit of local government, other than a county, which employs peace officers and whose peace officers have made the arrest of a person. For the purposes of this Section, "medical expenses relating to the arrestee" means only those expenses incurred for medical care or treatment provided to an arrestee on account of an injury suffered by the arrestee during the course of his or her arrest unless such injury is self-inflicted; the term does not include any expenses incurred for medical care or treatment provided to an arrestee on account of a health condition of the arrestee which existed prior to the time of his or her arrest.

(Source: P.A. 94-494, eff. 8-8-05; revised 12-15-05.)