* Press release…

State Senators Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet), John Curran (R-Downers Grove), Jil Tracy (R-Quincy), Steve McClure (R-Springfield), and Brian Stewart (R-Freeport) today unveiled a package of legislation specifically designed to empower law enforcement and other members of the community to take on the crime wave that has enveloped the state.

The legislative package includes:

Fund the Police Act

· SB 2918: Creates Fund the Police Grant Fund with $100,000,000 with appropriations to the ILETSB to make grants to local governments and universities to hire police officers, purchasing equipment designed to prevent gang violence, motor vehicle theft, carjacking, or sale of contraband, and training for law enforcement in preventing gang violence, motor vehicle theft, carjacking, or the sale of contraband. This includes mental health, hiring and retention incentives, and overtime.

Eliminate Good Time for Weapons Offenses and Attacks on Law Enforcement Officers

· SB 2916: Requires a defendant who commits Aggravated Battery to a Police Officer to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence.

· SB 2917: Requires a defendant who brings a weapon or contraband into a penal institution serve at least 85 percent of their sentence.

Ending Deadly Delay

· SB 2927: Requires Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority to track gun crimes by convicted felons. Amended to include real time reporting by county of gun offenses charged and outcome of the case.

· SB 2926: Gun Crime Charging and Sentencing Accountability and Transparency Act. Requires State’s Attorneys to provide written justification when a weapons offense is plea bargained down to a lesser offense or non-weapons offense. Similarly, in imposing a sentence, the judge shall set forth in a written sentencing order his/her reasons for imposing the sentence or accepting the plea agreement.

· SB 2924: Allows a school or school district to employ qualified retired law enforcement officers to carry out the duties of a school resource officer.

Getting Serious on Gun Crime:

· SB 2928: ‘10 and life’ for violent firearms offenses. First time conviction of the following offenses receives a mandatory 10-year sentence, second offense receives life sentence.
o Aggravated Discharge of a Firearm.

o Use of a stolen or illegally acquired firearm in the commission of an offense.

o Unlawful use or possession of weapons by felons.

o Armed Habitual Criminal.

o Aggravated Vehicular Hijacking, or Aggravated Carjacking.

· SB 2925: Mandatory minimum penalty for Gun trafficking/Straw purchases. Imposes a 10-year minimum on those who sell or give a firearm to a convicted felon.

Juvenile Court Reforms:

· SB 2929: Juvenile commitment to the Department of Juvenile Justice for use or discharge of a firearm in a school that results in bodily injury or death to any person.

· SB 2923: Restore offenses of aggravated vehicular hijacking and armed robbery committed by juveniles with a firearm to the automatic transfer provisions of adult court.

· SB 2922: Prevent “catch and release” of juvenile carjackers by requiring a shelter care hearing to determine if it is safe to release the juvenile or continue holding until the adjudicatory hearing.

Bail Reform:

· SB 2020: Deny bail for previously convicted gun offenders or a felon charged with a gun offense.

· SB 2921: Adds violation of bail bond, escape, and aggravated fleeing and attempting to elude to the more serious “Category A” bond provisions.

· SB 2919: Allows counties to opt out of Bail Reform Act provisions if county board adopts a resolution to do so.

Mental Health Reform:

SB 1649: Amends the Community Mental Health Act. Provides that upon receipt of all the annual moneys collected from the tax levied under the Act, each governmental unit that levies that tax shall immediately deposit 20% of those moneys into a special fund directly controlled by the county sheriff to be used for mental health services within the county jail.

“The people of Illinois need action right now,” said Rose. “We are demanding that Senate President Harmon (D-Oak Park) call these bills for a full vote of the Senate this veto session.”

All bills have been filed and language can be found here. The legislation will show up www.ilga.gov after the next perfunctory session.

* From Mark Maxwell’s story…

In addition to calling for $100 million in funding for police training, overtime, and retention incentives, Rose wants to make the sentencing guidelines stricter and simpler for criminals convicted on felony gun charges. His proposal would impose 10-year sentences for first-time felony firearm offenders, and a life sentence for repeat offenders.

“I wish it was that simple,” Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz responded. “I don’t think we need any stiffer penalties.”

Rietz said it’s often a lack of hard evidence, not lenient laws, that allows violent criminals to go free. She called for greater resources to fund street surveillance cameras and lab equipment to process evidence. […]

She described difficult cases with scant evidence as a “poker game” where the suspect is playing a hand and betting the government doesn’t have a strong case. She scoffed at Rose’s proposal that would require prosecutors to show their hand and justify any plea bargains in writing, warning such a requirement could backfire and put cooperating witnesses in harm’s way.

Rose said his plan would “require any State’s Attorney in this state who plea bargains down a gun crime to put it in writing so the citizens who elect them will be able to hold them accountable for the decisions they made.”

“He should know better,” Rietz said, referring to Rose’s prior work as a traffic court prosecutor.

“I was a prosecutor and I wouldn’t have liked that at the time,” Rose acknowledged, “but you know what, it’s the right thing to do. People are sick and tired of the plea bargain nonsense that’s leaving people to shoot buses on our streets.”

Except nobody has even been arrested in the school bus shooting incident.

First, you gotta catch ‘em.

Also, none of the bills were amended onto existing legislation, which would make their passage difficult in the veto session even if the majority wanted to go along. And the majority obviously does not…

Rose’s plan would allow counties to opt out of ending cash bail if the county board adopts a resolution supporting it. That plan was not well-received by Senate Democrats, who hold a supermajority in the chamber.

“This is not a solution,” Senator Robert Peters (D-Chicago) responded. “This is dog whistle politics from people who just like to round up poor people. They don’t know what they’re talking about.”

* From the governor’s office…

Since taking office, Governor Pritzker has worked to rebuild the hollowed out government left by his predecessor Bruce Rauner. Over the last three years, the state has invested record amounts of funding into gun violence prevention programs, increased investments in social services like mental health and substance abuse treatment and prioritized investments in communities grappling with higher crime rates because of years of disinvestment. On top of rebuilding our social safety net, the budgets signed by Gov. Pritzker have provided hundreds of millions of additional dollars to local governments to support communities. Those same budgets, that Republicans voted against, included funding for multiple new cadet classes to help Illinois State Police restore their hollowed out ranks. A new crime lab that will provide quicker evidence processing is being built with Rebuild Illinois funding signed into law by Gov. Pritzker. Republicans voted against increased funding for training and mental health assistance for officers across the state and have opposed criminal justice reforms that will make our criminal justice system equitable. Spewing rhetoric is easy, taking the votes to support the public policy you claim to care about are what matter. The Senate Republicans have shown us time and time again they care more about getting headlines than supporting solutions.

*** UPDATE *** From the Senate Republicans…

Sen. Rose and his colleagues just unveiled several actual solutions to the current uptick in violent crime with actual legislation filed in the General Assembly – not the media. If the Administration and Democratic Majorities are truly serious about addressing violent crime in Illinois, they can prove it by calling for the package to be heard in committee and voted on in the General Assembly this month. While they may not agree with all proposals, allowing the bills to be heard is an opportunity for both Democrats and Republicans to discuss and debate solutions to these very real problems. As they said, spewing rhetoric is easy, taking the votes to support public policy you claim to care about are what matter.