HB5894eng 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB5894 Engrossed LRB098 19043 MGM 54193 b

AN ACT concerning wildlife.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Wildlife Code is amended by changing Section 1.19 as follows:

(520 ILCS 5/1.19) (from Ch. 61, par. 1.19)

Sec. 1.19. All authorized employees of the Department are empowered, pursuant to law, to enter all lands and waters to enforce the provisions of this Code Act. Authorized employees with a reasonable suspicion that they will find evidence of a violation of this Code may are further empowered to examine all buildings, private or public clubs (except dwellings), fish markets, cold storage houses, locker plants, camps, vessels, cars (except sealed railroad cars or other sealed common carrier), conveyances, vehicles, watercraft or other means of transportation or shipping whatsoever, tents, game bags, game coats or other receptacles, and to open and examine any box, barrel, package, or other receptacle in the possession of a common carrier, which might contain they have reason to believe contains wild birds or any part thereof (their nests or eggs), or wild mammals or any part thereof, taken, destroyed, bought, sold or bartered, shipped, or held in possession contrary to any of the provisions of this Code Act, including administrative rules, or that the receptacle containing the same is falsely labeled.

All authorized employees of the Department shall be given free access to and shall not be hindered or interfered with in making such examination, and any license issued by the Department held by the person preventing such free access or interfering with or hindering such authorized employee shall be subject to confiscation by the Department; and no license or permit of any kind whatsoever shall be issued to such person for the period of one year thereafter.

Authorized law enforcement employees of the Department are empowered to conduct examination of equipment and devices in the field, pursuant to law, to ensure compliance with the provisions of this Code Act.

However, no employee of the Department shall search any home or its curtilage without a valid warrant, permission, or probable cause that the home or its curtilage contains evidence of a violation of this Code.

In determining what constitutes "curtilage", the Department shall consider, but is not limited to considering, the proximity of the area to the home, whether the area is included within an enclosure surrounding the home, the nature of the uses to which the area is put, the steps taken by the resident to protect the area from observation by people passing by, or any combination of these factors.

(Source: P.A. 85-152.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.