July
30, 2010
To
the Honorable Members of the
Illinois
Senate,
96th
General Assembly:
In
accordance with Article IV, Section 9(e) of the Illinois Constitution, I hereby
return Senate Bill 3084 with specific recommendations for change.
Senate
Bill 3084 requires all persons who have committed what is now considered to be
a sex crime to register on the Illinois Sex Offender Registry, no matter when
the offense occurred. Because the registry was not created until 1996, many
individuals who have committed heinous crimes were never required to register
or obey the restrictions that accompany being a sex offender. Senate Bill 3084
seeks to rectify this problem, and I applaud the sponsors’ intention in
undertaking this task.
I
believe it is imperative to make sure that all offenders who should be
registered as a sex offender do so. When the registry was first created in
1996, the Illinois State Police retroactively checked records for the preceding
10 years. As a result, this legislation addresses those who committed offenses
at least 24 years ago. This undertaking will require precision and accuracy and
the legislation must be sufficiently clear for it to be done properly.
Additionally, Illinois is in the process of complying with the Federally-enacted
Adam Walsh Act. Among other things, the Adam Walsh Act requires law
enforcement to check an individual’s record for retroactive sex offender
registration only after that person is convicted of a felony. My
recommendations below ensures that our State is compliant with this federal
law.
The
sponsors of this legislation have worked hard to protect the people of our
State. I commend them for doing so and share their goal. Accordingly, I am
pleased to honor their request for this amendatory veto and look forward to
working with them in the future on this very important issue.
Therefore,
pursuant to Article IV, Section 9(e) of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I
hereby return Senate Bill 3084, entitled “AN ACT concerning sex offenders.”
with the following specific recommendations for change:
on page 10, line 2, by replacing
“law; or” with “law; or”; and
on page 10, by
replacing line 5 with the following:
“1961; or
(7) required to register in another State due to a
conviction, adjudication or other action of any court triggering an obligation
to register as a sex offender, sexual predator, or substantially similar status
under the laws of that State.”; and
on page 16, by replacing lines 5 through 17 with:
“(2.1)
A sex offender, as defined in Section 2 of this Act, or sexual predator who was
not required to register under this Act before the effective date of this
amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly now has a duty to register. Any sex
offender who on or after July 1, 2011 is on parole, mandatory supervised
release, probation, or conditional discharge for a conviction for any felony
offense or for a conviction for any misdemeanor offense under the Criminal Code
of 1961 shall be notified of his or her duty to register as a sex offender by
his or her supervising officer or as otherwise provided in Section 5 of this
Act. The court or supervising officer shall require the person to read and sign
such form as may be required by the Department of State Police stating that the
duty to register and the procedure for registration have been explained to him
or her and that he or she understands the duty to register and the procedure
for registration. He or she shall register in person within 3 days after
notification by his or her supervising officer or the court as provided in
Section 6 of this Act. Any person unable to comply with the registration
requirements of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly because he or
she is confined, institutionalized, or imprisoned in Illinois on or after the
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly shall
register in person within 3 days after discharge, parole, or release.”; and
on page 22, by replacing line 16 with “shall
register for a period of 10 years after conviction or adjudication”; and
on page 22, line 17, by deleting “date of this
amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly”; and
on page 22, by replacing line 21 with “this
provision shall only revive the period of”; and
on page 22, by replacing line 25 with “Act of the
96th General Assembly if he or she is convicted of any felony
offense, or convicted of any misdemeanor offense under the Criminal Code of
1961 as amended, after July 1st 2011. A person who becomes
subject”; and
on page 24, by replacing line 3 with “parole, a
conviction reviving registration, or other circumstances that do not relate
to the”; and
on page 24, line 26, by deleting “upon”; and
on page 25, by replacing line 1 with “July 1, 2011”.
With
these changes, Senate Bill 3084 will have my approval. I respectfully request
your concurrence.
Sincerely,
Pat Quinn
Governor
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