The Illinois State Police will create an online registry of people who have been convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine, the Chicago Sun-Times reported June 5.

Under legislation signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the registry will include the names, ages, offenses, conviction dates, and county of arrest of meth-lab operators. Backers say the list will be a valuable resource for police and the public. "A landlord could use this [registry] to see if people who apply to rent a place have been involved with meth manufacturing before," said Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff.

The number of raided meth labs in Illinois has increased from 24 in 1997 to 973 in 2005.

The new law also will double the penalty for trafficking meth in Illinois or importing precursor chemicals into the state; increase prison terms for people convicted of identity theft for the purpose of buying meth-making ingredients; and frees hospitals to report patients with suspicious burns to police for investigation into whether they were injured as the result of running a meth lab.