It’s just a bill
Monday, Jun 11, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From May 30th of last year…
A measure targeting repeat gun offenders — which Chicago’s top cop has promoted as a way to see a 50 percent drop in gun violence within a year — met approval in the Illinois House but is being held via a procedural filing amid a south suburban lawmaker’s request for further negotiation. […]
State Rep. Sonya Harper, an Englewood neighborhood native, called [Chicago police Supt. Eddie Johnson’s] claim that the bill will reduce violence by 50 percent within a year “the biggest lie I’ve ever heard in Springfield.”
The bill eventually passed and was signed into law, with the governor saying: “It shows what we can do when we put our minds to it and decide together to solve problems and take a step forward.”
* But Rep. Harper was right. Not only has violence not been reduced by half in the past year, but nobody has even been sentenced under the new law’s mandates…
The aim of the law was simple: Repeat gun offenders in Illinois would face tougher sentences.
But a Chicago Sun-Times review of sentences in Cook County since that new law took effect in January has found that no one is actually being hit with those stiffer sentences.
There hasn’t been a single case in Cook County in which a judge has meted out those extended sentences that Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police Supt. Eddie Johnson pushed for and that they and sponsor Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, said would happen under the law.
Go read the whole thing.
* Other bills…
* More than 600 bills will land on Rauner’s desk as he seeks re-election: Some give the Republican governor chances to hold feel-good news conferences across the state as he seeks re-election against Democrat J.B. Pritzker. Others could put Rauner in a tough political spot as he keeps working to try to unify his party after a narrow primary win that opened up a divide between the governor and conservatives.
* Chuck Sweeny: Rauner signs new budget; no dice on casino expansion: “The state Senate passed a gaming expansion bill last year,” noted state Sen. Steve Stadelman, D-Rockford, “but getting existing gaming operators to drop their opposition has been difficult.”
* POT TOPICS: IL lawmakers pass bill to allow opioid patients to use medical pot: States with legal medical cannabis programs — including Illinois, which has a medical cannabis “pilot program” — had more than 2 million fewer daily doses of opioids prescribed each year under Medicare Part D than in states that hadn’t enacted similar laws, according to a pair of studies published in April in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. The studies also found that prescriptions for all opioids dipped by 3.7 million daily doses per year when medical cannabis dispensaries opened.
* Orland Park a rare police agency using drones as state considers allowing the devices for surveillance: The authority’s 2017 report showed Orland Park, Hanover Park, Gurnee and the DuPage County sheriff’s office each owned one drone. Illinois State Police reported it owned six drones.
* Illinois governor signs bill responding to Equifax hack: The proposal also allows consumers to place freezes online or via telephone. Previously such action could only be taken through registered mail.
- DuPage Saint - Monday, Jun 11, 18 @ 11:12 am:
And it is a federal offense for a felon to have a gun. Penalty is 5 year minimum that is minimum years in federal prison
All the laws in the world will not stop gun violence if they are not enforced This is not a police problem it is a prosecution problem
- Fishingvest - Monday, Jun 11, 18 @ 11:14 am:
Has any gun arrests since January 1st come before a judge for sentencing that has not been a result of a plea bargain? Wouldn’t convictions of arrests prior to January 1, 2018 be sentenced under the old guidelines? Thanks
- Roman - Monday, Jun 11, 18 @ 11:32 am:
This is a key sentence from the Sun-Times gun story:
“Gun cases often can take year to move through the courts.“
The law took effect January 1st. So, it’s too early to jump to any conclusions. Though, the bill was repeatedly watered-down as it wound it’s way through the legislature last year — so don’t expect any earth-shattering results.
The same thing happened to Rahm’s carjacking bill this session. The final version was practically meaningless.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Jun 12, 18 @ 10:36 am:
“There hasn’t been a single case in Cook County in which a judge has meted out those extended sentences that Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police Supt. Eddie Johnson pushed for and that they and sponsor Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, said would happen under the law.”
Raoul is a phoney. I don’t know why the Chicago papers portray him as the Great Black Hope from Hyde Park. When Raoul was chairman of senate judiciary committee in 2013, he let Gary Forby put up Phelps and Vandermyde’s concealed carry bill with Duty to Inform and didn’t do a thing about it.
The black caucus Reps. in the house like Chris Welch, LaShawn Ford and Will Davis knew DTI would negatively affect the black population, and they opposed DTI on the record with Phelps. This “enhanced sentencing” bill was rated “neutral” by NRA, another racist sellout by the good old boys.