Good and bad financial news for Kane County in 2 pending state laws

Two pieces of state legislation awaiting Gov. Bruce Rauner's signature will have six-figure impacts on Kane County's budget and a monetary impact on users of the county's courthouses.

The first bill marks a potential windfall for the county, but an additional financial burden on convicted criminals and anyone involved in a lawsuit. The bill, SB0804, will allow the county to charge a fee as high as a cost study deems necessary to fund the bulk of the costs associated with having security officers at the courthouses. Until now, such a fee was limited to $25. The bill passed both chambers in Springfield as of Wednesday.

The county board has not yet set the new amount for the security fee, but Kane County Board Chairman Chris Lauzen said the new cash from the fee will make a big impact on the county.

“It's a lot of money,” Lauzen said. “What seems small in Springfield becomes $600,000 back here. That's, perhaps, the difference between a balanced budget and not a balanced budget. That's a big deal. It's not signed into law yet, but it's really an important victory.”

The fee would not be imposed on people involved in traffic and local ordinance cases when a guilty plea is entered and fines are paid without a court appearance.

The second bill awaiting Rauner's signature passed both chambers as of Tuesday. The legislation, HB3620, represents a budget blow for the county but a win for participants in lawsuits who don't speak English.

The bill will require judges for the first time to determine if any party involved in a civil case is incapable of understanding English and/or expressing themselves in English. If there is a language barrier, the judge would have to provide an interpreter. Even with some wiggle room for judicial discretion, staff members expect the increased need for interpreters to add another $200,000 in costs for the county. Interpreters are already a sore spot in the county budget. Expenses for interpreters ran $72,000 over budget in 2014 and $105,000 over budget in 2013.

Brian Pollock, co-chair of the county board's legislative committee, said the bill represents another unfunded mandate from the state.

“There are costs that are discretionary, and there are things that are mandated,” Pollock said. “This is one that we don't have a choice about.”