Bill Text: IL HB5829 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Amends the Stalking No Contact Order Act. Provides that Stalking behavior includes sending unwanted messages via social media. Changes the definition of "course of conduct", "conduct", "petitioner", and "stalking". Adds the following to the list of persons who may bring a petition under the Act: an authorizing agent of a workplace; an authorizing agent of a place of worship; and an authorizing agent of a school. Provides that a stalking no contact order may require a respondent to submit to a mental health evaluation or wear an electronic monitoring device.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Failed) 2019-01-08 - Session Sine Die [HB5829 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2017-HB5829-Introduced.html

---

100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2017 and 2018 HB5829 Introduced , by Rep. Barbara Wheeler SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
740 ILCS 21/5
740 ILCS 21/10
740 ILCS 21/15
740 ILCS 21/80
Amends the Stalking No Contact Order Act. Provides that Stalking behavior includes sending unwanted messages via social media. Changes the definition of "course of conduct", "conduct", "petitioner", and "stalking". Adds the following to the list of persons who may bring a petition under the Act: an authorizing agent of a workplace; an authorizing agent of a place of worship; and an authorizing agent of a school. Provides that a stalking no contact order may require a respondent to submit to a mental health evaluation or wear an electronic monitoring device.
LRB100 21075 HEP 36887 b
A BILL FOR
HB5829 LRB100 21075 HEP 36887 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 Stalking No Contact Order Act is amended by
changing Sections 5, 10, 15, and 80 as follows:
(740 ILCS 21/5)
Sec. 5. Purpose. Stalking generally refers to a course of
conduct, not a single act. Stalking behavior includes following
a person, conducting surveillance of the person, appearing at
the person's home, work or school, making unwanted phone calls,
sending unwanted emails, unwanted messages via social media, or
text messages, leaving objects for the person, vandalizing the
person's property, or injuring a pet. Stalking is a serious
crime. Victims experience fear for their safety, fear for the
safety of others and suffer emotional distress. Many victims
alter their daily routines to avoid the persons who are
stalking them. Some victims are in such fear that they relocate
to another city, town or state. While estimates suggest that
70% of victims know the individuals stalking them, only 30% of
victims have dated or been in intimate relationships with their
stalkers. All stalking victims should be able to seek a civil
remedy requiring the offenders stay away from the victims and
third parties.

HB5829 - 2 - LRB100 21075 HEP 36887 b
(Source: P.A. 96-246, eff. 1-1-10.)
(740 ILCS 21/10)
Sec. 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this Act:
"Course of conduct" means 2 or more acts, including but not
limited to acts in which a respondent directly, indirectly, or
through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means
follows, monitors, observes, surveils, or threatens, or
communicates to or about, a person, workplace, school, or place
of worship, engages in other contact, or interferes with or
damages a person's property or pet. A course of conduct may
include contact via electronic communications. The
incarceration of a person in a penal institution who commits
the course of conduct is not a bar to prosecution under this
Section.
"Emotional distress" means significant mental suffering,
anxiety or alarm.
"Contact" includes any contact with the victim, that is
initiated or continued without the victim's consent, or that is
in disregard of the victim's expressed desire that the contact
be avoided or discontinued, including but not limited to being
in the physical presence of the victim; appearing within the
sight of the victim; approaching or confronting the victim in a
public place or on private property; appearing at the workplace
or residence of the victim; entering onto or remaining on
property owned, leased, or occupied by the victim; or placing

HB5829 - 3 - LRB100 21075 HEP 36887 b
an object on, or delivering an object to, property owned,
leased, or occupied by the victim; and appearing at the
prohibited workplace, school, or place of worship.
"Petitioner" means any named petitioner for the stalking no
contact order or any named victim of stalking on whose behalf
the petition is brought. "Petitioner" includes an authorizing
agent of a place of employment, an authorizing agent of a place
of worship, or an authorizing agent of a school.
"Reasonable person" means a person in the petitioner's
circumstances with the petitioner's knowledge of the
respondent and the respondent's prior acts.
"Stalking" means engaging in a course of conduct directed
at a specific person, and he or she knows or should know that
this course of conduct would cause a reasonable person to fear
for his or her safety, the safety of a workplace, school, or
place of worship, or the safety of a third person or suffer
emotional distress. Stalking does not include an exercise of
the right to free speech or assembly that is otherwise lawful
or picketing occurring at the workplace that is otherwise
lawful and arises out of a bona fide labor dispute, including
any controversy concerning wages, salaries, hours, working
conditions or benefits, including health and welfare, sick
leave, insurance, and pension or retirement provisions, the
making or maintaining of collective bargaining agreements, and
the terms to be included in those agreements.
"Stalking No Contact Order" means an emergency order or

HB5829 - 4 - LRB100 21075 HEP 36887 b
plenary order granted under this Act, which includes a remedy
authorized by Section 80 of this Act.
(Source: P.A. 96-246, eff. 1-1-10.)
(740 ILCS 21/15)
Sec. 15. Persons protected by this Act. A petition for a
stalking no contact order may be filed when relief is not
available to the petitioner under the Illinois Domestic
Violence Act of 1986:
(1) by any person who is a victim of stalking; or
(2) by a person on behalf of a minor child or an adult
who is a victim of stalking but, because of age,
disability, health, or inaccessibility, cannot file the
petition; .
(3) by an authorizing agent of a workplace;
(4) by an authorizing agent of a place of worship; or
(5) by an authorizing agent of a school.
(Source: P.A. 96-246, eff. 1-1-10.)
(740 ILCS 21/80)
Sec. 80. Stalking no contact orders; remedies.
(a) If the court finds that the petitioner has been a
victim of stalking, a stalking no contact order shall issue;
provided that the petitioner must also satisfy the requirements
of Section 95 on emergency orders or Section 100 on plenary
orders. The petitioner shall not be denied a stalking no

HB5829 - 5 - LRB100 21075 HEP 36887 b
contact order because the petitioner or the respondent is a
minor. The court, when determining whether or not to issue a
stalking no contact order, may not require physical injury on
the person of the petitioner. Modification and extension of
prior stalking no contact orders shall be in accordance with
this Act.
(b) A stalking no contact order shall order one or more of
the following:
(1) prohibit the respondent from threatening to commit
or committing stalking;
(2) order the respondent not to have any contact with
the petitioner or a third person specifically named by the
court;
(3) prohibit the respondent from knowingly coming
within, or knowingly remaining within a specified distance
of the petitioner or the petitioner's residence, school,
daycare, or place of employment, or any specified place
frequented by the petitioner; however, the court may order
the respondent to stay away from the respondent's own
residence, school, or place of employment only if the
respondent has been provided actual notice of the
opportunity to appear and be heard on the petition;
(4) prohibit the respondent from possessing a Firearm
Owners Identification Card, or possessing or buying
firearms; and
(5) order the respondent to submit to a mental health

HB5829 - 6 - LRB100 21075 HEP 36887 b
evaluation;
(6) order the respondent to wear an electronic
monitoring device; and
(7) (5) order other injunctive relief the court
determines to be necessary to protect the petitioner or
third party specifically named by the court.
(b-5) When the petitioner and the respondent attend the
same public, private, or non-public elementary, middle, or high
school, the court when issuing a stalking no contact order and
providing relief shall consider the severity of the act, any
continuing physical danger or emotional distress to the
petitioner, the educational rights guaranteed to the
petitioner and respondent under federal and State law, the
availability of a transfer of the respondent to another school,
a change of placement or a change of program of the respondent,
the expense, difficulty, and educational disruption that would
be caused by a transfer of the respondent to another school,
and any other relevant facts of the case. The court may order
that the respondent not attend the public, private, or
non-public elementary, middle, or high school attended by the
petitioner, order that the respondent accept a change of
placement or program, as determined by the school district or
private or non-public school, or place restrictions on the
respondent's movements within the school attended by the
petitioner. The respondent bears the burden of proving by a
preponderance of the evidence that a transfer, change of

HB5829 - 7 - LRB100 21075 HEP 36887 b
placement, or change of program of the respondent is not
available. The respondent also bears the burden of production
with respect to the expense, difficulty, and educational
disruption that would be caused by a transfer of the respondent
to another school. A transfer, change of placement, or change
of program is not unavailable to the respondent solely on the
ground that the respondent does not agree with the school
district's or private or non-public school's transfer, change
of placement, or change of program or solely on the ground that
the respondent fails or refuses to consent to or otherwise does
not take an action required to effectuate a transfer, change of
placement, or change of program. When a court orders a
respondent to stay away from the public, private, or non-public
school attended by the petitioner and the respondent requests a
transfer to another attendance center within the respondent's
school district or private or non-public school, the school
district or private or non-public school shall have sole
discretion to determine the attendance center to which the
respondent is transferred. In the event the court order results
in a transfer of the minor respondent to another attendance
center, a change in the respondent's placement, or a change of
the respondent's program, the parents, guardian, or legal
custodian of the respondent is responsible for transportation
and other costs associated with the transfer or change.
(b-6) The court may order the parents, guardian, or legal
custodian of a minor respondent to take certain actions or to

HB5829 - 8 - LRB100 21075 HEP 36887 b
refrain from taking certain actions to ensure that the
respondent complies with the order. In the event the court
orders a transfer of the respondent to another school, the
parents, guardian, or legal custodian of the respondent are
responsible for transportation and other costs associated with
the change of school by the respondent.
(b-7) The court shall not hold a school district or private
or non-public school or any of its employees in civil or
criminal contempt unless the school district or private or
non-public school has been allowed to intervene.
(b-8) The court may hold the parents, guardian, or legal
custodian of a minor respondent in civil or criminal contempt
for a violation of any provision of any order entered under
this Act for conduct of the minor respondent in violation of
this Act if the parents, guardian, or legal custodian directed,
encouraged, or assisted the respondent minor in such conduct.
(c) The court may award the petitioner costs and attorneys
fees if a stalking no contact order is granted.
(d) Monetary damages are not recoverable as a remedy.
(e) If the stalking no contact order prohibits the
respondent from possessing a Firearm Owner's Identification
Card, or possessing or buying firearms; the court shall
confiscate the respondent's Firearm Owner's Identification
Card and immediately return the card to the Department of State
Police Firearm Owner's Identification Card Office.
(Source: P.A. 96-246, eff. 1-1-10; 97-294, eff. 1-1-12;

HB5829 - 9 - LRB100 21075 HEP 36887 b
97-1131, eff. 1-1-13.)