New Tax Laws Passed In 2009 | Illinois Tax Law | IRS Tax Lawyers Chicago

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New Tax Laws Passed in 2008

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New Illinois Laws

2010

Despite the historic “gubernatorial events” in Springfield at the beginning of 2009, your legislature was not deterred from passing almost 300 new laws, many of which take effect January 1, 2010. They cover a broad range of topics from bowling to Mexican American history; from cell phones to Teamster license plates; and from crop theft to compulsive hoarding.

If you would like to discuss how any of these affect your situation, then we look forward to conferring with you about any of them:

	1.	Bowling: Bowling alleys which post notices about the dangers of wearing bowling shoes outdoors will be exempt from liability.
	2.	Cell phones: Text Messaging: Effective January 1, 2010, text messaging (using an electronic communication device to compose, send, or read an electronic message) while operating a vehicle on a roadway is banned.
	3.	Cell phones: Hand Held Phones: Effective January 1, 2010, the use of hand-held phones by a person of any age in school and construction zones is banned. Comment: “hands free” are hand held for purposes of the statute. Voice Activated phones are distinguished from “hands free”, and are permitted.
	4.	Child Custody: Children can "visit" a noncustodial parent by electronic means, including phone, Internet and video conferencing.
	5.	Children – Abandoned Babies: Parents can now relinquish newborns anonymously and without penalty to personnel at hospitals, emergency medical facilities or police or fire stations for 30 days after birth instead of 7 days under prior law.
	6.	Condominiums: The Community Association Manager Licensing and Disciplinary Act requires that managers of “community associations” (condo managers) to be licensed within 12 months after licensing rules are adopted. There are several exceptions, the most notable of which are “volunteers” and managers of associations with 10 units or less. The licensing requirement automatically is repealed on January 1, 2020.
	7.	Criminal: Missing Persons: Adds “persons with dementia-like symptoms to the Endangered Missing Person Advisory (Amber Alert System).
	8.	Criminal: Sex Offenders: It is unlawful for a child sex offender to knowingly operate, whether authorized to do so or not, any of the following vehicles: (1) a vehicle which is specifically designed, constructed or modified and equipped to be used for the retail sale of food or beverages, including but not limited to an ice cream truck; (2) an authorized emergency vehicle; or (3) a rescue vehicle.
	9.	Criminal: Crop Theft: In addition to any criminal penalties imposed for criminal damage to property, if a person is convicted of or placed on supervision for knowingly damaging or destroying crops of another, including crops intended for personal, commercial, research, or developmental purposes, the person is liable in a civil action to the owner of any crops damaged or destroyed for money damages up to twice the market value of the crops.
	10.	Criminal: Cyber stalking: Adds to the definition of cyber stalking: when he or she knowingly engages in a course of conduct using electronic communication and directed at a specific person, and he or she knows or should know that this course of conduct would cause a reasonable person to: (1) fear for his or her safety or the safety of a third person; or (2) suffer other emotional distress.
	11.	Criminal: Home Videotaping: It is unlawful for any person to knowingly make a video record or transmit live video of another person in that other person's residence without that person's consent when the recording or transmission is made outside that person's residence by use of an audio or video device that records or transmits from a remote location.
	12.	Criminal: Sex Offenders: Family: A prosecution for any offense involving sexual conduct or sexual penetration where the victim and defendant are family members may be commenced within 10 years (rather than one year) of the victim attaining the age of 18 years.
	13.	Criminal: Sex Offenders: Social Networking: It is a Class 4 felony for a person required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration Act to access or use a social networking website during the period for which the sex offender is required to register under that Act.
	14.	Criminal: Torture: The Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission is established to investigate claims of torture by certain specific police officers in obtaining confessions which led to convictions.
	15.	Education: Credit card companies can no longer hand out gifts to lure college students into filling out applications.
	16.	Education: Health Screening: Cancer: Sponsors of interscholastic athletics among schools and students are now required to ask whether a student has a family history of cancer. The association or entity may require that a testicular examination be conducted as a part of any physical required for a male student's participation in interscholastic athletics.
	17.	Education: Mexican American history must now be part of the curriculum of every public elementary and high school.
	18.	Elderly: Compulsive Hoarding: Compulsive Hoarding has been added to the definition of neglect for purposes of the State programs protecting persons age 60 and older from abuse including self abuse. Compulsive Hoarding is the acquisition and retention of large quantities of items and materials that produce an extensively cluttered living space which impairs the performance of self care or threatens life or safety.
	19.	Elections: Voting: Voters will be able to get an absentee ballot without specifying a reason beginning with the February 2 primary.
	20.	Environment – Carbon: The Carbon Capture and Sequestration Commission is created for the purpose of filing a report with the General Assembly regarding “all issues deemed appropriate” for ownership of CO₂; liability for release of CO₂, the sequestration of CO₂ and the potential use of CO₂.
	21.	Estate Planning: Will Depository: The Secretary of State is now authorized to act as a depository for wills and trust documents for which the whereabouts of the testator/grantor is unknown. The attorney depositing the will/trust document must first make a diligent search to locate the testator/grantor and must certify that he/she was unable to locate the testator/grantor.
	22.	Estate Planning: Convenience Bank Accounts: To avoid confusion concerning the ownership of bank accounts upon the death of a depositor, any bank conducting operations with Illinois residents is authorized, but not required, to offer a “convenience deposit account.” This new form of deposit account must be established by a primary account holder and allows that person to designate a second party and grants that second person authority to make additional deposits to the convenience account. Each party named may make additional deposits and, more importantly, each may make any withdrawal of funds for the primary depositor’s convenience and needs. The primary depositor is granted exclusive authority to terminate the second party’s authority to make deposits or withdrawals at any time. Unlike traditionally established joint deposit accounts or those designated as “pay on death,” all deposit funds held in a convenience account are legally owned by the designated primary depositor. The Act specifically provides that a convenience account does not establish any joint account relationship, presumption of any gift by the primary depositor, or any right of survivorship for the convenience depositor’s benefit. The statute permitting convenience bank accounts is automatically repealed after 5 years.
	23.	Estate Planning: Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) Directives: The Health Care Surrogate Act is amended to require only one witness instead of two as well as some technical changes.
	24.	Estate Planning: Virtual Representation: The Trusts and Trustees Act is amended to allow the existing family settlement agreement procedures with respect to trusts, to bind, under certain circumstances, minors and unborn beneficiaries.
	25.	Flags: All American flags flying on public property, such as outside government buildings, will now have to be made in America. Existing flags can be used until they wear out.
	26.	Health Insurance: Health insurance coverage for orthotic and prosthetic devices is now the same as nearly all medical or surgical benefits.
	27.	Healthcare: Obesity: The Department of Public Health is required to grant funds to one or more non-profit organizations or local public health departments to conduct a statewide education and engagement campaign focusing on the health effects of obesity, the social costs of obesity, and the need to address the obesity epidemic with community, policy, and individual health behavior change.
	28.	Holidays: Feb. 5 is now Adlai Stevenson Day, an official state holiday but not a holiday from work.
	29.	Household Pets: Details and circumstances of when an adopted dog or cat must be sterilized and micro chipped are added to The Animal Welfare Act.
	30.	Insurance – Health Insurance: A new statute allows families to keep an unmarried child under age 26 (or under age 30 if either parent served in the military and the child is a resident of Illinois) on the family’s insurance policy until the age of 26 (the policy must permit dependent coverage). The law doesn’t apply to companies or union plans that are self-insured or insurance policies issued outside Illinois and certain HMOs.
	31.	Insurance – Life Insurance: Viatical Settlements: A new consumer protection law requires various disclosures regulating and licensing for persons arranging for viatical settlements. Viatical settlements involve the sale of an existing life insurance policy for a cash payment that is less than the full amount of the death benefit in the life insurance policy. Once premised upon fatal illnesses like AIDS, transactions involving viatical or life settlements have grown beyond fatal illnesses. Many times, the transactions involve a third party paying a life insurance premium on behalf of a senior. The third party then sells the policy on a secondary market to other investors.
	32.	Insurance: Identity Theft: The Department of Insurance is directed to develop a consumer fact sheet regarding identity theft insurance which includes what is generally covered under identity theft insurance.
	33.	Lead Labeling: Effective January 1, 2010, a labeling requirement goes into effect for toys with surface coating, children’s jewelry, and child care articles that contain between 40 and 300 ppm lead.
	34.	Limited Liability Companies: Low-Profit: As of January 1, 2010, Illinois now permits Low-Profit Limited Liability Companies. A Low-Profit Limited Liability Company’s primary focus is not to make money, but to achieve socially beneficial aims, with profit making as a secondary goal. Supporters of the new law, advocate that it is now easier to attract capital for social enterprises and create new jobs in the process. Low Profit Limited Liability Companies are not tax exempt and contributions to them are not tax-deductible.
	35.	Notary Public—Cook County Residential Real Estate: As of June 1, 2009, Illinois notaries public who notarize documents of conveyance of qualifying residential real estate in Cook County are required to create a "Notarial Record." The Notarial Record (a form of which is available on the Illinois Secretary of State's website) requires the inclusion of specific and detailed information regarding the transaction, as well as a fingerprint record. The law expires June 30, 2013.
	36.	Real Estate – Foreclosures: Renters: The new owner of property acquired in a foreclosure, usually the lender, must notify residents of an acquired property within 21 days of the foreclosure being completed. Residents must also be given contact information for concerns and repair requests. New owners who fail to comply with the law cannot collect rent from known occupants or terminate an occupant’s tenancy for non-payment. Once the notice is given, however, the new owner may collect all rent due, but renters are not liable for rent paid to the previous owner. Tenants must be given 30 days to move after an eviction hearing.
	37.	Religion: American Indians: American Indian religious ceremonies and rituals are exempt from the Smoke Free Illinois Act.
	38.	Vehicles: Railroad Crossings: The Illinois Commerce Commission is permitted to establish in any county or municipality a system for automated enforcement of railroad crossing violations. Note: sounds a lot like red light cameras.
	39.	Vehicles: Truck Speed Limit On Interstates: Illinois' speed limit for large trucks will increase from 55 to 65 mph on interstate highways to align with the current limit for passenger vehicles, effective Jan. 1, 2010.
	40.	Vehicles: License Plates: EMS: Provides for the issuance of Illinois EMS Memorial Scholarship and Training license plates and creates the Illinois EMS Memorial Scholarship and Training Fund as a special fund in the State treasury.
	41.	Vehicles: License Plates: Iraq: Provides for issuance of Operation Iraqi Freedom license plates.
	42.	Vehicles: License Plates: Teamsters: Provides for the issuance of International Brotherhood of Teamsters license plates and creates the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Fund.
	43.	Vehicles: License Plates: United Auto Workers: Provides for the issuance of United Auto Workers license plates and creates the United Auto Workers' Fund as a special fund in the State treasury.
	44.	Vehicles: Low-Speed Bicycles: Prohibits operation of a low-speed electric bicycle at a speed greater than 20 miles per hour upon any highway, street, or roadway and prohibits operation of a low-speed electric bicycle on a sidewalk. A low-speed electric bicycle is a 2 or 3-wheeled device with fully operable pedals and an electric motor of less than 750 watts (one horsepower) (includes gas powered), whose maximum speed on a paved level surface, when powered solely by such a motor while ridden by an operator who weighs 170 pounds, is less than 20 miles per hour.
	45.	Vehicles: Low-Speed Vehicles: Prior to January 2010, low speed vehicles were regulated by the local communities. Now, low speed vehicles are permitted on any road with a posted limit of 30 mph or lower. A "low-speed vehicle" is any 4-wheeled vehicle with a maximum speed greater than 20 miles per hour but not greater than 25 miles per hour. Operators of low-speed vehicles operated on streets must have a driver's license and are subject to the mandatory insurance provisions of the Illinois Vehicle Code.
	46.	Vehicles: Student Drivers: It is illegal for any person under the age of 19 with an instructional permit or graduated driver’s license to use a cell phone while driving.
	47.	Vehicles: Tinted Windows: A person may not install or repair any sign, poster, window application, reflective material, non-reflective material, or tinted film upon the front windshield, side wings or side windows immediately adjacent to each side of the driver

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