republic-os/legislation/us/states/il/93rd/sb-2536.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "STATE APPELLATE DEFENDER"
description: "Amends the State Appellate Defender Act. Provides that the State Appellate Defender may hire investigators to provide investigative services to appointed counsel and county public defenders. Provides that investigators employed by the Death Penalty Trial Assistance and Capital Litigation Division of the State Appellate Defender shall be authorized to inquire with the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System (LEADS) to ascertain whether their potential witnesses have a criminal background. Provides that the authorization applies only to information held on the State level and shall be used only to protect the personal safety of the investigators. Provides that any information that is obtained through this inquiry may not be disclosed by the investigators."
jurisdiction: "us/states/il"
legislature: "Illinois General Assembly"
session: "93rd"
identifier: "SB 2536"
citation: "Illinois SB 2536 (93rd)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 3
action_count: 31
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2004-02-03"
last_action: "2004-08-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/09296f22-3c6c-40ea-8a52-f00b9045f807"
source_url: "http://ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=2536&GAID=3&DocTypeID=SB&LegId=8848&SessionID=3&GA=93"
source_hash: "60fd0fbc4367c0b734cf42e1b61fa229dbea7f0589c67a30509a55dd8730e987"
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 2536 (93rd) — STATE APPELLATE DEFENDER

Amends the State Appellate Defender Act. Provides that the State Appellate Defender may hire investigators to provide investigative services to appointed counsel and county public defenders. Provides that investigators employed by the Death Penalty Trial Assistance and Capital Litigation Division of the State Appellate Defender shall be authorized to inquire with the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System (LEADS) to ascertain whether their potential witnesses have a criminal background. Provides that the authorization applies only to information held on the State level and shall be used only to protect the personal safety of the investigators. Provides that any information that is obtained through this inquiry may not be disclosed by the investigators.

## 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=09300SB2536&GA=93&SessionId=3&DocTypeId=SB&LegID=8848&DocNum=2536&GAID=3&Session=&print=true)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09300SB2536eng&GA=93&SessionId=3&DocTypeId=SB&LegID=8848&DocNum=2536&GAID=3&Session=&print=true)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09300SB2536enr&GA=93&SessionId=3&DocTypeId=SB&LegID=8848&DocNum=2536&GAID=3&Session=&print=true)

## Votes

- Third Reading — **114–0** (pass) · lower
- Third Reading — **55–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- John J. Cullerton — primary (person)
- Patricia Bailey — cosponsor (person)
- William Delgado — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2004-02-03** Filed with Secretary by Sen. John J. Cullerton `filing`
- **2004-02-03** First Reading `reading-1`
- **2004-02-03** Referred to Rules `referral-committee`
- **2004-02-18** Assigned to Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2004-02-25** Added as Chief Co-Sponsor Sen. Donne E. Trotter
- **2004-02-26** Do Pass Judiciary; 008-000-000 `committee-passage`
- **2004-02-26** Placed on Calendar Order of 2nd Reading March 2, 2004
- **2004-03-24** Second Reading `reading-2`
- **2004-03-24** Placed on Calendar Order of 3rd Reading March 25, 2004
- **2004-03-25** Added as Co-Sponsor Sen. Mattie Hunter
- **2004-03-25** Third Reading - Passed; 055-000-000 `reading-3, passage`
- **2004-03-26** Arrived in House `introduction`
- **2004-03-26** Placed on Calendar Order of First Reading `reading-1`
- **2004-03-30** Chief House Sponsor Rep. Charles E. Jefferson
- **2004-03-30** First Reading `reading-1`
- **2004-03-30** Referred to Rules Committee `referral-committee`
- **2004-05-11** Assigned to Judiciary II - Criminal Law Committee `referral-committee`
- **2004-05-14** Committee/3rd Reading Deadline Extended-Rule 9(b) May 31, 2004
- **2004-05-18** Do Pass / Short Debate Judiciary II - Criminal Law Committee; 012-000-000 `committee-passage`
- **2004-05-18** Placed on Calendar 2nd Reading - Short Debate
- **2004-05-18** Added Alternate Co-Sponsor Rep. Patricia Bailey
- **2004-05-18** Added Alternate Chief Co-Sponsor Rep. Monique D. Davis
- **2004-05-19** Added Alternate Co-Sponsor Rep. William Delgado
- **2004-05-26** Second Reading - Short Debate `reading-2`
- **2004-05-26** Placed on Calendar Order of 3rd Reading - Short Debate
- **2004-05-27** Third Reading - Short Debate - Passed 115-000-000 `reading-3, passage`
- **2004-05-27** Passed Both Houses
- **2004-06-25** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2004-08-24** Governor Approved `executive-signature`
- **2004-08-24** Effective Date January 1, 2005
- **2004-08-24** Public Act . . . . . . . . . 93-1011 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/09296f22-3c6c-40ea-8a52-f00b9045f807`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Illinois legislature records).