Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

Updating the database of the Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS) is an ongoing process. Recent laws may not yet be included in the ILCS database, but they are found on this site as Public Acts soon after they become law. For information concerning the relationship between statutes and Public Acts, refer to the Guide.

Because the statute database is maintained primarily for legislative drafting purposes, statutory changes are sometimes included in the statute database before they take effect. If the source note at the end of a Section of the statutes includes a Public Act that has not yet taken effect, the version of the law that is currently in effect may have already been removed from the database and you should refer to that Public Act to see the changes made to the current law.

615 ILCS 5/23b

    (615 ILCS 5/23b)
    Sec. 23b. Dams; signs and buoys.

(a) The Department of Natural Resources shall establish specifications for signs and devices that provide warnings of the presence of dams for persons using the public waters of the State.  The Department shall establish such specifications pursuant to administrative rule.

(b)  For dams located in public waters and that are not subject to federal regulation regarding safety standards, the Department of Natural Resources shall examine each dam to determine hazards that may exist at each dam.

(c) The Department of Natural Resources shall, after conducting the examination required under subsection (b) of this Section, submit administrative rules setting forth appropriate safety devices to be required at each dam.

(d)  The Department of Natural Resources shall be authorized to designate enforceable exclusion zones around dams pursuant to administrative rule.  Violation of such exclusion zones shall constitute a Class A misdemeanor.

(e) Except for willful and wanton misconduct, neither the Department of Natural Resources nor employees or agents of the Department shall be liable for damages, injuries, or deaths occurring at dams located in public waters by reason of the Department's regulation thereof pursuant to this Section.  Nothing in this Act shall relieve an owner or operator of a dam from the legal duties, obligations, and liabilities arising from ownership or operation.

(Source: P.A. 95-20, eff. 8-2-07.)