093_HB0475

 
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 1        AN ACT concerning counties.

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

 4        Section  5.   The  Counties  Code  is amended by changing
 5    Section 3-39001 is amended as follows:

 6        (55 ILCS 5/5-39001) (from Ch. 34, par. 5-39001)
 7        Sec. 5-39001.  Establishment and  use;  fee.  The  county
 8    board  of  any county may establish and maintain a county law
 9    library, to be located in any county building or privately or
10    publicly owned building at the  county  seat  of  government.
11    The  term  "county  building" includes premises leased by the
12    county from a public building commission  created  under  the
13    Public  Building  Commission  Act.  After August 2, 1976, the
14    county board of any  county  may  establish  and  maintain  a
15    county  law  library at the county seat of government and, in
16    addition, branch law libraries   in  other  locations  within
17    that county as the county board deems necessary.
18        The   facilities  of  those  libraries  shall  be  freely
19    available to all licensed Illinois attorneys, judges,   other
20    public officers of the county, and all members of the public,
21    whenever the court house is open.
22        The   expense   of  establishing  and  maintaining  those
23    libraries shall be borne  by  the  county.   To  defray  that
24    expense,  in  any  county  having  established  a  county law
25    library or libraries, the clerk of all trial  courts  located
26    at  the  county seat of government shall charge and collect a
27    county law library fee  of  $2,  and  the  county  board  may
28    authorize  a county law library fee of not to exceed $19 $10,
29    to be charged and collected by the clerks of all trial courts
30    located in the county.  Beginning on  January  1,  2004,  and
31    through  January 1, 2008, the maximum fee that a county board
 
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 1    may authorize shall increase by $1 each year.  The fee  shall
 2    be  paid  at the time of filing the first pleading, paper, or
 3    other appearance filed by each party in all civil cases,  but
 4    no additional fee shall be required if more than one party is
 5    represented in a single pleading, paper, or other appearance.
 6        Each  clerk  shall commence those charges and collections
 7    upon receipt of written  notice  from  the  chairman  of  the
 8    county  board that the board has acted under this Division to
 9    establish and maintain a law library.
10        The fees shall be in  addition  to  all  other  fees  and
11    charges  of  the clerks, assessable as costs, remitted by the
12    clerks monthly to the county treasurer, and retained  by  the
13    county  treasurer  in a special fund designated as the County
14    Law Library Fund.   Except  as  otherwise  provided  in  this
15    paragraph, disbursements from the fund shall be by the county
16    treasurer,  on  order  of  a majority of the resident circuit
17    judges of the circuit court of the county. In any county with
18    more than 2,000,000 inhabitants, the county board shall order
19    disbursements from the fund and the presiding officer of  the
20    county  board,  with  the  advice  and  consent of the county
21    board, may appoint a library committee of  not  less  than  9
22    members,  who,  by majority vote, may recommend to the county
23    board as to disbursements of the fund and  the  operation  of
24    the  library.   In  single  county circuits with 2,000,000 or
25    fewer inhabitants, disbursements from the County Law  Library
26    Fund  shall  be  made by the county treasurer on the order of
27    the chief judge of the circuit court of the county.  In those
28    single county circuits, the number of personnel necessary  to
29    operate  and  maintain the county law library shall be set by
30    and those personnel shall be appointed by  the  chief  judge.
31    The  county law library personnel shall serve at the pleasure
32    of the appointing authority.  The salaries of those personnel
33    shall be fixed by the county board of  the  county.    Orders
34    shall  be  pre-audited,  funds shall be audited by the county
 
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 1    auditor, and a report  of  the  orders  and  funds  shall  be
 2    rendered to the county board and to the judges.
 3        Fees   shall   not   be   charged   in  any  criminal  or
 4    quasi-criminal case, in any matter coming  to  the  clerk  on
 5    change  of venue, or in any proceeding to review the decision
 6    of any administrative officer, agency, or body.
 7    (Source: P.A. 90-92, eff. 1-1-98; 90-589, eff. 6-5-98.)

 8        Section 99.  Effective date.  This Act takes effect  upon
 9    becoming law.