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SB 2447

State Workplace Safety and Health Office; establish under State Board of Health.

2025 Regular Session

SB 2447 would raise and redirect court fees to fund guardianship and advocacy, law libraries, neutral-site custody exchanges, dispute resolution, and related legal funds.

Died In Committee
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Bill Summary · SB 2447

SB 2447 — State Workplace Safety and Health Office; establish under State Board of Health (summary)

Status: Died in committee
Sponsor: Sen. Elgie R. Sims, Jr.
Introduced: First reading Feb 7, 2025; filed/received March 13, 2025
Companion: HB 3132

Note: This summary is based on the introduced version (LRB10408645JRC18698b). The bill did not advance out of committee.

Purpose / Intent

SB 2447 is a multi-part courts‑and‑fees bill intended to (1) revise various court fee schedules and collections, (2) create and direct new or expanded fee revenue streams to fund guardianship, law library, neutral-site custody exchanges, dispute resolution and domestic relations legal funds, and (3) change procedures related to assessments, fines, and waivers in criminal and family proceedings. It also makes conforming and technical changes across numerous statutes.

Key provisions

  • Guardianship & Advocacy Fund: Requires circuit court clerks to remit a portion of filing and appearance fees to the State Treasurer for deposit into the Guardianship and Advocacy Fund to support public guardianship/advocacy services.
  • Fee increases and new fees: Raises and creates multiple clerk/court fees (examples include county law library fees and new fees for neutral‑site custody exchanges, dispute resolution, and the domestic relations legal fund). The bill references a recurring county law library fee and permits counties to authorize larger fees by ordinance.
  • Fee waivers for certain guardianships: Prohibits charging fees for accounts filed in guardianships established for disabled minors or adults.
  • Delinquency and assessments: Removes an existing graduated delinquency surcharge provision (5% after 30 days, 10% after 60, 15% after 90) and establishes additional conditional assessments tied to cases.
  • Criminal/Traffic and assessment rules: Amends the Criminal and Traffic Assessment Act and Code of Criminal Procedure to (a) include court‑supervised service provider costs as conditional assessments and (b) prohibit plea agreements that require defendants to waive the right to seek an assessment waiver.
  • Fines reduction for incarcerated defendants: Amends the Unified Code of Corrections to require courts, without an application, to reduce the total fines imposed on defendants sentenced to imprisonment, based on the length of the prison sentence.
  • Conforming changes: Makes related and confirming amendments across a range of statutes (Counties Code, Neutral Site Custody Exchange Funding Act, Municipal Code, Firearm Concealed Carry Act, Domestic Relations Legal Funding Act, Not‑For‑Profit Dispute Center Resolution Act, Criminal Code of 2012, Code of Civil Procedure, Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, Adoption Act, etc.).

Who would be affected

  • Litigants and attorneys: altered filing and appearance fees in civil, family, and probate matters.
  • Counties and county law libraries: new and expanded authority to collect law library fees and manage funds.
  • Defendants in criminal/traffic cases: changes to assessments, the right to seek waivers, and automatic fine reductions for incarcerated defendants.
  • Guardianship and advocacy programs: increased dedicated funding via redirected fee revenue.
  • Courts and clerks: new collection, remittance and administrative responsibilities.

Fiscal and administrative impact

The bill reallocates and adds fee revenue to support guardianship, law libraries, neutral‑site exchanges, dispute resolution and domestic relations legal funds. It also changes fee waiver and delinquency practices and adds administrative requirements for clerks and courts to apply reductions or remit funds. No appropriation text was included in the summary.

Procedural history

  • Referred to committees (Assignments; Health & Human Services; Labor; Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency)
  • Read first time Feb 7, 2025
  • Died in committee (bill did not proceed to further legislative action)

If you want, I can extract a list of the specific fee changes and statutory sections amended from the bill text for a more detailed fiscal estimate.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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