Bill Text: IL HB2731 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Creates the Victim Centered Approach Pilot Program Act. Provides that the Lake County State's Attorney shall develop a program to represent noncitizen victims of violent crimes in the filing of victim remedies before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Office administrative body. Provides that the Lake County State's Attorney shall use any funding provided to the pilot program to represent or give counsel to 50 noncitizen victims annually for the next 5 years who were victimized by violent crimes in Lake County. Provides that the to be eligible for assistance under the program, an individual must: (1) be a noncitizen victim, who has never been placed in removal proceedings; (2) have suffered a violent crime in Lake County; and (3) not be barred from the immigration remedies before the administrative body. Amends the Counties Code. Provides that, in counties with a population of more than 500,000, a State's Attorney may act, without fee or appointment, as an attorney to a noncitizen victim in an immigration case only if the noncitizen victim was victimized within the county the State's Attorney serves and is located within the geographic boundaries of the county served by the State's Attorney.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-06 - Referred to Rules Committee [HB2731 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-HB2731-Introduced.html

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104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 HB2731 Introduced , by Rep. Daniel Didech SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
New Act
55 ILCS 5/3-9005 from Ch. 34, par. 3-9005
Creates the Victim Centered Approach Pilot Program Act. Provides that the Lake County State's Attorney shall develop a program to represent noncitizen victims of violent crimes in the filing of victim remedies before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Office administrative body. Provides that the Lake County State's Attorney shall use any funding provided to the pilot program to represent or give counsel to 50 noncitizen victims annually for the next 5 years who were victimized by violent crimes in Lake County. Provides that the to be eligible for assistance under the program, an individual must: (1) be a noncitizen victim, who has never been placed in removal proceedings; (2) have suffered a violent crime in Lake County; and (3) not be barred from the immigration remedies before the administrative body. Amends the Counties Code. Provides that, in counties with a population of more than 500,000, a State's Attorney may act, without fee or appointment, as an attorney to a noncitizen victim in an immigration case only if the noncitizen victim was victimized within the county the State's Attorney serves and is located within the geographic boundaries of the county served by the State's Attorney.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning local government.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. This Act may be cited as the Victim Centered
Approach Pilot Program Act.
Section 5. Findings and purpose. The purpose of the victim
centered approach pilot program is to address significant
barriers to noncitizen victims who are victimized in the
county who can't afford counsel for the filing of an
immigration remedy before the administrative body. The program
aims to provide free immigration counsel and representation to
victims for the next 5 years. Lack of affordable attorneys and
qualified organizations create a barrier for victims who are
already suffering from a crime of violence and this program
supports victims on their path to safety. The program shall
provide funding to the office of the Lake County State's
Attorney to create a victim focused legal service where
State's Attorney may act, without fee or appointment, as an
attorney to a noncitizen victim who experienced victimization
in the geographic boundaries of the circuit court for the
county served by the State's Attorney. The victim centered
approach pilot program empowers survivors by providing them
with immediate legal services that will put them on a path to

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legal status which is often delayed due to lack of funding or
resources. This approach, even though lengthy, starts the
survivor's ability to stabilize the survivor's situation and
the survivor's family's situation economically or emotionally.
Thus, fostering resilience and enhanced quality of life after
undergoing a violent crime.
Section 10. State's Attorney victim centered approach
pilot program.
(a) The Lake County State's Attorney shall develop a
program to represent noncitizen victims of violent crimes in
the filing of victim remedies before the United States
Citizenship and Immigration Services Office administrative
body. The Lake County State's Attorney shall use any funding
provided to the pilot program to represent or give counsel to
50 noncitizen victims annually for the next 5 years who were
victimized by violent crimes in Lake County. To be eligible
for assistance under the program, an individual must:
(1) be a noncitizen victim, who has never been placed
in removal proceedings;
(2) have suffered a violent crime in Lake County; and
(3) not be barred from the immigration remedies before
the administrative body.
(b) The assistance provided by the Pilot Program includes
immigration representation of the noncitizen victim before the
administrative body for a victim remedy.

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Section 15. The Counties Code is amended by changing
Section 3-9005 as follows:
(55 ILCS 5/3-9005) (from Ch. 34, par. 3-9005)
Sec. 3-9005. Powers and duties of State's Attorney.
(a) The duty of each State's Attorney shall be:
(1) To commence and prosecute all actions, suits,
indictments and prosecutions, civil and criminal, in the
circuit court for the county, in which the people of the
State or county may be concerned.
(2) To prosecute all forfeited bonds and
recognizances, and all actions and proceedings for the
recovery of debts, revenues, moneys, fines, penalties and
forfeitures accruing to the State or the county, or to any
school district or road district in the county; also, to
prosecute all suits in the county against railroad or
transportation companies, which may be prosecuted in the
name of the People of the State of Illinois.
(3) To commence and prosecute all actions and
proceedings brought by any county officer in the county
officer's official capacity.
(4) To defend all actions and proceedings brought
against the county, or against any county or State
officer, in the county or State officer's official
capacity, within the county.

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(5) To attend the examination of all persons brought
before any judge on habeas corpus, when the prosecution is
in the county.
(6) To attend before judges and prosecute charges of
felony or misdemeanor, for which the offender is required
to be recognized to appear before the circuit court, when
in the State's Attorney's power so to do.
(7) To give the State's Attorney's opinion, without
fee or reward, to any county officer in the county, upon
any question or law relating to any criminal or other
matter, in which the people or the county may be
concerned.
(8) To assist the Attorney General whenever it may be
necessary, and in cases of appeal from the county to the
Supreme Court, to which it is the duty of the Attorney
General to attend, the State's Attorney shall furnish the
Attorney General at least 10 days before such is due to be
filed, a manuscript of a proposed statement, brief and
argument to be printed and filed on behalf of the people,
prepared in accordance with the rules of the Supreme
Court. However, if such brief, argument or other document
is due to be filed by law or order of court within this
10-day period, then the State's Attorney shall furnish
such as soon as may be reasonable.
(9) To pay all moneys received by the State's Attorney
in trust, without delay, to the officer who by law is

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entitled to the custody thereof.
(10) To notify, by first class mail, complaining
witnesses of the ultimate disposition of the cases arising
from an indictment or an information.
(11) To perform such other and further duties as may,
from time to time, be enjoined on the State's Attorney by
law.
(12) To appear in all proceedings by collectors of
taxes against delinquent taxpayers for judgments to sell
real estate, and see that all the necessary preliminary
steps have been legally taken to make the judgment legal
and binding.
(13) To notify, by first-class mail, the State
Superintendent of Education, the applicable regional
superintendent of schools, and the superintendent of the
employing school district or the chief school
administrator of the employing nonpublic school, if any,
upon the conviction of any individual known to possess a
certificate or license issued pursuant to Article 21 or
21B, respectively, of the School Code of any offense set
forth in Section 21B-80 of the School Code or any other
felony conviction, providing the name of the certificate
holder, the fact of the conviction, and the name and
location of the court where the conviction occurred. The
certificate holder must also be contemporaneously sent a
copy of the notice.

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(b) The State's Attorney of each county shall have
authority to appoint one or more special investigators to
serve subpoenas and summonses, make return of process, and
conduct investigations which assist the State's Attorney in
the performance of the State's Attorney duties. In counties of
the first and second class, the fees for service of subpoenas
and summonses are allowed by this Section and shall be
consistent with those set forth in Section 4-5001 of this Act,
except when increased by county ordinance as provided for in
Section 4-5001. In counties of the third class, the fees for
service of subpoenas and summonses are allowed by this Section
and shall be consistent with those set forth in Section
4-12001 of this Act. A special investigator shall not carry
firearms except with permission of the State's Attorney and
only while carrying appropriate identification indicating the
special investigator's employment and in the performance of
the special investigator's assigned duties.
Subject to the qualifications set forth in this
subsection, special investigators shall be peace officers and
shall have all the powers possessed by investigators under the
State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor's Act.
No special investigator employed by the State's Attorney
shall have peace officer status or exercise police powers
unless the special investigator successfully completes the
basic police training course mandated and approved by the
Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board or such

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board waives the training requirement by reason of the special
investigator's prior law enforcement experience or training or
both. Any State's Attorney appointing a special investigator
shall consult with all affected local police agencies, to the
extent consistent with the public interest, if the special
investigator is assigned to areas within that agency's
jurisdiction.
Before a person is appointed as a special investigator,
the person's fingerprints shall be taken and transmitted to
the Department of State Police. The Department shall examine
its records and submit to the State's Attorney of the county in
which the investigator seeks appointment any conviction
information concerning the person on file with the Department.
No person shall be appointed as a special investigator if the
person has been convicted of a felony or other offense
involving moral turpitude. A special investigator shall be
paid a salary and be reimbursed for actual expenses incurred
in performing the special investigator's assigned duties. The
county board shall approve the salary and actual expenses and
appropriate the salary and expenses in the manner prescribed
by law or ordinance.
(c) The State's Attorney may request and receive from
employers, labor unions, telephone companies, and utility
companies location information concerning putative fathers and
noncustodial parents for the purpose of establishing a child's
paternity or establishing, enforcing, or modifying a child

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support obligation. In this subsection, "location information"
means information about (i) the physical whereabouts of a
putative father or noncustodial parent, (ii) the putative
father or noncustodial parent's employer, or (iii) the salary,
wages, and other compensation paid and the health insurance
coverage provided to the putative father or noncustodial
parent by the employer of the putative father or noncustodial
parent or by a labor union of which the putative father or
noncustodial parent is a member.
(d) (Blank).
(e) The State's Attorney shall have the authority to enter
into a written agreement with the Department of Revenue for
pursuit of civil liability under subsection (E) of Section
17-1 of the Criminal Code of 2012 against persons who have
issued to the Department checks or other orders in violation
of the provisions of paragraph (1) of subsection (B) of
Section 17-1 of the Criminal Code of 2012, with the Department
to retain the amount owing upon the dishonored check or order
along with the dishonored check fee imposed under the Uniform
Penalty and Interest Act, with the balance of damages, fees,
and costs collected under subsection (E) of Section 17-1 of
the Criminal Code of 2012 or under Section 17-1a of that Code
to be retained by the State's Attorney. The agreement shall
not affect the allocation of fines and costs imposed in any
criminal prosecution.
(f) In a county with less than 2,000,000 inhabitants, and

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only upon receipt of a written request by the superintendent
of the county Veterans Assistance Commission for the county in
which the State's Attorney is located, the State's Attorney
shall have the discretionary authority to render an opinion,
without fee or reward, upon any question of law relating to a
matter in which the county Veterans Assistance Commission may
be concerned. The State's Attorney shall have the discretion
to grant or decline such a request.
(g) In counties with a population of more than 500,000, a
State's Attorney may act, without fee or appointment, as an
attorney to a noncitizen victim in an immigration case only if
the noncitizen victim was victimized within the county the
State's Attorney serves and is located within the geographic
boundaries of the county served by the State's Attorney.
(Source: P.A. 101-275, eff. 8-9-19; 102-56, eff. 7-9-21.)