Public Act 103-0671
 
HB4351 EnrolledLRB103 36160 LNS 66252 b

    AN ACT concerning civil law.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by 
changing Section 2-202 as follows:
 
    (735 ILCS 5/2-202)  (from Ch. 110, par. 2-202)
    Sec. 2-202. Persons authorized to serve process; place of 
service; failure to make return.
    (a) Process shall be served by a sheriff, or if the sheriff 
is disqualified, by a coroner of some county of the State. In 
matters where the county or State is an interested party, 
process may be served by a special investigator appointed by 
the State's Attorney of the county, as defined in Section 
3-9005 of the Counties Code. A sheriff of a county with a 
population of less than 2,000,000 may employ civilian 
personnel to serve process. Process In counties with a 
population of less than 2,000,000, process may be served, 
without special appointment, by a person who is licensed or 
registered as a private detective under the Private Detective, 
Private Alarm, Private Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and 
Locksmith Act of 2004 or by a registered employee of a private 
detective agency certified under that Act as defined in 
Section (a-5). A private detective or licensed employee must 
supply the sheriff of any county in which he serves process 
with a copy of his license or certificate; however, the 
failure of a person to supply the copy shall not in any way 
impair the validity of process served by the person. The court 
may, in its discretion upon motion, order service to be made by 
a private person over 18 years of age and not a party to the 
action. It is not necessary that service be made by a sheriff 
or coroner of the county in which service is made. If served or 
sought to be served by a sheriff or coroner, he or she shall 
endorse his or her return thereon, and if by a private person 
the return shall be by affidavit. In a county of 3,000,000 or 
more, any person who is licensed or registered as a private 
detective under the Private Detective, Private Alarm, Private 
Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and Locksmith Act of 2004 or by 
a registered employee of a private detective agency certified 
under that Act and hired to serve summons shall remit $5 of 
each service fee to the county sheriff. 
    (a-5) Upon motion and in its discretion, the court may 
appoint as a special process server a private detective agency 
certified under the Private Detective, Private Alarm, Private 
Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and Locksmith Act of 2004. Under 
the appointment, any employee of the private detective agency 
who is registered under that Act may serve the process. The 
motion and the order of appointment must contain the number of 
the certificate issued to the private detective agency by the 
Department of Professional Regulation under the Private 
Detective, Private Alarm, Private Security, Fingerprint 
Vendor, and Locksmith Act of 2004. A private detective or 
private detective agency shall send, one time only, a copy of 
his, her, or its individual private detective license or 
private detective agency certificate to the county sheriff in 
each county in which the detective or detective agency or his, 
her, or its employees serve process, regardless of the size of 
the population of the county. As long as the license or 
certificate is valid and meets the requirements of the 
Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, a new 
copy of the current license or certificate need not be sent to 
the sheriff. A private detective agency shall maintain a list 
of its registered employees. Registered employees shall 
consist of:
        (1) an employee who works for the agency holding a 
    valid Permanent Employee Registration Card; 
        (2) a person who has applied for a Permanent Employee 
    Registration Card, has had his or her fingerprints 
    processed and cleared by the Illinois State Police and the 
    FBI, and as to whom the Department of Financial and 
    Professional Regulation website shows that the person's 
    application for a Permanent Employee Registration Card is 
    pending;
        (3) a person employed by a private detective agency 
    who is exempt from a Permanent Employee Registration Card 
    requirement because the person is a current peace officer; 
    and
        (4) a private detective who works for a private 
    detective agency as an employee. 
A detective agency shall maintain this list and forward it to 
any sheriff's department that requests this list within 5 
business days after the receipt of the request. 
    (b) Summons may be served upon the defendants wherever 
they may be found in the State, by any person authorized to 
serve process. An officer may serve summons in his or her 
official capacity outside his or her county, but fees for 
mileage outside the county of the officer cannot be taxed as 
costs. The person serving the process in a foreign county may 
make return by mail.
    (c) If any sheriff, coroner, or other person to whom any 
process is delivered, neglects or refuses to make return of 
the same, the plaintiff may petition the court to enter a rule 
requiring the sheriff, coroner, or other person, to make 
return of the process on a day to be fixed by the court, or to 
show cause on that day why that person should not be attached 
for contempt of the court. The plaintiff shall then cause a 
written notice of the rule to be served on the sheriff, 
coroner, or other person. If good and sufficient cause be not 
shown to excuse the officer or other person, the court shall 
adjudge him or her guilty of a contempt, and shall impose 
punishment as in other cases of contempt.
    (d) Except as provided in Sections 1-19, 3-17, 4-14, and 
5-252 of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987, if process is served 
by a sheriff, coroner, or special investigator appointed by 
the State's Attorney, the court may tax the fee of the sheriff, 
coroner, or State's Attorney's special investigator as costs 
in the proceeding. If process is served by a private person or 
entity, the court may establish a fee therefor and tax such fee 
as costs in the proceedings.
    (e) In addition to the powers stated in Section 8.1a of the 
Housing Authorities Act, in counties with a population of 
3,000,000 or more inhabitants, members of a housing authority 
police force may serve process for eviction actions commenced 
by that housing authority and may execute eviction orders for 
that housing authority.
    (f) In counties with a population of 3,000,000 or more, 
process may be served, with special appointment by the court, 
by a private process server or a law enforcement agency other 
than the county sheriff in proceedings instituted under 
Article IX of this Code as a result of a lessor or lessor's 
assignee declaring a lease void pursuant to Section 11 of the 
Controlled Substance and Cannabis Nuisance Act.
(Source: P.A. 102-538, eff. 8-20-21; 103-379, eff. 7-28-23.)

Effective Date:  1/1/2025