Late Night, Last Minute Actions Cloud Passage of Major Racial Reforms
Members of the House Black Caucus celebrate passage of a criminal justice reform bill Wednesday morning in Springfield. (Pool Photo/Justin Fowler)
Republicans in the State Senate cried foul early Wednesday morning when an updated criminal reform bill totaling 750 pages hit their desks at 3:00 A.M. and they began debating it an hour later.
The bill passed on a nearly party-line vote in the Senate.
A few hours later, with under one hour to go in the 101st General Assembly, before the clock ran out at noon and the 102nd General Assembly began, Republicans in the Illinois House blew their stacks as the language of the criminal justice reform bill was wedged into a separate police licensing bill.
“They combined two major bills and it was brought to us at 9 o’clock [Wednesday] morning that the police certification and criminal justice reform pillar were combined without knowing exactly what had been redacted and what had been added,” said House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs).
Durkin was further enraged when Democrats cut off debate to get a vote done before noon. Durkin could be seen shouting at Rep. Kelly Burke (D-Evergreen Park), who was overseeing the floor action.
“Quite frankly, it was a very bad moment when the Democrats cut [off] the debate and subverted an open process, a fair process, to have a discussion and for us to have the ability to ask questions on a very serious public policy change in Illinois,” said Durkin.
What did the final bill entail?
The bill standardizes police training policies and eliminates of cash bail, which would allow a judge, in many cases, to release defendants before a trial.
Supporters say the state's current bail system hurts low-income people and minorities who are awaiting trial and unable to afford the cost to post bond.
The legislation also requires all police officers wear body cameras by 2025, a ban on chokeholds, and numerous other police reforms.
It also bans police departments from purchasing surplus military equipment for police use.
Much of the final language was toned down from earlier drafts. We’re told moderate Senate Democrats, like Sen. Scott Bennett (D-Champaign), played a key role in making last minute changes.
While some Democrats accused Republicans of nitpicking at the process and not substance, Rep. Avery Bourne (R-Morrisonville) said their concerns are substantive.
“The process is undeniably broken, when less than an hour before the new General Assembly begins the majority party has to push through an over 700-page bill that changes law enforcement in ways that will make it nearly unrecognizable in Illinois,” she said. “Every law enforcement group opposed this criminal justice bill, and it was also opposed by some members within their own Democratic caucus. Yet they cut off debate and pushed it through. For people who are discouraged with Illinois government, this only added fuel to the fire. We have to be better than this, policy-wise and process-wise. I’m really infuriated with how they misused our process and abused the public trust today.”
Sen. Elgie Sims (D-Chicago), who sponsored the bill in the Senate, disagreed with Bourne’s characterizations about police reform.
“I believe it is the first step to transforming criminal justice in Illinois in a way that will uplift our communities and support our law enforcement professionals,” Sims said in a statement issued after the Senate vote. “This increases accountability and transparency in law enforcement, modernizes our bail and sentencing systems, and provides for greater protections and more humane treatment of those who have been arrested and accused of crime.”
Durkin says the criminal justice bill won’t help a broken system.
“The criminal justice reforms are a step backwards that I don’t believe is going to help reduce crime anywhere in the state of Illinois,” he said. “When we pass bills that say we’re going to have a victim of a violent crime possibly be compelled to testify at a bond hearing, which is usually within a few hours or a couple of days after an arrest, to me, is an abomination.”
The cash bond process that adds new layers of hearings have been criticized by law enforcement and prosecutors alike. The changes don’t take effect until 2023, so it may be likely further changes are made.
Durkin called on Governor JB Pritzker to veto the measure and force the legislature to move the bill through regular order in the new General Assembly.
“I’m disappointed and I hope the Governor realizes how this went down and now he the responsibility to do what’s right. He should veto the bill and start over again with me and with Speaker Welch and Representative [Justin] Slaughter,” Durkin said. Slaughter (D-Chicago), sponsored the bill in the House.
But Pritzker indicated Wednesday his support for the bill.
“This criminal justice package carries with it the opportunity to shape our state into a lesson in true justice for the nation by abolishing cash bail, modernizing sentencing laws, instituting a certification and decertification system for police officers statewide, requiring body cameras, reforming crowd control response, and amplifying law enforcement training standards,” Pritzker said. “I was proud to make ending cash bail and modernizing sentencing laws a legislative priority of my administration, and I have long pledged my support to the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus in their efforts to pass not just criminal justice reform and police accountability measures, but also to truly root out the systemic racism that pulses through all our nation’s institutions by pursuing greater equity in healthcare, higher goals in education, and deeper investments in economic opportunity for communities that have for too long been left out and left behind.
Durkin says the criminal justice reform bill was one of glaring issues he had with the final hours of the lame duck session.
“Speaker Madigan ran through a number of bills that were not well thought out. Every one of these major bills that passed have a [price] tag to them, ones which we can’t afford. A few of them were dropped on us at the last minute without any negotiations with Republicans,” he said. “I don’t think we’re any better off. The Governor has been clear to say that we need help trying to solve the budget issues within Springfield, but there were a least a bill or two with a price tag over a billion dollars. The Governor should have been involved to stop those bills and say ‘let’s do a better job negotiating these bills.’” The Governor needs to take control of his party and what goes on under the roof of these chambers. Because, right now, he can’t complain about Republicans not helping out when his own people, his own party, are pushing bills to his desk that are going to have a billion-dollar cost.”
When asked if the legislation was being rushed through the final hours of the 101st General Assembly, Sims repeatedly cited a committee heard 30 hours of virtual testimony over the summer on the issue.
A clear answer was never given as to why the bill couldn’t wait for regular order in the new General Assembly.
