SB1842 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB101 07676 JRG 52724 b

101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
SB1842

Introduced 2/15/2019, by Sen. Paul Schimpf

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

225 ILCS 45/1a-2

Amends the Illinois Funeral or Burial Funds Act. Removes language that provides that the Pre-Need Funeral Consumer Protection Fund shall not be applied toward any restitution for losses in lawsuits initiated by the Attorney General or Comptroller or with respect to certain claims made on pre-need contracts.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning regulation.

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

Section 5. The Illinois Funeral or Burial Funds Act is amended by changing Section 1a-2 as follows:

(225 ILCS 45/1a-2)

Sec. 1a-2. Pre-Need Funeral Consumer Protection Fund.

(a) Each licensee shall pay a fee of $5 out of the funds received for each pre-need contract sold and shall forward this sum to the Comptroller semi-annually within 30 days of the end of June and December. Fees collected under this Section shall be deposited into the Pre-need Funeral Consumer Protection Fund, which is hereby created as a special fund in the State treasury. Moneys in the Fund may be expended for the purposes specified in subsection (b) and to purchase insurance to cover losses guaranteed by the Fund.

(b) In the event that the purchaser is unable to receive the benefits of his or her pre-need contract or to receive the funds due by reason of cancellation of the contract, the purchaser may apply to the Comptroller on a form prescribed by the Comptroller for restitution from the Pre-need Funeral Consumer Protection Fund. Upon a finding by the Comptroller that the benefits or return of payment is not available to the purchaser, the Comptroller may cause restitution to be paid to the purchaser from the Pre-need Funeral Consumer Protection Fund.

(c) In all such cases where a purchaser is paid restitution from the Fund, the Comptroller shall be subrogated to that purchaser's claims against the licensee for all amounts paid from the Fund. If the licensee's liability for default is subsequently proven, any award made by a court of law shall be made payable to the Pre-need Funeral Consumer Protection Fund up to the amount paid to the purchaser from the Fund and the Comptroller shall request that the Attorney General engage in all reasonable post-judgment collection steps to collect such claims from the judgment debtor and reimburse the Fund.

(d) (Blank). The Fund shall not be applied toward any restitution for losses in any lawsuit initiated by the Attorney General or Comptroller or with respect to any claim made on a pre-need contract that occurred prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly.

(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section, the payment of restitution from the Fund shall be a matter of grace and not of right and no purchaser shall have any vested right in the Fund as a beneficiary or otherwise.

(f) The Fund may not be allocated for any purpose other than that specified in this Act.

(Source: P.A. 96-879, eff. 2-2-10.)