---
type: "Bill"
title: "GOVT TORT IMMUN-PATIENT CARE"
description: "Amends the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act. Provides that no action for damages for injury or death arising out of patient care may be brought against a local entity or public employee more than 2 years (instead of one year) after the claimant knew or should have known of the injury or death, but in no event more than 4 years after the act alleged to have caused the injury or death. Applies to pending actions. Effective immediately."
jurisdiction: "us/states/il"
legislature: "Illinois General Assembly"
session: "93rd"
identifier: "SB 616"
citation: "Illinois SB 616 (93rd)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 3
action_count: 31
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2003-02-18"
last_action: "2003-06-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/68eb3bba-2fba-43ce-a60a-d1831554278d"
source_url: "http://ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=616&GAID=3&DocTypeID=SB&LegId=3264&SessionID=3&GA=93"
source_hash: "68e9bb3f62a2da1ad81de8e6a11a19441ad82b54ee057405a27ac1a4dbf3d7fc"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-il"]
---

# Illinois SB 616 (93rd) — GOVT TORT IMMUN-PATIENT CARE

Amends the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act. Provides that no action for damages for injury or death arising out of patient care may be brought against a local entity or public employee more than 2 years (instead of one year) after the claimant knew or should have known of the injury or death, but in no event more than 4 years after the act alleged to have caused the injury or death. Applies to pending actions. Effective immediately.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09300SB0616&GA=93&SessionId=3&DocTypeId=SB&LegID=3264&DocNum=616&GAID=3&Session=&print=true)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09300SB0616eng&GA=93&SessionId=3&DocTypeId=SB&LegID=3264&DocNum=616&GAID=3&Session=&print=true)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09300SB0616enr&GA=93&SessionId=3&DocTypeId=SB&LegID=3264&DocNum=616&GAID=3&Session=&print=true)

## Votes

- Third Reading — **96–15** (pass) · lower
- Third Reading — **51–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Dale A. Righter — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2003-02-18** Filed with Secretary by Sen. Dale A. Righter `filing`
- **2003-02-18** First Reading `reading-1`
- **2003-02-18** Referred to Rules `referral-committee`
- **2003-02-19** Added as Chief Co-Sponsor Sen. Dan Cronin
- **2003-02-26** Assigned to Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2003-03-04** Added as Chief Co-Sponsor Sen. Kathleen L. Wojcik
- **2003-03-05** Do Pass Judiciary; 009-000-000 `committee-passage`
- **2003-03-05** Placed on Calendar Order of 2nd Reading March 6, 2003
- **2003-03-13** Second Reading `reading-2`
- **2003-03-13** Placed on Calendar Order of 3rd Reading March 18, 2003
- **2003-03-20** Third Reading - Passed; 051-002-002 `reading-3, passage`
- **2003-03-20** Arrived in House `introduction`
- **2003-03-20** Placed on Calendar Order of First Reading `reading-1`
- **2003-03-20** Chief House Sponsor Rep. Randall M. Hultgren
- **2003-03-20** First Reading `reading-1`
- **2003-03-20** Referred to Rules Committee `referral-committee`
- **2003-03-26** Added Alternate Chief Co-Sponsor Rep. Mary E. Flowers
- **2003-03-31** Assigned to Judiciary I - Civil Law Committee `referral-committee`
- **2003-04-10** Do Pass / Short Debate Judiciary I - Civil Law Committee; 012-005-000 `committee-passage`
- **2003-04-10** Placed on Calendar 2nd Reading - Short Debate
- **2003-04-14** Second Reading - Short Debate `reading-2`
- **2003-04-14** Placed on Calendar Order of 3rd Reading - Short Debate
- **2003-04-15** Third Reading - Short Debate - Passed 096-015-005 `reading-3, passage`
- **2003-04-15** Passed Both Houses
- **2003-04-15** Added Alternate Chief Co-Sponsor Rep. Monique D. Davis
- **2003-04-15** Added Alternate Chief Co-Sponsor Rep. Mary K. O'Brien
- **2003-04-15** Added Alternate Chief Co-Sponsor Rep. Patricia Reid Lindner
- **2003-04-29** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2003-06-04** Governor Approved `executive-signature`
- **2003-06-04** Effective Date June 4, 2003
- **2003-06-04** Public Act . . . . . . . . . 93-0011 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/68eb3bba-2fba-43ce-a60a-d1831554278d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Illinois legislature records).