Quinn allows tollway to set up ‘website of shame’
The Illinois Tollway will be allowed to publish the names of people who owe more than $1,000 online under legislation signed by Gov. Pat Quinn Tuesday.
Officials would have to try to collect what’s owed at least nine times before putting someone’s name online, under the new law.
“This is just another tool to embarrass people,” state Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat, said when lawmakers debated the plan.
Some critics, though, said drivers who are in the process of paying tolls or are caught in a mix up could be harmed by the website. State Rep. Ron Sandack, a Downers Grove Republican, called it a “website of shame.”
It’s not necessarily a unique idea in Illinois, where some parents who owe child support money are listed at www.deadbeatsillinois.com.