TOUGH CLUB DRUG LAW IN EFFECT

New Statutes Now On State's Books

Recently fashionable on the club scene, the drug Ecstasy earns a new
classification on Tuesday alongside hard-core drugs like cocaine and
heroin. A new state law significantly harshens the penalties for dealers
who peddle club drugs popular among young people at all-night rave parties
and bars.

"We've had all these kids dying of overdoses from club drugs, but no one
has been held responsible" because the penalties were too light, said
Joseph Birkett, the DuPage County state's attorney who pushed for the new
law. "These drugs are dangerous, and that's how the law is going to treat
them now."

The new statute is one of more than a hundred to take effect in Illinois on
New Year's Day. Other new state laws will crack down on drug use in state
prisons, reckless driving and falsifying gun permits. And new city
ordinances in Chicago will hike fees for dog licenses and vehicle towing.

One of the most significant changes is the club drug statute, which makes
Illinois' law one of the toughest in the nation. Named after a 23-year-old
DuPage County woman who died of an overdose in 1999, "Kelley Baker's Law"
was drafted in response to several local deaths. Authorities say the use of
Ecstasy and other club drugs has soared largely because the penalties are
too lax.

Dealers typically escape prison penalties because they don't have to sell
large amounts of the drug to make much money, according to Birkett, who
helped House Republican Leader Lee Daniels of Elmhurst to draft the law.
The pills sell for more than $25 apiece in Chicago and the suburbs.

The new law will automatically impose a prison penalty of 6 to 30 years for
those who sell as few as 15 pills. And though the old law required a dealer
to sell about 200 pills in order to be charged with drug-induced homicide,
the new law says that simply selling enough of a drug to cause death is
sufficient.

"The profit incentive for the distribution is so high," said Birkett.
"These drugs are manufactured for pennies in eastern Europe, and we've seen
kids paying upwards of $40 per pill. But to require that somebody be sent
to prison, they'd have to have hundreds of pills" in their possession at
the time of arrest.

Other state laws taking effect on Jan. 1:

- - Allow dismissal of any prison guards who test positive for drugs. Under
the old law, employees at the Department of Corrections were allowed three
positive tests before losing their jobs.

- - Automatically revoke the driver's license of any motorist convicted of
reckless homicide for two years after they are released from prison.
Another new law requires drivers to be careful when approaching an
emergency vehicle with its lights flashing, under penalty of up to $10,000
and suspension of their driver's licenses.

- - Crack down on anyone caught falsifying a gun owner's identification card.
The new law makes it a felony to forge, materially alter or carry a forged
permit.

- - Crack down on anyone who falsely represents a food product as "Halal," a
label meaning it has been prepared under Islamic religious rules. The crime
will be a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 6 months in jail and a $1,500 fine.

- - Require hospitals to tell rape victims about emergency contraception,
even if the hospitals don't provide it themselves. The law calls upon
hospitals to develop a plan for dealing with sexual assault survivors to
provide "sufficient protections" against pregnancy

Several Chicago city ordinances also take effect the first of the year.

Chicago dog owners, owners of towed cars and anyone building or repairing a
building will feel a bigger bite out of their wallets with the new year.
And those who try to avoid payment of city taxes or fines by using a bad
credit card will find themselves hit with a new $34 city fee.

The increases are the first in dog license fees since 1871. Starting this
year, the regular fee for unneutered or unspayed animals goes from $5 to
$10, and the fee for neutered or spayed animals goes from $2 to $5. License
fees for dog owners age 65 and older are half the regular price.

Only 12,000 city dogs have licenses, although 150,000 have current rabies
shots. But the city now is making applications for licenses available
through the veterinarians who vaccinate city dogs and hopes to increase the
number of licenses through that effort.

Anyone whose car gets towed by the city will have a bigger bill to pay.
City towing fees for cars go up from $105 to $150. Some fees for storage at
city auto pounds also are going up. Previously, the storage fee for cars
was $10 a day for the first 10 days and $20 a day thereafter. Now the $10
fee applies only for the first five days of storage, after which the fee
goes up to $35 a day.

For trucks over 8,000 pounds, the towing fee goes up from $135 to $200.
Storage fees also increase for those trucks, from $20 a day to $60 a day
for the first five days, and $100 a day thereafter.

Anyone who tampers with a Denver boot or moves a car that has been booted
will see their fine go up from $500 to $750. Similar fines for trucks over
8,000 pounds will go up from $500 to $1,000.

Building permit and zoning certification fees for new construction will
also increase, from $50 to $75 for buildings of 10,000 square feet or less;
fees for each additional 2,500 square feet up to 100,000 square feet and
each additional 5,000 square feet above 100,000 go from $15 to $25. For
repairs and alternations, fees go up from $15 to $50 for five units or less
and from $50 to $75 for more than five units and for nonresidential
construction.

Zoning reinspection fees go up from $50 to $100.

Also beginning Jan. 1, the city takes over the responsibility of repair for
any sewer connections leading off of residential properties to city sewer lines.