SB2031 amends the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, specifically the section governing allocation of parenting time. The bill directs courts, when deciding a child’s best interests, not to treat a convicted sex offender’s completion of a treatment program as evidence that parenting time would support the child’s physical, mental, moral, or emotional health if the offender’s conviction involved any minor who lived in the offender’s home.
The bill preserves the existing best-interests framework and the list of factors courts must consider in parenting-time cases, but it narrows how one factor may be weighed in cases involving certain sex-offense convictions. It leaves intact the court’s ability to consider the nature of the offense, any treatment participation, and other relevant circumstances, while removing the ability to rely on treatment completion as a positive indicator in the specified home-based minor-victim cases.
Impact
If enacted, SB2031 would modify Section 602.7 of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act by creating a specific evidentiary limitation in parenting-time determinations. Courts would still consider sex-offender status and treatment history, but they could not use completion of treatment as affirmative evidence of the child’s well-being when the underlying conviction involved a minor who lived in the offender’s home. The practical effect is to tighten judicial discretion in custody and parenting-time disputes involving certain convicted sex offenders and to give greater protection to children in households affected by those offenses.
Sentiment
The available record shows no committee transcripts or recorded votes, so there is no documented floor or committee debate to gauge support or opposition. Based on the bill’s caption and text, the measure appears to be framed as a child-safety and family-law protection bill, suggesting a generally protective policy rationale. Because no voting history is provided, overall legislative sentiment cannot be measured from the record, but the proposal is presented in a targeted, non-controversial statutory amendment style.
Contention
The main point of contention is likely to be whether the bill unduly limits judicial discretion in parenting-time cases by creating a categorical rule about treatment completion. Supporters would likely argue that a sex offender’s completion of treatment should not be treated as evidence of safety where the offense involved a minor living in the offender’s home, while critics may argue that courts should retain flexibility to evaluate rehabilitation on a case-by-case basis. The affected parties are parents, nonparents seeking parenting time, children in custody disputes, and courts applying the best-interests standard.