No longer would those with four DUI convictions suffer a lifetime of never driving again. Instead, Illinois House Bill 4206 would give repeat DUI offenders another chance to demonstrate rehabilitation.
A law that is proposed but has not yet been enacted into law is known as a “bill”. Bills that are enacted become laws known as statutes.
At present, the law on Illinois driver’s license revocations is based upon the number of convictions and in one instance, the time between convictions. The meaning of the words “conviction”, “revocation” and “suspension” will be helpful in understanding the bill.
A DUI-related suspension is a temporary license sanction imposed for a definite period of time. (625 ILCS 5/1-204) Once that time elapses, the driver is free to drive upon payment of the appropriate fee, provided driving privileges are not invalid for some other reason. It is a temporary “pause” in driving privileges.
The DUI suspension is known as a statutory summary suspension (“SSS”). Being non-criminal in nature, an SSS is not dependent upon a conviction. (625 ILCS 5/11-501.1)
A DUI-related revocation is the withdrawal of driving privileges for a period of 1, 5 or 10 years following a conviction. At the end of that period, restoration of an offender’s driving privileges is not automatic. (625 ILCS 5/1-176)
Rather, it is contingent upon a successful hearing before the Illinois Secretary of State (“SOS”), Illinois’ licensing authority. (625 ILCS 5/2-118; 5/6-208) In other words, the license the offender held at the time of the DUI offense becomes void upon entry of a conviction. Continue reading →