GINI MARZIANI HELPS ILCBA TO SPEARHEAD ILLINOIS SENATE BILL 229

Members of the Illinois Creditors Bar Association (ILCBA), including Davis McGrath's Gini S. Marziani, were instrumental in passing Illinois Senate Bill 229. The bill passed unanimously in both the Illinois House and Senate, and then legislators overrode Governor Blagojevich's amendatory veto on October 12, 2007.

Illinois Senate Bill 229 is the most significant change to the laws covering the enforcement of judgments in Illinois in the past 30 years. The ILCBA, of which Marziani is a member, spearheaded the initial draft of the Bill and also educated members of the State legislature on its benefits.

Senate Bill 229 makes many changes to post-judgment enforcement including: (1) It clarifies that a wage-deduction order is not subject to judicial discretion; (2) It makes a new category of court costs to include those expenses required by law; (3) It allows the sheriff to use reasonable force to recover property under a court order; (4) It allows an Illinois federal court judgment to be filed like a judgment of a circuit court; (5) It allows a court in a citation to discover asset proceeding to order the resignation of a membership in a club or stock exchange; (6) It orders the sale of property by a person or entity other than a county sheriff if it will maximize a recovery for the benefit of the parties; and (7) It requires a financial institution to disclose financial information if served with a citation to discover assets.

The law will go into effect on January 1, 2008.