Advocates Urge Delay for Public Act 101-0255

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Chicago Council of Lawyers and Chicago Appleseed have joined with the Cook County State’s Attorney and many advocates for people who have experienced domestic violence and sexual assault to urge a delay in implementation for Public Act 101-0255.

Public Act 101-0255 is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2020. This Act amends three statutes that allow individuals to seek protective orders. With the implementation of the Act, petitions for orders of protection will not be publicly available until after the Respondent is served. While the Act could accomplish some worthy goals, our concerns are about the planned implementation. The Administrative Office of Illinois Courts has offered candid responses to questions about implementation and has no objection to delaying the effective date of the Act.

The laws amended by the Act (the Stalking No Contact Order Act, the Civil No Contact Order Act and the Illinois Domestic Violence Act) allow a person to receive an ex-parte protective order; that is, a protective order or no-contact order granted after a hearing where only the person requesting the order is present. These orders are not effective until the respondent is served. The Act could prevent violence which may occur if a volatile respondent learns about the petition prior to service.

Additionally, the Act would prevent unethical or unauthorized use of information about pending orders of protection, such as using the information to solicit clients or encourage parties to evade service.

However, current plans for implementation are likely to have unintended consequences that will harm survivors and their families. While service is pending in Orders of Protection and Stalking No Contact cases, the cases will be sealed and unavailable to any person, except the court and clerk, including the Petitioner and attorney. No requests to see the sealed case can or will be granted until service is made.

Several problems can arise from denying a Petitioner or counsel from accessing a case pending service of the ex-parte order. If a Petitioner cannot access her case, she may be unable to seek representation or additional services. An attorney cannot make a decision about how to pursue a case, or whether to represent a person who has already filed a petition without access to the file.

Organizations which have signed on to the white paper requesting delay of the Act’s effective date include:

More information about resources in your area can be found here.