Bill Text: IL HB5525 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Illinois Human Rights Act. Provides that State policy is that access to housing is a fundamental human right in preventing discrimination based on familial status or source of income in real estate transactions. Defines "source of income". Provides that this definition prohibits a person engaged in a real estate transaction from requiring a credit check before approving another person in the process of renting real property or requiring a move-in fee in lieu of a security deposit or in addition to a security deposit.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-04-05 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB5525 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB5525-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 HB5525 Introduced , by Rep. Lilian Jiménez SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
775 ILCS 5/1-102 from Ch. 68, par. 1-102
775 ILCS 5/1-103 from Ch. 68, par. 1-103
Amends the Illinois Human Rights Act. Provides that State policy is that access to housing is a fundamental human right in preventing discrimination based on familial status or source of income in real estate transactions. Defines "source of income". Provides that this definition prohibits a person engaged in a real estate transaction from requiring a credit check before approving another person in the process of renting real property or requiring a move-in fee in lieu of a security deposit or in addition to a security deposit.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning civil law.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Illinois Human Rights Act is amended by
changing Sections 1-102 and 1-103 as follows:
(775 ILCS 5/1-102) (from Ch. 68, par. 1-102)
(Text of Section before amendment by P.A. 103-472)
Sec. 1-102. Declaration of policy. It is the public
policy of this State:
(A) Freedom from Unlawful Discrimination. To secure for
all individuals within Illinois the freedom from
discrimination against any individual because of his or her
race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age,
order of protection status, marital status, physical or mental
disability, military status, sexual orientation, pregnancy, or
unfavorable discharge from military service in connection with
employment, real estate transactions, access to financial
credit, and the availability of public accommodations.
(B) Freedom from Sexual Harassment-Employment and
Elementary, Secondary, and Higher Education. To prevent sexual
harassment in employment and sexual harassment in elementary,
secondary, and higher education.
(C) Freedom from Discrimination Based on Citizenship

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Status-Employment. To prevent discrimination based on
citizenship status in employment.
(C-5) Freedom from Discrimination Based on Work
Authorization Status-Employment. To prevent discrimination
based on the specific status or term of status that
accompanies a legal work authorization.
(D) Freedom from Discrimination Based on Familial Status
or Source of Income-Real Estate Transactions. To prevent
discrimination based on familial status or source of income in
real estate transactions.
(E) Public Health, Welfare and Safety. To promote the
public health, welfare and safety by protecting the interest
of all people in Illinois in maintaining personal dignity, in
realizing their full productive capacities, and in furthering
their interests, rights and privileges as citizens of this
State.
(F) Implementation of Constitutional Guarantees. To secure
and guarantee the rights established by Sections 17, 18 and 19
of Article I of the Illinois Constitution of 1970.
(G) Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action. To establish
Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action as the policies of
this State in all of its decisions, programs and activities,
and to assure that all State departments, boards, commissions
and instrumentalities rigorously take affirmative action to
provide equality of opportunity and eliminate the effects of
past discrimination in the internal affairs of State

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government and in their relations with the public.
(H) Unfounded Charges. To protect citizens of this State
against unfounded charges of unlawful discrimination, sexual
harassment in employment and sexual harassment in elementary,
secondary, and higher education, and discrimination based on
citizenship status or work authorization status in employment.
(Source: P.A. 102-233, eff. 8-2-21; 102-896, eff. 1-1-23.)
(Text of Section after amendment by P.A. 103-472)
Sec. 1-102. Declaration of policy. It is the public
policy of this State:
(A) Freedom from Unlawful Discrimination. To secure for
all individuals within Illinois the freedom from
discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national
origin, ancestry, age, order of protection status, marital
status, physical or mental disability, military status, sexual
orientation, pregnancy, or unfavorable discharge from military
service in connection with employment, real estate
transactions, access to financial credit, and the availability
of public accommodations, including in elementary, secondary,
and higher education.
(B) Freedom from Sexual Harassment-Employment and
Elementary, Secondary, and Higher Education. To prevent sexual
harassment in employment and sexual harassment in elementary,
secondary, and higher education.
(C) Freedom from Discrimination Based on Citizenship

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Status-Employment. To prevent discrimination based on
citizenship status in employment.
(C-5) Freedom from Discrimination Based on Work
Authorization Status-Employment. To prevent discrimination
based on the specific status or term of status that
accompanies a legal work authorization.
(D) Freedom from Discrimination Based on Familial Status
or Source of Income-Real Estate Transactions. To prevent
discrimination based on familial status or source of income in
real estate transactions because access to housing is a
fundamental human right.
(E) Public Health, Welfare and Safety. To promote the
public health, welfare and safety by protecting the interest
of all people in Illinois in maintaining personal dignity, in
realizing their full productive capacities, and in furthering
their interests, rights and privileges as citizens of this
State.
(F) Implementation of Constitutional Guarantees. To secure
and guarantee the rights established by Sections 17, 18 and 19
of Article I of the Illinois Constitution of 1970.
(G) Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action. To establish
Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action as the policies of
this State in all of its decisions, programs and activities,
and to assure that all State departments, boards, commissions
and instrumentalities rigorously take affirmative action to
provide equality of opportunity and eliminate the effects of

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past discrimination in the internal affairs of State
government and in their relations with the public.
(H) Unfounded Charges. To protect citizens of this State
against unfounded charges of prohibited discrimination in
employment, real estate transactions, financial credit, and
public accommodations, including in elementary, secondary, and
higher education.
(Source: P.A. 102-233, eff. 8-2-21; 102-896, eff. 1-1-23;
103-472, eff. 8-1-24.)
(775 ILCS 5/1-103) (from Ch. 68, par. 1-103)
Sec. 1-103. General definitions. When used in this Act,
unless the context requires otherwise, the term:
(A) Age. "Age" means the chronological age of a person who
is at least 40 years old, except with regard to any practice
described in Section 2-102, insofar as that practice concerns
training or apprenticeship programs. In the case of training
or apprenticeship programs, for the purposes of Section 2-102,
"age" means the chronological age of a person who is 18 but not
yet 40 years old.
(B) Aggrieved party. "Aggrieved party" means a person who
is alleged or proved to have been injured by a civil rights
violation or believes he or she will be injured by a civil
rights violation under Article 3 that is about to occur.
(B-5) Arrest record. "Arrest record" means:
(1) an arrest not leading to a conviction;

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(2) a juvenile record; or
(3) criminal history record information ordered
expunged, sealed, or impounded under Section 5.2 of the
Criminal Identification Act.
(C) Charge. "Charge" means an allegation filed with the
Department by an aggrieved party or initiated by the
Department under its authority.
(D) Civil rights violation. "Civil rights violation"
includes and shall be limited to only those specific acts set
forth in Sections 2-102, 2-103, 2-105, 3-102, 3-102.1, 3-103,
3-102.10, 3-104.1, 3-105, 3-105.1, 4-102, 4-103, 5-102,
5A-102, 6-101, 6-101.5, and 6-102 of this Act.
(E) Commission. "Commission" means the Human Rights
Commission created by this Act.
(F) Complaint. "Complaint" means the formal pleading filed
by the Department with the Commission following an
investigation and finding of substantial evidence of a civil
rights violation.
(G) Complainant. "Complainant" means a person including
the Department who files a charge of civil rights violation
with the Department or the Commission.
(G-5) Conviction record. "Conviction record" means
information indicating that a person has been convicted of a
felony, misdemeanor or other criminal offense, placed on
probation, fined, imprisoned, or paroled pursuant to any law
enforcement or military authority.

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(H) Department. "Department" means the Department of Human
Rights created by this Act.
(I) Disability.
(1) "Disability" means a determinable physical or mental
characteristic of a person, including, but not limited to, a
determinable physical characteristic which necessitates the
person's use of a guide, hearing or support dog, the history of
such characteristic, or the perception of such characteristic
by the person complained against, which may result from
disease, injury, congenital condition of birth or functional
disorder and which characteristic:
(a) For purposes of Article 2, is unrelated to the
person's ability to perform the duties of a particular job
or position and, pursuant to Section 2-104 of this Act, a
person's illegal use of drugs or alcohol is not a
disability;
(b) For purposes of Article 3, is unrelated to the
person's ability to acquire, rent, or maintain a housing
accommodation;
(c) For purposes of Article 4, is unrelated to a
person's ability to repay;
(d) For purposes of Article 5, is unrelated to a
person's ability to utilize and benefit from a place of
public accommodation;
(e) For purposes of Article 5, also includes any
mental, psychological, or developmental disability,

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including autism spectrum disorders.
(2) Discrimination based on disability includes unlawful
discrimination against an individual because of the
individual's association with a person with a disability.
(J) Marital status. "Marital status" means the legal
status of being married, single, separated, divorced, or
widowed.
(J-1) Military status. "Military status" means a person's
status on active duty in or status as a veteran of the armed
forces of the United States, status as a current member or
veteran of any reserve component of the armed forces of the
United States, including the United States Army Reserve,
United States Marine Corps Reserve, United States Navy
Reserve, United States Air Force Reserve, and United States
Coast Guard Reserve, or status as a current member or veteran
of the Illinois Army National Guard or Illinois Air National
Guard.
(K) National origin. "National origin" means the place in
which a person or one of his or her ancestors was born.
(K-5) "Order of protection status" means a person's status
as being a person protected under an order of protection
issued pursuant to the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986,
Article 112A of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963, the
Stalking No Contact Order Act, or the Civil No Contact Order
Act, or an order of protection issued by a court of another
state.

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(L) Person. "Person" includes one or more individuals,
partnerships, associations or organizations, labor
organizations, labor unions, joint apprenticeship committees,
or union labor associations, corporations, the State of
Illinois and its instrumentalities, political subdivisions,
units of local government, legal representatives, trustees in
bankruptcy or receivers.
(L-5) Pregnancy. "Pregnancy" means pregnancy, childbirth,
or medical or common conditions related to pregnancy or
childbirth.
(M) Public contract. "Public contract" includes every
contract to which the State, any of its political
subdivisions, or any municipal corporation is a party.
(M-5) Race. "Race" includes traits associated with race,
including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective
hairstyles such as braids, locks, and twists.
(N) Religion. "Religion" includes all aspects of religious
observance and practice, as well as belief, except that with
respect to employers, for the purposes of Article 2,
"religion" has the meaning ascribed to it in paragraph (F) of
Section 2-101.
(O) Sex. "Sex" means the status of being male or female.
(O-1) Sexual orientation. "Sexual orientation" means
actual or perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality,
bisexuality, or gender-related identity, whether or not
traditionally associated with the person's designated sex at

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birth. "Sexual orientation" does not include a physical or
sexual attraction to a minor by an adult.
(O-5) Source of income. "Source of income" means the
lawful manner by which an individual supports himself or
herself and his or her dependents. This definition prohibits a
person engaged in a real estate transaction from requiring a
credit check before approving another person in the process of
renting real property or requiring a move-in fee in lieu of a
security deposit or in addition to a security deposit.
(P) Unfavorable military discharge. "Unfavorable military
discharge" includes discharges from the Armed Forces of the
United States, their Reserve components, or any National Guard
or Naval Militia which are classified as RE-3 or the
equivalent thereof, but does not include those characterized
as RE-4 or "Dishonorable".
(Q) Unlawful discrimination. "Unlawful discrimination"
means discrimination against a person because of his or her
actual or perceived: race, color, religion, national origin,
ancestry, age, sex, marital status, order of protection
status, disability, military status, sexual orientation,
pregnancy, or unfavorable discharge from military service as
those terms are defined in this Section.
(Source: P.A. 102-362, eff. 1-1-22; 102-419, eff. 1-1-22;
102-558, eff. 8-20-21; 102-813, eff. 5-13-22; 102-896, eff.
1-1-23; 102-1102, eff. 1-1-23; 103-154, eff. 6-30-23.)

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