Governor Quinn Signs
Recreation Liability Bill 

At a press conference this morning,
Governor Pat Quinn signed SB1042 into
law as Public Act 98-0522.
 This new law will give private
landowners that open their land to the
public for recreation, conservation,
and education liability protections.
 The Governor was joined by
representatives from Openlands, The
Nature Conservancy, Illinois
Environmental Council, Environmental
Law and Policy Center, and many other
land and conservation organizations.
 We are very grateful to the Governor,
the staff in the Governor’s office,
and the Illinois Department of Natural
Resources for their support and hard
work to enact this important law.

Lenore- Beyer Clow, policy director
at Openlands and IEC board president
summarized the imprtance of this bill,
“Openlands worked with its partners
for 7 years to reinstate protections
for generous private landowners who
open their land to the public for
recreation. We are excited that this
law will offer new opportunities for
people to connect to nature and enjoy
Illinois beautiful open spaces.”

Liability protections are a critical
incentive for private landowners to
allow the public on to their property.
 Private landowners can include
non-profit organizations, land trusts,
residential landowners, and even
businesses.  Without these
protections, a landowner could
potentially be threatened with a
lawsuit. For many non-profits and
individuals, the cost of a lawsuit
could be financially devastating.  We
want to encourage people to pursue
outdoor activities of all sorts
safely.

The consequences of the removal of
this incentive in 2005 were real.
 Groups like the Illinois Paddling
Council found that access to several
Illinois waterways was cut off by
landowners afraid of opening lands to
the public.  Land conservancies
stopped or decided not to open natural
areas to the public.  Non-profit
organizations bought expensive
insurance to continue to offer natural
experiences to the public.
Governmental properties such as the
state parks or park districts were
also impacted.  Often trails are
connected by land that goes through
private property or neighboring lands
utilized by parks.  
“The Nature Conservancy has always
provided the public access to our
property and we are pleased that this
new law will encourage more land
owners to do so by limiting liability.
We want the public to come to our
sites and enjoy nature,” said Susan
Donovan, TNC Director of Government
Relations.

A bill to restore these protections
has been introduced ever year since
2006.  And every year, 

negotiations stalled.  As you know
from previous EnviroBulletins, this
bill passed the legislature almost
completely during the last week of
session.  Senate sponsor Senator Don
Harmon (D-Oak Park) worked hard to
negotiate an agreed to bill that fully
restored these protections and House
sponsor Representative Ann Williams
(D-Chicago) fought to get deadlines
waived and leadership to pay attention
so that this bill could be passed this
year. 

The bill that has passed is an
important incentive to private
landowners to open land to the public
for recreation, conservation, and
education.  This incentive comes at no
cost to taxpayers and with tremendous
benefit for our state.  We are hopeful
that this law will inspire new
organizations, businesses, and
landowners to open up natural areas to
the public to enjoy.