Statutes > Illinois Statutes > CHAPTER 15 EXECUTIVE OFFICERS > 15 ILCS 305/ Secretary of State Act.

15 ILCS 305/ Secretary of State Act.

    (15 ILCS 305/0.01) (from Ch. 124, par. 0.01)
    Sec. 0.01. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Secretary of State Act.
(Source: P.A. 86‑1324.)

    (15 ILCS 305/1) (from Ch. 124, par. 1)
    Sec. 1. Bond. The Secretary of State shall give bond, before entering upon the duties of his or her office, in the penal sum of $100,000 by inclusion in the blanket bond or bonds or self‑insurance program provided for in Sections 14.1 and 14.2 of the Official Bond Act. The bond shall be conditioned (i) for the faithful discharge of the Secretary's duties, (ii) to deliver up all papers, books, records, and other property appertaining to his or her office, whole, safe, and undefaced, to the successor in office, and (iii) to account for and pay over to the State Treasurer all moneys that may be received by the Secretary as fees of his or her office, as required by law.
(Source: P.A. 90‑372, eff. 7‑1‑98.)

    (15 ILCS 305/2) (from Ch. 124, par. 2)
    Sec. 2. Oath. The Secretary of State shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, take and subscribe the oath or affirmation prescribed by Article XIII, Section 3 of the Constitution, which shall be filed in his office.
(Source: P.A. 91‑58, eff. 7‑1‑99.)

    (15 ILCS 305/3) (from Ch. 124, par. 3)
    Sec. 3. All public acts, laws and resolutions passed by the General Assembly of this state, shall be carefully deposited in the office of the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of State is charged with the safety of said office, and all laws, acts, resolutions, bonds, papers and records which now are or shall hereafter be deposited therein.
(Source: Laws 1957, p. 1654.)

    (15 ILCS 305/4) (from Ch. 124, par. 4)
    Sec. 4. The Secretary of the Senate and clerk of the House of Representatives, at the close of each session of the General Assembly, shall deliver to the Secretary of State all books, bills, documents and papers in the possession of either branch of the General Assembly, correctly labeled, folded and classified, according to the subject‑matter of such documents, respectively.
(Source: Laws 1957, p. 1654.)

    (15 ILCS 305/5)(from Ch. 124, par. 5)
    Sec. 5. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State:
    1. To countersign and affix the seal of state to all commissions required by law to be issued by the Governor.
    2. To make a register of all appointments by the Governor, specifying the person appointed, the office conferred, the date of the appointment, the date when bond or oath is taken and the date filed. If Senate confirmation is required, the date of the confirmation shall be included in the register.
    3. To make proper indexes to public acts, resolutions, papers and documents in his office.
    3‑a. To review all rules of all State agencies adopted in compliance with the codification system prescribed by the Secretary. The review shall be for the purposes and include all the powers and duties provided in the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act. The Secretary of State shall cooperate with the Legislative Information System to insure the accuracy of the text of the rules maintained under the Legislative Information System Act.
    4. To give any person requiring the same paying the lawful fees therefor, a copy of any law, act, resolution, record or paper in his office, and attach thereto his certificate, under the seal of the state.
    5. To take charge of and preserve from waste, and keep in repair, the houses, lots, grounds and appurtenances, situated in the City of Springfield, and belonging to or occupied by the State, the care of which is not otherwise provided for by law, and to take charge of and preserve from waste, and keep in repair, the houses, lots, grounds and appurtenances, situated in the State outside the City of Springfield where such houses, lots, grounds and appurtenances are occupied by the Secretary of State and no other State officer or agency.
    6. To supervise the distribution of the laws.
    7. To perform such other duties as may be required by law. The Secretary of State may, within appropriations authorized by the General Assembly, maintain offices in the State Capital and in such other places in the State as he may deem necessary to properly carry out the powers and duties vested in him by law.
    8. In addition to all other authority granted to the Secretary by law, subject to appropriation, to make grants or otherwise provide assistance to, among others without limitation, units of local government, school districts, educational institutions, private agencies, not‑for‑profit organizations, and for‑profit entities for the health, safety, and welfare of Illinois residents for purposes related to education, transportation, construction, capital improvements, social services, and any other lawful public purpose. Upon request of the Secretary, all State agencies are mandated to provide the Secretary with assistance in administering the grants.
(Source: P.A. 96‑37, eff. 7‑13‑09.)

    (15 ILCS 305/5.5)
    Sec. 5.5. Secretary of State fees. There shall be paid to the Secretary of State the following fees:
    For certificate or apostille, with seal: $2.
    For each certificate, without seal: $1.
    For each commission to any officer or other person (except military commissions), with seal: $2.
    For copies of exemplifications of records, or for a certified copy of any document, instrument, or paper when not otherwise provided by law, and it does not exceed legal size: $0.50 per page or any portion of a page; and $2 for the certificate, with seal affixed.
    For copies of exemplifications of records or a certified copy of any document, instrument, or paper, when not otherwise provided for by law, that exceeds legal size: $1 per page or any portion of a page; and $2 for the certificate, with seal affixed.
    For copies of bills or other papers: $0.50 per page or any portion of a page; and $2 for the certificate, with seal affixed, except that there shall be no charge for making or certifying copies that are furnished to any governmental agency for official use.
    For recording a duplicate of an affidavit showing the appointment of trustees of a religious corporation: $0.50; and $2 for the certificate of recording, with seal affixed.
    For filing and recording an application under the Soil Conservation Districts Law and making and issuing a certificate for the application, under seal: $10.
    For recording any other document, instrument, or paper required or permitted to be recorded with the Secretary of State, which recording shall be done by any approved photographic or photostatic process, if the page to be recorded does not exceed legal size and the fees and charges therefor are not otherwise fixed by law: $0.50 per page or any portion of a page; and $2 for the certificate of recording, with seal affixed.
    For recording any other document, instrument, or paper required or permitted to be recorded with the Secretary of State, which recording shall be done by any approved photographic or photostatic process, if the page to be recorded exceeds legal size and the fees and charges therefor are not otherwise fixed by law: $1 per page or any portion of a page; and $2 for the certificate of recording attached to the original, with seal affixed.
    For each duplicate certified copy of a school land patent: $3.
    For each photostatic copy of a township plat: $2.
    For each page of a photostatic copy of surveyors field notes: $2.
    For each page of a photostatic copy of a state land patent, including certification: $4.
    For each page of a photostatic copy of a swamp land grant: $2.
    For each page of photostatic copies of all other instruments or documents relating to land records: $2.
    For each check, money order, or bank draft returned by the Secretary of State when it has not been honored: $25.
    For any research request received after the effective date of the changes made to this Section by this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly by an out‑of‑State or non‑Illinois resident: $10, prepaid and nonrefundable, for which the requester will receive up to 2 unofficial noncertified copies of the records requested. The fees under this paragraph shall be deposited into the General Revenue Fund.
    The Illinois State Archives is authorized to charge reasonable fees to reimburse the cost of production and distribution of copies of finding aids to the records that it holds or copies of published versions or editions of those records in printed, microfilm, or electronic formats. The fees under this paragraph shall be deposited into the General Revenue Fund.
    As used in this Section, "legal size" means a sheet of paper that is 8.5 inches wide and 14 inches long, or written or printed matter on a sheet of paper that does not exceed that width and length, or either of them.
(Source: P.A. 93‑32, eff. 1‑1‑04.)

    (15 ILCS 305/5.10)
    Sec. 5.10. List of filed financing statements. The fee for furnishing a monthly list of financing statements filed under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code is $250 per month. The list may be obtained by submitting a written request to the Secretary of State and payment of the fee in advance.
(Source: P.A. 89‑233, eff. 1‑1‑96.)

    (15 ILCS 305/5.15)
    Sec. 5.15. Deposit of wills.
    (a) Definitions. As used in this Section:
    "Depositor" means an attorney licensed or formerly licensed to practice in the State of Illinois, the attorney's representative, the guardian for the attorney, or the personal representative of the attorney's decedent's estate.
    "Testator" means a person who executed a will, other than as a witness or official to whom acknowledgment of signing was given.
    "Will" refers to an original:
        (1) will;
        (2) codicil;
        (3) will and one or more codicils;
        (4) trust; or
        (5) trust and one or more trust amendments.
    (b) Deposit of wills. A depositor may deposit a will with the Secretary of State if the depositor certifies in writing to the Secretary of State that the depositor is unable to locate the testator after a diligent search. The certification shall be on a form to be provided by the Secretary. This Section applies whether it is known or unknown whether the testator is living.
    (c) Assumptions. The Secretary of State may assume, without inquiring into the facts, that the depositor has first made a diligent search for the testator.
    (d) Fee. The Secretary of State shall collect a fee of $15 for each deposit of a will. The Secretary of State shall not collect a separate fee for additional documents concurrently deposited in relation to a single testator or for a single joint will prepared for a husband and wife.
    (e) Duty of Secretary of State upon receipt. Upon receipt of a will under this Section, the Secretary of State shall:
        (1) provide the depositor with a receipt for the
     will, which receipt shall contain the information designated on the envelope in accordance with paragraph (3) of this subsection;
        (2) place the will or wills deposited concurrently in
     relation to a single testator in one envelope and seal the envelope securely in the presence of the depositor or depositor's agent;
        (3) designate on the envelope:
            (A) the date of deposit;
            (B) the name, address, and telephone number of
         the depositor;
            (C) the name and last known address of the
         testator as provided by the depositor;
            (D) at the depositor's option, any and all of the
         following information:
                (i) alternate names by which the testator
             may have been known;
                (ii) the testator's birth date, and
                (iii) the last 4 digits of the testator's
             Social Security number; and
            (E) with respect to each document enclosed:
                (i) a short description of the document,
             including, if shown, its date of execution; and
                (ii) the number of pages in the document; and
        (4) index the will alphabetically by the name of the
     testator, and by the alternate names set forth by which the testator may have been known.
    (f) Status as a public record. An envelope and will deposited under this Section are not public records. The index created under item (4) of subsection (e) is a public record.
    (g) Duty of Secretary of State during testator's lifetime. During the testator's lifetime, the Secretary of State shall:
        (1) keep the envelope containing the will sealed; and
        (2) deliver the envelope to:
            (i) the testator;
            (ii) a person authorized, in writing signed by
         the testator and notarized, to receive the envelope; or
            (iii) a person, entity, court, or government
         agency authorized to receive the envelope pursuant to an order entered by a court of competent jurisdiction.
    (h) Duty of Secretary of State upon notification of death
     of testator. If the Secretary of State has custody of the will after the death of the testator and is notified of the death of the testator by means of a certified copy of the testator's death certificate or by a certified copy of an order of court determining the testator to be deceased, upon receipt of payment of a retrieval fee in the amount of $10, the Secretary of State shall promptly deliver the sealed will envelope to the clerk of the circuit court of the county in which the probate of the testator's will may occur as determined under Section 5‑1 of the Probate Act of 1975 (755 ILCS 5/5‑1).
    (i) Duties of Secretary of State upon inquiry. Upon
     inquiry by a person identified in paragraph (2) of subsection (g), or upon inquiry of any person presenting a certified copy of the testator's death certificate or a certified copy of an order of a court determining the testator to be deceased, the Secretary of State shall inform the person whether the name of the relevant testator appears in the Secretary of State's index of wills. For the purposes of this subsection, the Secretary of State need not be certain that the testator is the one being inquired about, but may release that information if it is possible that the testator is that one.
    (j) Destruction of will. The Secretary of State may
     destroy a will deposited under this Section if:
        (1) the Secretary of State has not received notice
     of the death of the testator; and
        (2) at least 100 years have passed since the date the
     will was deposited.
    (k) All fees received by the Secretary of State under this Section must be deposited into the Secretary of State Special Services Fund.
(Source: P.A. 96‑137, eff. 1‑1‑10.)

    (15 ILCS 305/6) (from Ch. 124, par. 6)
    Sec. 6. The Secretary of State shall keep a current file, in alphabetical order, of every sanitary district in the State.
    Whenever an ordinance for a name change is passed pursuant to Section 4.1 of the "Sanitary District Act of 1917, as now or hereafter amended, he shall make the certification required by that Section.
(Source: P.A. 80‑424.)

    (15 ILCS 305/6a) (from Ch. 124, par. 6a)
    Sec. 6a. All executive orders and proclamations issued by the Governor shall be filed with the Secretary of State. Each order or proclamation filed shall be numbered in an annual series with the number of the order or proclamation preceded by the last 2 figures of the current year and a dash. The Secretary of State shall provide for the publication of all such orders in the Illinois Register. The Secretary of State may provide for the publication of all such proclamations in the Illinois Register. The failure to file any such order within 10 days of the enactment thereof by the Governor shall invalidate any such order.
(Source: P.A. 81‑984.)

    (15 ILCS 305/7) (from Ch. 124, par. 7)
    Sec. 7. Copies of all bonds, papers, writings and documents legally deposited in the office of the Governor or Secretary of State, when certified by the Secretary of State and authenticated by the seal of his office, shall be received in evidence in the same manner and with the like effect as the originals.
(Source: R.S. 1874, p. 986.)

    (15 ILCS 305/8) (from Ch. 124, par. 8)
    Sec. 8. In the publication of the laws of this State, the Secretary of State shall cause to be published in each volume a general certificate to the effect that the same as contained in such volume are true copies of the laws of the General Assembly, and executive orders of the Governor which take effect pursuant to Article V, Section 11 of the Constitution and the "Executive Reorganization Implementation Act", as the case may be, on file in his office; and each volume so certified shall be received as evidence in all courts and places.
(Source: P.A. 86‑759.)

    (15 ILCS 305/9) (from Ch. 124, par. 9)
    Sec. 9. Whenever any bill, which shall have passed both houses of the General Assembly, shall be returned by the Governor, with his objections thereto, and, upon reconsideration, shall pass both houses by the constitutional majority, it shall be authenticated as having become a law, by a certificate thereon, to the following effect, viz.: "This bill having been returned by the Governor, with his objections thereto, and after reconsideration having passed both houses by the constitutional majority, it has become a law this .... day of ...., A.D. ....." Which, being signed by the president of the Senate and speaker of the House of Representatives, shall be deemed a sufficient authentication thereof, and the bill shall, thereupon, be deposited with the laws in the office of the Secretary of State.
(Source: R.S. 1874, p. 986.)

    (15 ILCS 305/10)(from Ch. 124, par. 10)
    Sec. 10. Whenever any bill which has passed both houses of the General Assembly, and is not approved, or vetoed and returned by the Governor, or filed with his objection in the office of the Secretary of State, as required by Section 9, of Article IV, of the Constitution, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to authenticate the same by a certificate thereon, to the following effect, as the case may be:
        "This bill having remained with the Governor 60
     calendar days after it was presented to him, the General Assembly being in session, or the Governor having failed to return this bill to the General Assembly during its session, and having failed to file it in my office, with his objections, within such 60 calendar days, it has thereby become a law.
        Dated ..............
        Signature ..............., Secretary of State".
(Source: P.A. 95‑331, eff. 8‑21‑07.)

    (15 ILCS 305/11) (from Ch. 124, par. 10.1)
    Sec. 11. The Secretary of State may destroy any records, papers, or documents made or deposited in his office upon the following conditions:
    1. He shall apply to the State Records Commission for authorization to destroy any records, documents or papers.
    2. The application shall contain a brief description of the records, documents or papers the Secretary of State proposes to destroy.
    3. Upon receipt of the Commission's permission, the Secretary of State then may destroy such records, documents or papers set out in the application.
(Source: Laws 1957, p. 1654.)

    (15 ILCS 305/11.1)
    Sec. 11.1. Acid free paper. The Secretary of State shall develop guidelines for using acid free paper for permanent documents intended for archival storage.
(Source: P.A. 90‑655, eff. 7‑30‑98.)

    (15 ILCS 305/12) (from Ch. 124, par. 10.2)
    Sec. 12. The Secretary of State shall impose a fee of $20 per month payable by all persons parking vehicles in the underground parking facility located south of the William G. Stratton State Office Building in Springfield and the parking ramp located at 401 South College Street located west of the William G. Stratton State Office Building in Springfield. State officers and employees who make application for and are allotted parking places in such parking facilities shall authorize the Comptroller to deduct the required fees from their payroll checks under the State Salary and Annuity Withholding Act and the amounts so withheld shall be deposited as provided in Section 8 of that Act. Persons who are not subject to the State Salary and Annuity Withholding Act and who are allotted parking places under this Section shall pay the required fees directly to the Office of the Secretary of State and the amounts so collected shall be deposited as follows: 80% in the Capital Development Bond Retirement and Interest Fund in the State Treasury and 20% in the State Parking Facility Maintenance Fund in the State Treasury.
(Source: P.A. 88‑161.)

    (15 ILCS 305/13) (from Ch. 124, par. 10.3)
    Sec. 13. Whenever the Secretary of State is authorized or required by law to consider some aspect of criminal history record information for the purpose of carrying out his statutory powers and responsibilities, then, upon request and payment of fees in conformance with the requirements of Section 2605‑400 of the Department of State Police Law (20 ILCS 2605/2605‑400), the Department of State Police is authorized to furnish, pursuant to positive identification, such information contained in State files as is necessary to fulfill the request.
(Source: P.A. 91‑239, eff. 1‑1‑00.)

    (15 ILCS 305/14)
    Sec. 14. Inspector General.
    (a) The Secretary of State must, with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint an Inspector General for the purpose of detection, deterrence, and prevention of fraud, corruption, mismanagement, gross or aggravated misconduct, or misconduct that may be criminal in nature in the Office of the Secretary of State. The Inspector General shall serve a 5‑year term. If no successor is appointed and qualified upon the expiration of the Inspector General's term, the Office of Inspector General is deemed vacant and the powers and duties under this Section may be exercised only by an appointed and qualified interim Inspector General until a successor Inspector General is appointed and qualified. If the General Assembly is not in session when a vacancy in the Office of Inspector General occurs, the Secretary of State may appoint an interim Inspector General whose term shall expire 2 weeks after the next regularly scheduled session day of the Senate.
    (b) The Inspector General shall have the following qualifications:
        (1) has not been convicted of any felony under the
    laws of this State, another State, or the United States;
        (2) has earned a baccalaureate degree from an
    institution of higher education; and
        (3) has either (A) 5 or more years of service with a
    federal, State, or local law enforcement agency, at least 2 years of which have been in a progressive investigatory capacity; (B) 5 or more years of service as a federal, State, or local prosecutor; or (C) 5 or more years of service as a senior manager or executive of a federal, State, or local agency.
    (c) The Inspector General may review, coordinate, and recommend methods and procedures to increase the integrity of the Office of the Secretary of State. The duties of the Inspector General shall supplement and not supplant the duties of the Chief Auditor for the Secretary of State's Office or any other Inspector General that may be authorized by law. The Inspector General must report directly to the Secretary of State.
    (d) In addition to the authority otherwise provided by this Section, but only when investigating the Office of the Secretary of State, its employees, or their actions for fraud, corruption, mismanagement, gross or aggravated misconduct, or misconduct that may be criminal in nature, the Inspector General is authorized:
        (1) To have access to all records, reports, audits,
    reviews, documents, papers, recommendations, or other materials available that relate to programs and operations with respect to which the Inspector General has responsibilities under this Section.
        (2) To make any investigations and reports relating
    to the administration of the programs and operations of the Office of the Secretary of State that are, in the judgment of the Inspector General, necessary or desirable.
        (3) To request any information or assistance that may
    be necessary for carrying out the duties and responsibilities provided by this Section from any local, State, or federal governmental agency or unit thereof.
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