Illinois lawmakers begin their final session of the year

Governor J. With Pritzker winning a second term and Democrats retaining their supermajority in the General Assembly, Illinois lawmakers begin their final session of the year this week with an agenda that could include tweaks to key provisions of the controversial criminal justice law.

The law, known as the SAFE-T Act, drew intense heat during the just-concluded election, when Republicans slammed Pritzker and Democrats for being soft on crime for supporting a measure that would, among other things, eliminate cash bail starting on New Year’s Day.

While Democrats wrote and passed the law, party leaders, including Gov. and Attorney General Kwame Raoul, acknowledged some fixes were needed. Pritzker said a priority for the session, which begins Tuesday, will be clarifying the right of judges to detain dangerous defendants under the cash-free bail system.

“The General Assembly and the working groups have done a lot of work over the last few months, so they’re going to bring it up to the veto session, and I’ll be watching that closely,” Pritzker said Wednesday in unrelated news. conference. “I’ve put my thoughts out there and we’ll see if we can do anything during the veto session to address the changes that … need to be made.”

Other issues that played a major role during the election, including additional protections for access to abortion and a proposed ban on assault weapons, are not expected to be addressed in the upcoming session. Those highly charged topics will likely carry over into the new year when the current group of lawmakers returns to Springfield for a session before newly elected lawmakers are sworn in.

After a three-day session this week, the Legislature plans to convene for the last three days of the year during the week after Thanksgiving, when, if history is anything to go by, any serious work is likely to get done.

The criminal justice reform bill signed by Pritzker in early 2021 aimed to increase police accountability and create a fairer criminal justice system. Many of its provisions, such as requiring police officers to wear body cameras by 2025, are not particularly controversial.

But the abolition of cash bail, which is largely aimed at keeping defendants, including those without means, from being held behind bars simply because they cannot afford a modest bail amount, has become a flashpoint. Republicans hammered voters during the just-concluded election season with the message that eliminating bail would open prisons and allow defendants accused of violent crimes to walk the streets.

Much of what has come out has been misinformation, as the law allows judges discretion to keep defendants behind bars if they are deemed a flight risk or a danger to the community.

But many in law enforcement are adamantly opposed to the SAFE-T Act and its no-cash-bail policy. This fall, about 60 state attorneys general across Illinois, including some Democrats, joined a lawsuit against Pritzker and other leading Democrats, arguing that the adoption the law violated the Illinois constitution. A Kankakee County judge could rule on the lawsuit as early as next month.

House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, who announced the morning after the election that he would not seek a new term as minority leader, said the post-election period offers an opportunity to address problems with the new pretrial release system before it takes effect.

“The window is open for a month and a half to make significant changes to the SAFE-T Act,” said Durkin, a former Cook County prosecutor who has been an outspoken critic of the legislation. “And if Democrats want to step in and find responsible changes to this law before it goes into effect, count on me. But for the last year, I have not been asked to participate in any negotiations.”

Durkin, of Western Springs, said he doesn’t expect Democrats to invite Republicans to participate because that “would be an admission of … failure” by the party that supported the legislation.

Under the cashless bail system, defendants will appear for two hearings, an initial hearing and a detention hearing, a process that seeks to provide a more comprehensive view of whether they should be released or detained pending trial.

Officials stressed that the provision does not mean that those accused of violent crimes will automatically be released. Judges will examine the circumstances and decide whether to keep someone in custody pending charges. An Illinois Supreme Court task force is working to help criminal courts across the state prepare for the changes.

One section of the law that has raised concerns among opponents concerns how the accused are deemed to be at risk. As written, the law says prosecutors can’t use just a defendant’s past court appearances to convince judges they might flee. Instead, the authorities will have to prove that the accused planned to deliberately avoid prosecution.

Opponents of the law also have concerns about the measure, which requires police officers to issue fines rather than make arrests for certain offenses unless the suspect poses a threat to the community. Among the offenses is trespassing, which causes opponents of the law to fear that it will be impossible to deprive a stranger of private property.

People familiar with the discussions about the changes said the law could be clarified to allow police to make arrests in such situations.

“I will advocate for clarity to make sure that the language is in the best interest of the public, so that the police have the tools they need in the law, and it’s clear that they have the legal authority to arrest people for trespassing,” said state Rep. Shaun Ford. , a Chicago Democrat who voted for the SAFE-T Act. “If we don’t clear this up, it puts a burden on the citizens who have to take matters into their own hands, and we don’t need that.”

Harien Gatewood, who helps run an advocacy group for people who have been incarcerated, said that initially discussions about the law were dominated by issues of police accountability. The legislation was prompted in part by the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, among other things.

But in the months leading up to Tuesday’s election, the no-bail provision has become a major point of contention, leading to an “unprecedented number of pushbacks on the bill,” Gatewood said. Behind many of the political mailings denouncing the law was Dan Proft, a conservative radio host from Naples, Fla., who runs the Independent Expenditure Committee, which has endorsed GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey.

“The timing of this is not surprising. This is what we expected, obviously not at this level,” said Gatewood, director of the Illinois Department of Justice. which takes part in discussions with state legislators about possible changes in the law. “But it gave us an opportunity to push back on the misinformation.”

State Sen. Scott Bennett, D-Champaign, a former prosecutor, has pushed for changes to the law that would include allowing defendants not to appear in court only as compelling evidence.

During the campaign, Pritzker pointed to Bennett’s ideas as worthy of consideration, but other supporters dismissed them as potentially undermining the intent to abandon the cash bail system.

One of the challenges facing lawmakers in the upcoming session is that any measure passed requires a three-fifths majority in both chambers to take effect immediately. While Democrats hold supermajorities in both houses, getting enough votes on contentious issues to clear that hurdle isn’t always a given.

That’s the main reason any action on hot-button issues like gun control and abortion is likely to happen after the new year, when a simple majority is needed.

Many Democrats, including Pritzker, are pushing for a ban on the sale of military-grade assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines after the Fourth of July mass shooting in Highland Park that left seven dead and dozens injured.

Pritzker and other Democrats have also sought ways to strengthen the state’s already formidable protections for abortion access and support providers struggling with an influx of out-of-state patients in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade this summer.

The day after defeating Bailey, Pritzker said both items remain on the agenda unless in the next session “in January or early (next) session.”

“We’re going to work on passing the assault weapons ban and making sure we’re protecting women’s reproductive rights by building capacity and … making the investments we need here in our state to protect women,” Pritzker said.

A group of House Democrats has been meeting with law enforcement, victims, gun safety advocates and others since the summer to develop proposals to combat gun violence, said Rep. Bob Morgan of Deerfield, who is leading the debate.

“We have almost completed our work and will have recommendations to share in the coming weeks,” Morgan said in a statement Wednesday.

Representative Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, who is leading House negotiations on potential changes to the state’s abortion laws, said lawmakers and advocates are working methodically to ensure that any new legislation that protects providers or patients who may be subject to punitive policies in other countries states are not vulnerable to lawsuits.

“We’re trying to be surgical in a way that has the greatest likelihood of sustaining a subpoena,” Cassidy said.

Taking more time will also allow supporters to assess the impact a victory tonight in Michigan’s abortion-rights election could have on the landscape in Illinois, Cassidy said.

The Tribune’s Rick Pearson contributed to this story.

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