Illinois lawmakers on Wednesday submitted proposed changes to controversial criminal justice measures, including the end of cash bail, that are slated to take effect on New Year’s Day.
Changes to language in the sweeping law, known as the SAFE-T Act, had been anticipated after Democrats came under attack by the law’s opponents in the months leading up to the Nov. 8 election, leading to assurances by Gov. J.B. Pritzker and others that tweaks were forthcoming.
Much of the opposition focused on the end of cash bail on Jan. 1. The proposed changes, filed by state Sen. Robert Peters, a Chicago Democrat, attempt to clarify the transition process by giving prosecutors more time to prepare for hearings where they can argue for detaining a defendant.
It was unclear if the amendment pitched by Peters had enough support to pass both chambers of the General Assembly, but legislators were expected to take up the issue before Thursday’s scheduled adjournment for the year.
Under the proposal, defendants charged before Jan. 1 would have the option to remain under the old bail system, or be moved to the new system.
Under the proposal, defendants accused of nonviolent offenses must have their hearings within seven days, while those who could pose a flight risk must appear in court within 60 days. Defendants who could be deemed a safety threat, such as those accused of murder, sexual assault and other violent crimes, must appear for their hearings with 90 days.
The proposal also seeks to clarify when police can arrest people for offenses such as trespassing that generally require only a ticket. The clarification states that police can arrest someone for such crimes if they believe “the accused poses a threat to the community or any person” or if “criminal activity persists” after a ticket is written.
The amendment addresses two fears expressed by opponents of the law and highlighted throughout the election season: that the law would force officials to empty county jails on Jan. 1, and that it would allow trespassers to park on someone else’s property at the risk of nothing more than a ticket.
Misinformation over the law was rife during the campaign, even as supporters acknowledged some clarification was needed. For example, even as originally written, the law requires judges to keep defendants behind bars to await trial if they are deemed to be a flight risk or a danger to the public.
Prosecutors had expressed concern that it would be almost impossible to make an argument for flight risk because the law prevented them from using a defendant’s prior history of failing to appear in court. Peters’ proposal would allow patterns of failing to show up for court to be used in making the argument for detention, but would not allow a single court nonappearance to be used against a defendant.
To address any ambiguities, the proposal also clarifies that judges can detain anyone accused of serious felonies such as murder, sexual assault, robbery, residential burglary and hate crimes, among others, if they’re deemed a danger to the public.
The proposal also creates a grant program for jurisdictions to employ more public defenders to meet a possible increase in caseload.
This fall, about 60 state’s attorneys across Illinois, including some Democrats, joined a lawsuit against Pritzker and other top Democrats contending that the passage of the SAFE-T Act violated the Illinois Constitution. A Kankakee County judge could issue a ruling on the lawsuit as early as next month.
Peters, a sponsor of the original SAFE-T Act, which was signed into law by Pritzker in February 2021, was joined in filing the law’s changes in the Senate by Democratic state Sen. Scott Bennett from Champaign.
Bennett, a former prosecutor, drafted his own proposed changes to the SAFE-T Act in September. During Pritzker’s reelection campaign, the governor pointed to Bennett’s ideas as worthy of consideration, but advocates had pushed back on them as potentially undermining the intent of eliminating a cash bail system.
An Illinois Supreme Court task force is working to help criminal courts across the state prepare for the change.
To prepare for the new detention system, Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart, who has voiced his support for the SAFE-T Act, has asked his prosecutors to file detention petitions against defendants currently being held in that county’s jail on violent offenses.
On Wednesday, Rinehart said in a news release that his office has already filed detention petitions for more than 130 defendants, including 46 on murder charges, 35 on sex crimes and 51 for felony domestic violence.
Rinehart’s office also said it would file detention petitions for defendants accused of other serious crimes like nonfatal shootings, armed robbery, home invasion and other felonies.
Also on Wednesday, a House committee unanimously advanced a proposal to the full chamber that represents a portion of a bipartisan deal to stabilize the state’s pandemic-depleted unemployment insurance trust fund. The deal would repay nearly $1.4 billion outstanding from a $4.5 billion federal loan that kept checks going out to unemployed workers during the first wave of COVID-19.
The 15-0 vote in the House Executive Committee was on the part of the plan that would increase the portion of a worker’s salary on which employers pay unemployment taxes, and also raise the target balance of the trust fund to prepare for future downturns.
The measure, which has the support of both business interests and organized labor, also sets up terms for an interest-free state loan to the trust fund that would be repaid over a decade through business taxes that would be deposited into the state’s rainy day fund.
The measure still needs approval in both the House and Senate before going to the desk of Pritzker, who announced the deal Tuesday.
Separate legislation still to be considered would allocate roughly $1.8 billion in surplus revenue from the current budget year to repay the federal government and lend the state unemployment trust fund $450 million to shore up its balance.
The House on Wednesday also gave final passage without opposition to a measure that prohibits state investments, including by pension funds, in Russian or Belarusian interests in protest of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The legislation, which now heads to Pritzker’s desk after earlier passing the Senate without opposition, also creates a task force to investigate ways in which state law makes it possible for Russian figures to launder money through real estate investments and another to prepare for cyberattacks and other potential election interference in 2024 and beyond.
Federal officials have said Russian hackers infiltrated Illinois’ voter database in a July 2016 attack, viewing the personal information of 76,000 voters.
