625 ILCS 5/6-107.5

(625 ILCS 5/6-107.5)

Sec. 6-107.5. Adult Driver Education Course.

(a) The Secretary shall establish by rule the curriculum and designate the materials to be used in an adult driver education course. The course shall be at least 6 hours in length and shall include instruction on traffic laws; highway signs, signals, and markings that regulate, warn, or direct traffic; issues commonly associated with motor vehicle crashes including poor decision-making, risk taking, impaired driving, distraction, speed, failure to use a safety belt, driving at night, failure to yield the right-of-way, texting while driving, using wireless communication devices, and alcohol and drug awareness; and instruction on law enforcement procedures during traffic stops, including actions that a motorist should take during a traffic stop and appropriate interactions with law enforcement officers. The curriculum shall not require the operation of a motor vehicle.

(b) The Secretary shall certify course providers. The requirements to be a certified course provider, the process for applying for certification, and the procedure for decertifying a course provider shall be established by rule.

(b-5) In order to qualify for certification as an adult driver education course provider, each applicant must authorize an investigation that includes a fingerprint-based background check to determine if the applicant has ever been convicted of a criminal offense and, if so, the disposition of any conviction. This authorization shall indicate the scope of the inquiry and the agencies that may be contacted. Upon receiving this authorization, the Secretary of State may request and receive information and assistance from any federal, State, or local governmental agency as part of the authorized investigation. Each applicant shall submit his or her fingerprints to the Illinois State Police in the form and manner prescribed by the Illinois State Police. These fingerprints shall be checked against fingerprint records now and hereafter filed in the Illinois State Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal history record databases. The Illinois State Police shall charge applicants a fee for conducting the criminal history record check, which shall be deposited into the State Police Services Fund and shall not exceed the actual cost of the State and national criminal history record check. The Illinois State Police shall furnish, pursuant to positive identification, records of Illinois criminal convictions to the Secretary and shall forward the national criminal history record information to the Secretary. Applicants shall pay any other fingerprint-related fees. Unless otherwise prohibited by law, the information derived from the investigation, including the source of the information and any conclusions or recommendations derived from the information by the Secretary of State, shall be provided to the applicant upon request to the Secretary of State prior to any final action by the Secretary of State on the application. Any criminal conviction information obtained by the Secretary of State shall be confidential and may not be transmitted outside the Office of the Secretary of State, except as required by this subsection (b-5), and may not be transmitted to anyone within the Office of the Secretary of State except as needed for the purpose of evaluating the applicant. At any administrative hearing held under Section 2-118 of this Code relating to the denial, cancellation, suspension, or revocation of certification of an adult driver education course provider, the Secretary of State may utilize at that hearing any criminal history, criminal conviction, and disposition information obtained under this subsection (b-5). The information obtained from the investigation may be maintained by the Secretary of State or any agency to which the information was transmitted. Only information and standards which bear a reasonable and rational relation to the performance of providing adult driver education shall be used by the Secretary of State. Any employee of the Secretary of State who gives or causes to be given away any confidential information concerning any criminal convictions or disposition of criminal convictions of an applicant shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor unless release of the information is authorized by this Section.

(c) The Secretary may permit a course provider to offer the course online, if the Secretary is satisfied the course provider has established adequate procedures for verifying:

(1) the identity of the person taking the course online; and

(2) the person completes the entire course.

(d) The Secretary shall establish a method of electronic verification of a student's successful completion of the course.

(e) The fee charged by the course provider must bear a reasonable relationship to the cost of the course. The Secretary shall post on the Secretary of State's website a list of approved course providers, the fees charged by the providers, and contact information for each provider.

(f) In addition to any other fee charged by the course provider, the course provider shall collect a fee of $5 from each student to offset the costs incurred by the Secretary in administering this program. The $5 shall be submitted to the Secretary within 14 days of the day on which it was collected. All such fees received by the Secretary shall be deposited in the Secretary of State Driver Services Administration Fund.

(Source: P.A. 102-455, eff. 1-1-22; 102-538, eff. 8-20-21; 102-813, eff. 5-13-22; 102-982, eff. 7-1-23.)