By Raymon Troncoso & Capitol News Illinois
• Jan 10, 2021
State Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Chicago, chairs a House Judiciary Committee hearing Sunday at the Bank of Springfield Center during a lame duck session for the 101st General Assembly. The House is meeting at the convention center due to COVID-19 safety precautions.
Credit Blueroomstream.com
The Illinois House of Representatives continued to debate a massive criminal justice omnibus bill Sunday that would transform policing practices in the state.
A 611-page amendment to House Bill 163 would heavily revamp use-of-force guidelines, mandate body cameras for every law enforcement agency, end cash bail, remove some qualified immunity protections, and strip collective bargaining rights relating to discipline from police unions. Further language could be added in a future amendment as well.
The progressive chants all summer and fall was ‘defund the police’. They invented the term. The irony is thick now that it is being used to describe with holding state funds for non-compliance of a state law. This fund diversion is not new, also happens with pensions.
Mandating Bodycams is long overdue. They are necessary to help good cops do their jobs.
That’s the ball game.
By not supporting state bailouts in only the context of Coronavirus, you are also supporting defunding the police and pushing to the crippling of your state, including Illinois.
That’s what McConnell, ironically, was saying about his own state, Kentucky, a state like Illinois with real fiscal challenges exacerbated by the virus.
Raymon Troncoso
Capitol News Illinois
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Legislative Black Caucus has introduced a sweeping criminal justice omnibus bill that aims to heavily alter the state of policing in Illinois.
Sen. Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, introduced a 611-page amendment to House Bill 163 Tuesday in the state Senate, a move that would allow the bill to move during the General Assembly’s upcoming lame duck session scheduled from Jan. 8 to Jan. 13.
While the bill has been introduced on short notice, it is the result of over 100 hours of hearings held by the Black Caucus over fall and winter months as part of their legislative agenda “to end systemic racism in Illinois.” Criminal justice reform and police accountability made up the first of four pillars in that agenda.
By Benjamin Cox on January 9, 2021 at 12:39pm
Illinois law enforcement will have a watchful eye on the General Assembly lame duck session this week. The General Assembly is expected to vote on a massive criminal justice reform bill, House Bill 163 that among other things end qualified immunity for police officers, eliminate cash bail, and mandate body cameras for every police department in the state.
Jacksonville Police Chief Adam Mefford says the bill is a mixed bag of good and bad reforms for police officers in the state: “There are lots of things in the bill about taking away qualified immunity for officers, taking away liability protections for officers, taking away protections from civil liability and frivolous lawsuits. There’s a lot to do with use of force. There’s a lot to do with collective bargaining. There’s a whole lot of language about bail reform. Basically, the bill is 611 pages long, and this portion of it has been slid into the bill along
While the bill has been introduced on short notice, it is the result of over 100 hours of hearings held by the Black Caucus over fall and winter months as