Governor signs bill expanding use of tinted windshields
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Tinted windshields will be allowed on vehicles driven by people with sun-sensitive illnesses under a bill signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich Thursday.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Sponsored by Rep. David Leitch, R-Peoria, House Bill 536 expands the number of medical conditions that qualify a person to have a tinted windshield. Tinted windshields and front windows on automobiles are generally prohibited in Illinois.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Leitch sponsored a bill in 2005 that allowed people with the sun-sensitive conditions lupus and albinism to drive cars with tinted windshields. This year, though, Leitch heard from a constituent who has a skin condition called disseminated superficial actinic porokeratosis that results in reddish spots on the arms, legs and face when they are exposed to the sun.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">The constituent was given a ticket for driving a car with a tinted windshield, even though she had a doctor's letter explaining her condition.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Leitch's bill allows anyone with a medical illness, ailment or disease that "would require that person to be shielded from the direct rays of the sun" to drive a car with a tinted windshield.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Also Thursday, Blagojevich signed legislation giving parents access to their children's driving records via the Internet.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Once the law goes into effect Jan. 1, parents will be able to see driving records - such as tickets issued - maintained by Secretary of State Jesse White's office. White promoted the bill as a way for parents to have a better idea whether their children are obeying traffic laws.</font>
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