Smoke Free Illinois Act - Challenges To Law

Challenges To Law

The Smoke Free Illinois Act has been challenged many times in circuit courts and, generally speaking, cases have been dismissed when various challenges were raised. In an effort to make the statute enforceable, the General Assembly passed changes to the Smoke Free Illinois Act to specify that enforcement would occur before an administrative agency, rather than before courts. However, the new amendments specify that the agency, the Illinois Department of Public Health, does not have the authority to pass rules or regulations under the new statute, without first gaining approval from the Legislature. Some believe that this renders the statute unconstitutional, because enforcement actions before the agency will concern only interpretation and enforcement of a statute, rather than of a statute in combination with an agency's rules or regulations. Interpreting and enforcing statutes, without reference to agency rules or regulations, has traditionally been the province of the Illinois courts, rather than being left to agencies to adjudicate. So if the Illinois Department of Public Health attempts to enforce the newly amended statute, it is anticipated that there will be a constitutional challenge claiming that the delegation of authority to the agency fails and that it intrudes on the traditional role of courts.