As January 1 approaches, so do new laws in the State Of Illinois. With all of the votes, bills, and vetoes, it can sometimes be hard to keep track of what’s changing in the law books.
To help make sense of what will actually be affecting us here in West Central Illinois, we talked to Morgan County State’s Attorney Gray Noll who tells us about what happened to the laws over the last year and one law that could affect citizens in Morgan County.
“Our state legislature passed about 215-some odd new laws. The vast majority of them won’t affect people’s day-to-day lives. There’s one that a lot of people should be aware of and that is, specifically, in Illinois you have to keep liability insurance on every vehicle you own. Previously, if you were driving a vehicle on a public street then you had to have liability insurance, now, even if you’re operating these vehicles on private ground, you still need liability insurance,” Noll explains.
Noll also says that there are some changes being made to the criminal justice system in the state.
“There were a variety of different laws passed, including a variety of law that expands rights of prisoners in the Department of Corrections. The Department of Corrections is now required to provide an inmate more options for in-person visitations if they so desire, and more options on participating in programs that would allow them to reduce their sentences,” says Noll.
All in all, though, Noll says many of the changes won’t affect our day to day lives. As 2017 comes to a close, more than 200 new laws will take effect on January 1st, 2018.