ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he covers the Mechanics Lien Act, Medical Marijuana and Juvenile homicide offenders. More information on each bill is available below the video.

Mechanics Lien Act. House Bill 3636 (Burke, D-Evergreen Park; Mulroe, D-Chicago) does three things in response to the LaSalle Bank National Association vs. Cypress Creek opinion. (1) Requires that the owner or interested person’s demand for suit to be commenced or answered within 30 days must contain this language in at least 10-point, boldface type: “Failure to respond to this notice within 30 days after receipt, as required by Section 34 of the Mechanics Lien Act, shall result in the forfeiture of the referenced lien.” 

(2) Defines a “lien creditor” as someone who does work or furnishes material under this Act. A lien creditor is preferred over other encumbrances except that previous encumbrances are preferred only to the extent of the value of the land at the time the contract was made for the improvements, and each lien creditor is preferred to the value of all later improvements regardless of whether the lien creditor provided those improvements. 

(3) If the sale proceeds are insufficient to satisfy claims of both prior encumbrances and lien creditors, the sale proceeds are to be distributed as follows. (a) Any previous encumbrance has a paramount lien in the portion of the proceeds attributable to the value of the land at the time of making of the contract for improvements. (b) Any lien creditors have a paramount lien in the portion of the proceeds attributable to all later improvements made to the property. 

(4) It has an immediate effective date. 

Medical marijuana. House Bill 30 (Lang, D-Skokie) allows patients who suffer from a “debilitating medical condition” such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, or hepatitis C to use and possess small amounts of marijuana if approved by their regular physician. This three-year pilot project would make Illinois the 18^th state to exempt from prosecution the use of cannabis for medical reasons. The Illinois Department of Public Health would regulate and oversee the program that allows a nonprofit dispensary to sell no more than 2.5 ounces of cannabis for a 14-day period to qualified patients. The number of dispensaries would be limited to no more than one in each of Illinois’ 59 Senate districts. It is in the House awaiting action. 

Juvenile homicide offenders. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in June that the Eight Amendment prohibits a sentencing scheme that requires a sentence of natural life imprisonment without the possibility for parole for juvenile homicide offenders. (Miller v. Alabama) There may be legislative activity because of that decision in veto session.