(a)Any person cited for violating this Code or a similar provision of a local ordinance for which a violation is a petty offense as defined by Section 5-1-17 of the Unified Code of Corrections, excluding business offenses as defined by Section 5-1-2 of the Unified Code of Corrections or a violation of Section 15-111 or subsection (d) of Section 3-401 of this Code, shall not be required to sign the citation for his or her release. All other provisions of this Code or similar provisions of local ordinances shall be governed by the pretrial release provisions of the Illinois Supreme Court Rules when it is not practical or feasible to take the person before a judge to have conditions of pretrial release set or to avoid undue delay because of the hour or circumstances.
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(a) Any person cited for violating this Code or a similar provision of a local ordinance for which a violation is a petty offense as defined by Section 5-1-17 of the Unified Code of Corrections, excluding business offenses as defined by Section 5-1-2 of the Unified Code of Corrections or a violation of Section 15-111 or subsection (d) of Section 3-401 of this Code, shall not be required to sign the citation for his or her release. All other provisions of this Code or similar provisions of local ordinances shall be governed by the pretrial release provisions of the Illinois Supreme Court Rules when it is not practical or feasible to take the person before a judge to have conditions of pretrial release set or to avoid undue delay because of the hour or circumstances. (b) Whenever a person fails to appear in court, the court may continue the case for a minimum of 30 days and the clerk of the court shall send notice of the continued court date to the person's last known address and, if the clerk of the court elects to establish a system to send text, email, and telephone notifications, may also send notifications to an email address and may send a text message to the person's last known cellular telephone number. If the person does not have a cellular telephone number, the clerk of the court may reach the person by calling the person's last known landline telephone number regarding continued court dates. The notice shall include a statement that a subsequent failure to appear in court could result in a warrant for the defendant's arrest and other significant consequences affecting their driving privileges. If the person does not (i) appear in court on or before the continued court date, (ii) satisfy the charge without a court appearance if allowed by Illinois Supreme Court Rule, or (iii) satisfy the court that the person's appearance in and surrender to the court is impossible for no fault of the person, the court shall: (1) for those offenses under this Code that are punishable by fine only, enter an ex parte judgment of conviction imposing a single assessment, specified in the applicable assessment Schedule 10 or 10.5 for the charged offense, as provided in the Criminal and Traffic Assessment Act, plus a fine allowed by statute and the clerk of the court shall notify the Secretary of State, in a manner and form prescribed by the Secretary, of the court's order, or (2) for those offenses under this Code that are punishable by a sentence of imprisonment, enter an order of failure to appear. The clerk of the court shall notify the Secretary of State, on a report prescribed by the Secretary, of the court's order. The Secretary, when notified by the clerk of the court that an order of failure to appear has been entered, shall immediately suspend the person's driver's license, which shall be designated by the Secretary as a failure to appear suspension. The Secretary shall not remove the suspension, nor issue any permit or privileges to the person whose license has been suspended, until the Secretary is notified by the ordering court that the person has appeared and resolved the violation or failure to appear order. Upon compliance, the clerk of the court shall present the person with a notice of compliance containing the seal of the court and shall notify the Secretary that the person has appeared and resolved the violation or failure to appear order. (c) Illinois Supreme Court Rules shall govern pretrial release and appearance procedures when a person who is a resident of another state that is not a member of the Nonresident Violator Compact of 1977 is cited for violating this Code or a similar provision of a local ordinance. The changes made to this Section by Public Act 103-0789 do not apply to suspensions entered pursuant to the Nonresident Violator Compact of 1977. (d) The changes made to this Section by Public Act 103-789 apply to each individual whose license was suspended pursuant to this Section from January 1, 2020 through June 30, 2025 for an offense under this Code that is punishable only by fine and did not involve the death of another person. No later than October 1, 2025, the clerk of the court shall notify the Secretary of State in a manner and form prescribed by the Secretary, of each failure to appear notification previously sent to the Secretary by the clerk of the court resulting from an offense that is punishable only by fine and did not involve the death of another person for which a notice of compliance had not been sent to the Secretary. No later than January 1, 2026, the Secretary shall rescind the suspension of each driver identified by the clerk of the court under this subsection (d) without further action by the person whose driver's license is suspended pursuant to this Section. (Source: P.A. 103-789, eff. 7-1-25 (see Section 55 of P.A. 103-1059 for the effective date of P.A. 103-789); 103-1059, eff. 12-20-24; 104-22, eff. 7-1-25.)