SPRINGFIELD — The General Assembly this week passed legislation addressing lingering concerns from law enforcement about a massive criminal justice reform omnibus passed earlier this year.
Introduced by Chicago Democratic Sen. Elgie Sims, an amendment to House Bill 3443 would act as trailer legislation for the SAFE-T Act, a major criminal justice reform backed by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus that was signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker in February. That measure mandated body cameras and changed use-of-force guidelines for law enforcement, created a new police certification system, expanded detainee rights and ends the use of cash bail in Illinois.
Unlike the SAFE-T Act, Sims’ new legislation has the support of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and the Illinois State Police and amends some controversial portions of the act that were opposed by law enforcement.
In a statement posted to its website, the IACP approved of the amendment’s changes relaxing rules around body cameras, removing some use-of-force restriction language and extending deadlines for new training standards.
It passed the Senate 42-17, but in the House, Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Chicago, who negotiated most of the major provisions in the SAFE-T Act alongside Sims, ran into opposition from fellow Chicago Democratic Rep. Curtis Tarver.
Tarver rejected the idea that it was a Black Caucus amendment because Slaughter did not present it to the entire Black Caucus before he and Sims introduced the legislation.
The legislation ultimately passed 79-36, with multiple Republicans voting in favor of the measure and Tarver voting as the sole dissenting Democrat. A brief parliamentary hold was put on the bill, but as of Wednesday it had been lifted, clearing the way for it to head to the governor.
“The SAFE-T Act [is] a bold momentous transformational initiative that makes Illinois a national leader in criminal justice reform, and a model for other states to follow,” Slaughter said. “I beg of you, respect the hard work of the stakeholders that came together on a product where there are no winners or no losers on a bill, where no one gets everything that they want. As a sponsor of this bill I'm absolutely honored to work with all the stakeholders and proud of our efforts.”
The changes
A provision in the SAFE-T Act prevented officers accused of misconduct or involved in a shooting, or who have used force which resulted in bodily harm, from using footage from their body camera or recordings from other officers when writing reports of the incident.
HB 3443 keeps that provision in place, but adds language that allows an officer, with a supervisor’s approval, to file a supplementary report for which they can access body camera footage.
Deadly force provisions are also changed.
The SAFE-T Act instituted limits on when an officer may use deadly force to two scenarios – when they believe deadly force is needed to prevent death or harm to themselves or another person; or when an individual who “just” committed a violent felony and cannot be caught at a later time is attempting to escape, is likely to cause great harm to another person and only deadly force can stop them.
The amendment removes the word “just”, requiring only that a violent felony was committed in general. The amendment also removes the requirement that a dangerous individual “cannot be apprehended at a later date,” leaving the restrictions that an officer must believe only deadly force is able to stop the suspect and that the suspect is likely to greatly injure another person.
As a counterbalance to the removed language, the amendment adds that the officer’s ability to use deadly force ends when the threat of “bodily harm to the officer or another” ends.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker talks on June 2 about reopening of Illinois as COVID cases decline.
Chokeholds, which are considered deadly force under the SAFE-T Act, are defined as any direct pressure to the throat, windpipe or airway. The amendment carves out an exception for contact with an individual’s neck “that is not intended to reduce the intake of air.” An example listed is a “headlock” which can be wrapped around a suspect’s forehead or chin.
A provision on law enforcement misconduct is also changed to be more lenient under the amendment. In order for an officer to be charged with law enforcement misconduct, a Class 3 felony, the officer must have knowingly and intentionally misrepresented or withheld knowledge of the facts of a case with the intent to obstruct the prosecution or defense of an individual, under the amendment.
The IACP also noted a lack of state funding for the body camera mandate and the fact that the attorney general can issue penalties to individual officers, rather than penalties for their departments and municipalities, for civil infractions, as “major issues unaddressed” in the trailer bill.
“The Illinois Chiefs support the trailer bill. It addresses many of our serious concerns with the SAFE-T Act, and law enforcement will be much better off with these changes,” the statement from the IACP concludes. “We remain concerned about unresolved and unaddressed issues, but in recent months we have strengthened a process of negotiating honestly and in good faith with legislators about criminal justice reform.”
Sims released a statement after his amendment passed the Senate.
“Public safety has always been the number one priority of the SAFE-T Act and our goal remains the same— to create safer communities. That's why, when negotiating these changes, we again included input from advocates, law enforcement officials and various stakeholders,” he said.
Illinois General Assembly spring session recap: Here’s a look at the legislation passed by state lawmakers
State budget
A new state spending plan for the budget year that begins July 1 was the main agenda item. While the plan passed both chambers, a potential hurdle arose shortly after the Senate vote when Senate President Don Harmon used a procedural move to prevent the budget from being sent to the governor. The outcome of Harmon’s maneuver remains to be seen.
Democrats introduced the roughly $42 billion budget as part of a spending package that would use $2.5 billion in federal coronavirus relief funds for infrastructure projects and other programs.
The plan also counts on generating more than $600 million in revenue by closing what Gov. J.B. Pritzker and fellow Democrats have called corporate tax loopholes, but which Republicans have labeled tax hikes. The dollar amount is less than what Pritzker had originally proposed after Democrats dropped several items from his plan that had drawn the ire of Republicans, including limiting a tax credit for people who donate to private school scholarship funds. Read more here.
Ethics package
With bipartisan support, the House voted 113-5 and the Senate followed on a unanimous vote to send the governor an ethics package which that would require more financial disclosure from lawmakers and ban them from working to lobby other units of government if the lobbying firm also lobbies the General Assembly. Read more here.
2022 election changes
Illinois lawmakers sent to Pritzker legislation to move next year’s March 15 primary to June 28 as part of a comprehensive election measure that includes efforts to make it easier for people to permanently receive a mail-in ballot.
The Democratic-backed bill also would make curbside voting permanent, and set up voting centers on Election Day where anyone within the election’s jurisdiction could vote, regardless of the precinct of their residence. Read more h
Legislative maps
The Democratic-led legislature approved new boundaries for the General Assembly aimed at ensuring their control for the next decade, sending their redistricting maps to Pritzker, who has backed off a campaign pledge to veto a partisan-drawn plan.
But the push for continued Democratic political control of Illinois through the mapmaking process hit a speed bump when the majority party opted not to move ahead with a redrawing of Illinois’ congressional districts because of delays in federal census results. Read more here.
College athletes endorsement deals
Illinois college athletes would be able to hire agents and sign endorsement deals starting this summer under a measure passed by state lawmakers.
The move comes as the NCAA has signaled it would support allowing student-athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness, although the organization has yet to act in changing its long-standing bylaws that prohibit student athletes from receiving compensation in any form for playing sports. Read more here.
To-go cocktails
The cocktails-to-go law prompted by the pandemic would be extended for three more years, and bars and restaurants would be able to give a free drink to people who’ve been vaccinated against the coronavirus under a measure overwhelmingly approved in the Illinois Senate.
The measure, which was approved previously in the House and next goes to Pritzker, would allow businesses to continue serving cocktails — and now single servings of wine — for takeout and delivery until Jan. 3, 2024. Read more here.
Juneteenth state holiday
A bill that would make Juneteenth National Freedom Day the 13th official state holiday was approved by legislators and sent to Pritzker. The bill would make June 19 a school holiday and a paid day off for all state employees. Cook County previously established Juneteenth as an official paid holiday in December, while it is not on the federal holiday calendar.
Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865, the day that Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to tell the last enslaved African Americans that the Civil War was over and the institution of slavery was abolished. Read more here.
Illinois union amendment
A proposal asking Illinois voters to enshrine a “fundamental right” to unionism and collective bargaining in the state constitution — a Democratic slap at departed anti-union GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner and a move that could boost labor turnout for the party in next year’s midterm elections — will be placed on the Nov. 8, 2022, ballot.
Limits on seclusion and face-down restraints in schools
Illinois lawmakers followed through on promises made after a 2019 Tribune-ProPublica investigation revealed that school workers had regularly misused the practices to punish students.
A main feature of the legislation is an immediate ban on schools’ use of prone, or facedown, restraint for most students. The legislation also bars school workers from locking children alone in seclusion spaces and limiting the use of any type of isolated timeout or physical restraint to when there’s “imminent danger of physical harm.”
