Public Act 0596 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB1444 Enrolled LRB094 09120 LCB 39350 b

Public Act 094-0596

AN ACT concerning courts.

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

Section 5. The Clerks of Courts Act is amended by changing Section 27.3c as follows:

(705 ILCS 105/27.3c) (from Ch. 25, par. 27.3c)

Sec. 27.3c. Document storage system.

(a) The expense of establishing and maintaining a document storage system in the offices of the circuit court clerks in the several counties of this State shall be borne by the county. To defray the expense in any county that elects to establish a document storage system and convert the records of the circuit court clerk to electronic or micrographic storage, the county board may require the clerk of the circuit court in its county to collect a court document fee of not less than $1 nor more than $15 $5, to be charged and collected by the clerk of the court. The fee shall be paid at the time of filing the first pleading, paper, or other appearance filed by each party in all civil cases or by the defendant in any felony, misdemeanor, traffic, ordinance, or conservation matter on a judgment of guilty or grant of supervision, provided that the document storage system is in place or has been authorized by the county board and further that no additional fee shall be required if more than one party is presented in a single pleading, paper, or other appearance. The fee shall be collected in the manner in which all other fees or costs are collected. The court document fee provided in this subsection (a) shall not apply to any petty offense moving violation written by a municipal police department in counties having a population of more than 650,000 but less than 3,000,000 inhabitants whether written under the Illinois Vehicle Code or under any municipal ordinance.

(b) Each clerk shall commence charges and collections of a court document fee upon receipt of written notice from the chairman of the county board together with a certified copy of the board's resolution, which the clerk shall file of record in his or her office.

(c) Court document fees shall be in addition to other fees and charges of the clerk, shall be assessable as costs, and may be waived only if the judge specifically provides for the waiver of the court document storage fee. The fees shall be remitted monthly by the clerk to the county treasurer, to be retained by the treasurer in a special fund designated as the Court Document Storage Fund. The fund shall be audited by the county auditor, and the board shall make expenditures from the fund in payment of any costs relative to the storage of court records, including hardware, software, research and development costs, and related personnel, provided that the expenditure is approved by the clerk of the circuit court.

(d) A court document fee shall not be charged in any matter coming to the clerk on change of venue or in any proceeding to review the decision of any administrative officer, agency, or body.

(Source: P.A. 86-1386; 87-670.)