Senate Bill 2654 - Eliminated the Suburban Cook County Tuberculosis Sanitarium District. This law eliminated the antiquated Suburban Cook County Tuberculosis District, and the associated tax levy it issued, while moving responsibility for tuberculosis prevention to the Cook County Health Department. This bill is now law, and the District no longer exists.
House Bill 5284 - The Carbon Monoxide Detector Act. This law safeguards homes and apartments against a silent killer - carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless gas that can kill with little or no warning. The bill requires carbon monoxide detectors within 15 feet of every bedroom. The measure is modeled after a state law requiring smoke detectors in homes and apartments. This bill is now law.
Senate Bill 2865 - Railroad Grade Crossing Safety. This law discourages motorists from stopping on railroad tracks at dangerous grade crossings through the use of automated monitoring systems. The legislation will give local law enforcement agencies, in cooperation with the Illinois Commerce Commission and the Illinois Department of Transportation, the authority to establish a system for automated enforcement of railroad crossing violations using video cameras. Vehicles that enter the crossing against the signal, or obstruct traffic at the crossing, could be ticketed and fined. The bill is in response to an accident last November, when a Metra express train plowed into five cars trapped in rush-hour traffic at an Elmwood Park crossing, injuring 16 people.
House Bill 4438 - Identity Theft Protection. Senator Harmon sponsored legislation which created stiff penalties or state employees and contractor who gain access to the person information of Illinois residents, such as Social Security number or credit card account number, and dispose of it in a way that leaves us vulnerable to identity theft.
Senate Bill 2554 - Cell Phone Privacy. Senator Harmon cosponsored and passed Senate Bill 2554, which keeps our cell phone records private by prohibiting the sale of this personal information by brokers. This legislation targets the practice of selling computer user names and passwords, cell phone records, e-mails, instant messages, and even records of websites visited.
Keeping Families Safe
Working with Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Senator Harmon sponsored and passed Senate Bill 2873, which helps keep sexually violent offenders off our streets by aiding states attorneys seeking to civilly commit predators once their jail terms are over.
Senator Harmon also sponsored House Bill 4193 which created the Child Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registry in order to better track criminals who prey on our children.
Additionally, Senator Harmon sponsored and passed House Bill 4222, which requires electronic GPS monitoring of all sexual predators on parole or mandatory supervised release and provides increased penalties for persons helping sexual predators avoid complying with registration requirements.
Senator Harmon passed Senate Bill 2162, restricting child custody for sex offenders by prohibiting the father of a child conceived as the result of a rape from seeking custody of, or visitation with, the child without the consent of the mother.
Finally Senator Harmon sponsored Senate Bill 2562 which adds indecent solicitation of a child to the list of "sexually violent offenses" for which a person may be found "sexually dangerous."
