Both houses of the Illinois General Assembly have approved a hotly debated criminal justice reform bill.
The Illinois House passed the legislation 60-50 just before Noon today. Local representative Mike Marron was among those voting “no”. Earlier Wednesday, the state senate passed the bill, 32-23, with local state senator Scott Bennett voting to pass the bill.
Many of the most debated aspects, such as ending qualified immunity for law enforcement, were reduced or removed from the bill following heavy opposition from law enforcement, labor unions, prosecutors and municipal representatives.
Effective in January 2023, cash bail would be eliminated in Illinois and replaced with pretrial release criteria. The bill provides that use of force is permissible only when an officer has determined it is necessary to defend either themselves or others from bodily harm when making an arrest.
A police certification provision backed by the attorney general’s office was also added to the bill. It gives the state more power over who can be a member of law enforcement and makes it easier to decertify and terminate the employment of problematic officers.
The bill also mandates body cameras on all law enforcement officers, and says that suspects in custody must be able to make three phone calls within three hours of being taken into police custody.
(Portions of this story come from Capitol News Illinois’ Raymond Tronsco.)
