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It’s just a bill

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Illinois

* Rep. Justin Slaughter filed HB4603 yesterday…

Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that no law enforcement officer shall stop a motor vehicle for: (i) failing to display registration plates or stickers; (ii) being operated with an expired registration sticker; (iii) violating general speed restrictions (unless that violation is a misdemeanor or felony offense); (iv) improper lane usage (unless that violation is a misdemeanor or felony offense); (v) failing to comply with certain requirements concerning vehicle lamps; (vi) excessive tint; (vii) defective mirrors; (viii) an obstructed windshield or defective windshield wipers; (ix) defective bumpers; (x) excessive exhaust; and (xi) failure of the vehicle operator to wear a safety belt. Provides that no evidence discovered or obtained as the result of a stop in violation of these provisions, including, but not limited to, evidence discovered or obtained with the operator’s consent, shall be admissible in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding. Preempts home rule powers.

* HB4621 from Rep. Justin Slaughter…

Amends the Pretrial Services Act. Establishes in the judicial branch of State government an office to be known as the Office of Statewide Pretrial Services. Provides that the office shall be under the supervision and direction of a Director who shall be appointed by a vote of a majority of the Illinois Supreme Court Justices for a 4-year term and until a successor is appointed and qualified. Provides that the Director shall adopt rules, instructions, and orders, consistent with the Act, further defining the organization of this office and the duties of its employees. Provides that the Illinois Supreme Court shall approve or modify an operational budget submitted to it by the Office of Statewide Pretrial Services and set the number of employees each year. Provides that the Chief Judge of each circuit court shall elect to receive pretrial services either through the Office or through a local pretrial services agency (rather than each circuit shall establish a pretrial service agency). Provides that the pretrial services agency has a duty to provide the court with accurate background data regarding the pretrial release of persons charged with felonies and effective supervision of compliance with the terms and conditions imposed on release. Effective immediately.

* HB4613 from Rep. Maura Hirschauer…

Amends the Probate Act of 1975. Allows a ward in guardianship to get married who understands the nature, effect, duties, and obligations of marriage. Prior consent of the guardian of the person or estate or approval of the court is not required for the ward to enter into a marriage. A guardian may contest the validity of the marriage pursuant to Sections 301 and 302 of Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act.

* Rep. Bradley Fritts introduced HB4612…

Amends the Counties Code. Provides that a county may set blade tip height limitations for wind towers in commercial wind energy facilities near a restricted landing area to ensure compliance with specified provisions of the Illinois Administrative Code.

* HB4602 from Rep. Marcus Evans…

Amends the One Day Rest In Seven Act. Provides that the calculation of required rest days does not include any time that the employee is on call. Provides that an employee who voluntarily agrees to work on a day of rest must be paid at his or her regular hourly rate or, if applicable, at the overtime wage rate as required by the Illinois Minimum Wage Law. Provides that every employer shall permit its employees who are scheduled or expected to work (rather than are to work) for 7 1/2 continuous hours at least 20 minutes for a meal period beginning no later than 5 hours after the start of the work period. Provides that any employer, or agent or officer of an employer, has violated the Act if he or she discharges, takes an adverse action against, or in any other manner discriminates against any employee because that employee has exercised a right under the Act. Provides that the Director of Labor may (rather than shall) grant long term and short permits authorizing the employment of persons on days of rest. Makes changes in provisions concerning definitions; posting requirements; recordkeeping; and civil offenses. Makes other changes.

* HB4622 from Rep. Daniel Didech…

Creates the Local School District Mandate Note Act. Provides that, every bill that imposes or could impose a mandate on local school districts, upon the request of any member, shall have prepared for it, before second reading in the house of introduction, a brief explanatory statement or note that shall include a reliable estimate of the anticipated fiscal and operational impact of those mandates on local school districts. Provides that the sponsor of each bill for which a request has been made shall present a copy of the bill with the request for a local school district mandate note to the State Board of Education. Provides that the State Board of Education shall prepare and submit the note to the sponsor of the bill within 5 calendar days, except as specified. Sets forth provisions concerning the requisites and contents of the note; comments or opinions included in the note; and the appearance of State officials and employees in support or opposition of measure.

* HB4626 from Rep. Janet Yang Rohr…

Amends the School Code. Provides that a public school student may communicate and work with federally elected, State-elected, or locally elected officials or other stakeholders or officials as part of the student’s education.

posted by Isabel Miller
Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:08 am

Comments

==Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that no law enforcement officer shall stop a motor vehicle for:…==
Will I still need a driver’s license? Asking for a friend. /S

Comment by Bruce( no not him) Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:16 am
-Will I still need a driver’s license? -

Probably not. The progressives call this progress.

Comment by Steve Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:23 am
Steve, projecting much?

Comment by The Dude Abides Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:25 am
So the first one pretty much eliminates traffic stops all together. “Progress”

Comment by Sooo Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:25 am
Dui attorneys would absolutely love that Rep Slaughter billl

Comment by fs Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:29 am
- fs - I was thinking the same thing. The bill is essentially legalizing DUIs

Comment by Wobblies United Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:34 am
When the far left and far right converge…Rep Salughter channeling his inner Libertarian

Comment by George Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:34 am
- Dui attorneys would absolutely love that Rep Slaughter billl -

Why? If you’re driving drunk in the wrong lane and get pulled over it reads to me that you’re still getting a DUI.

Seems to me a lot of officers might be worried they’ll have to start doing some actual police work instead of just pulling people over for minor offenses and hoping to find something else.

Comment by Excitable Boy Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:34 am
- The bill is essentially legalizing DUIs -

DUIs are misdemeanors or felonies, read it again.

Comment by Excitable Boy Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:35 am
The language seems odd but it’s to prevent law enforcement from using minor violations to get around 4th amendment protections. You can continue to stop and ticket for the infractions, you just can’t use the infraction as an excuse to search just because the courts allow it. At least that’s my reading.

It’s the sort of law you contemplate when actors get shady.

Comment by MikeMacD Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:36 am
The Slaughter bill is probably overbroad, but I like it as a conversation starter. Police departments, particularly in big cities, should be looking for ways to shift resources from traffic enforcement to solving and preventing more serious crimes.

There’s a happy medium somewhere between Slaughter’s bill and the status quo. But as has been repeatedly covered on this blog, police departments currently spent a disproportionate amount of time and energy on minor traffic violations. Those stops also have a well-documented racial dimension. Slaughter is right that we need to change the definition of policing to mean less harassment of black motorists.

Comment by vern Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:36 am
== DUIs are misdemeanors or felonies, read it again.==

You have to have a reason to pull them over first, and many times it’s things such as improper lane usage.

Comment by fs Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:37 am
Maybe Slaughter is trying to save the state a few bucks. If we’re not going to enforce improper lane usage laws, there’s no reason for IDOT to paint those annoying lines all over our road surfaces.

In all seriousness, Slaughter should know better. He’s passed a lot of important criminal justice reform laws, but he’s gonna ignite a firestorm with this and expose his colleagues to a ton of unnecessary goofiness and grief for a bill that’s going nowhere in its current form.

Comment by OH Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:38 am
Does anyone remember what Timothy McVeigh was stopped for? Might have been a license plate violation…

Comment by The Magnificent Purple Walnut Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:43 am
Most traffic stops are pretextual and most traffic stops don’t find any evidence of the higher-order crimes police claim traffic stops are designed to uncover. If the police only wanted to enforce traffic laws, why aren’t they doing that already?

“Fewer than 1% of CPD’s 600,000 annual traffic stops in 2022 resulted in any arrest or the discovery of any type of contraband at all, such as illegal drugs or weapons.”

https://chicagocouncil.org/pretextual-vehicle-stops-a-pipeline-to-police-testilying/

Comment by Google Is Your Friend Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:44 am
“you just can’t use the infraction as an excuse to search just because the courts allow it. At least that’s my reading”

Try re-reading - it is about stops - not searches

Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that no law enforcement officer shall stop a motor vehicle …

Comment by Donnie Elgin Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:45 am
- You have to have a reason to pull them over first, and many times it’s things such as improper lane usage. -

Which officers would still be able to do. This isn’t that complicated.

Comment by Excitable Boy Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:47 am
Slaughter’s bill might seem odd to white folks who haven’t had each of these offenses used against them as transparent pretexts for racial profiling stops.

Should vehicle laws be enforced? Ideally yes. But unfortunately we have police who can’t be relied upon to use these statutes in good faith.

When someone takes a thing which is reasonable on its face and twists and weaponizes it to hurt people, the solution is to take it away from them.

Comment by ILLINI123 Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:49 am
We need more traffic enforcement, not less. As for the marginalized communities getting more tickets, members of marginalized communities, seniors and children are disproportionally victims of road violence as well. If people want to endanger others because they won’t follow the very basic rules of the road, they deserve tickets. Rack up enough tickets, driving privileges should be revoked. Enough already.

Comment by P. Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:52 am
== Which officers would still be able to do. This isn’t that complicated.==

“ Provides that no law enforcement officer shall stop a motor vehicle for”

“ Provides that no evidence discovered or obtained as the result of a stop in violation of these provisions, including, but not limited to, evidence discovered or obtained with the operator’s consent, shall be admissible”

You’re right, it’s not that complicated. If the intent is what you say, then this language is extremely portly worded. And dui attorneys will drive a truck through it

Comment by fs Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:57 am
The people get what they elected.

Comment by Joe Schmoe Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:57 am
“Provides that no evidence discovered or obtained as the result of a stop in violation of these provisions…”

The proposed law anticipates violations and has consequences. I didn’t read nullification of the stop as one of them.

Comment by MikeMacD Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:57 am
Police departments … should be looking for ways to shift resources from traffic enforcement to solving and preventing more serious crimes.

44k crashes nationwide and pedestrian deaths surpassing the last three decades of tracking are serious crimes. Chicago averages 283 crashes every day with about a third being hit and runs. There is also an actual dollar cost beyond the human toll for allowing people to go yolo without consequences on our streets.

Comment by P. Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:59 am
=== If people want to endanger others because they won’t follow the very basic rules of the road, they deserve tickets. ===

If people want to endanger others because they won’t follow the very basic rules of not shooting each other, they deserve arrest. And yet…

“The Trace filed a Freedom of Information Act request with CPD and learned that police made arrests in 21 percent of fatal shootings between 2013 and mid-October this year. That number has remained almost the same over the past decade, dropping slightly from 19.4 percent in 2013 to 18.6 percent in 2022″

https://www.thetrace.org/2023/12/chicago-homicide-clearance-rate-data/

Comment by vern Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 10:59 am
We already have anarchy on the roads with selfish drivers doing whatever they please. I keep my license and registration current. I want people who don’t and those who ignore traffic laws, minor as they are, to fear some consequences. We are living in a society and society needs rules that apply equally to all of us.

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 11:05 am
–with CPD–

This isn’t a bill for CPD. This is for the entire state.

How does this bill fix anything, if it doesn’t address the core of the problem - the police.

The same police will still be employed, and they will simply find other ways to do what they do.

Maybe its time to look at increasing standards for police, instead of lowering standards for vehicle.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 11:06 am
What on earth is Slaughter trying to do with 4603? Tell us, Representative, what causes will law enforcement be left with which allow them to stop a vehicle? What problem are you trying to fix with these changes?

This is an absurd bill which shouldn’t see the light of day.

Timothy McVeigh was stopped for a missing registration sticker, by the way.

Comment by Osborne Smith III Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 11:12 am
Well if they pass it he amended vehicle code it might help with the Secretary of State problems with scheduling. Why bother to renew just take your chance on ever being stopped/s

Comment by DuPage Saint Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 11:19 am
For everyone saying that HB4603 doesn’t prevent law enforcement from stopping for the violations…. are you able to read?

-Provides that no law enforcement officer shall stop a motor vehicle for:- and then lists a multitude of regular traffic violations. Why buy a license plate sticker anymore? If the police can’t stop you for driving without one. No stops for speeding unless a misdemeanor or felony? Do you know what it takes to qualify as misdemeanor speeding? 26mph over the posted speed limit. So the police effectively would have to let everyone go 26mph over before taking action.

Improper lane usage…. tip back all the drinks you can, if you’re swerving…no worries, just don’t hit anything and you’ll make it home fine!

How can anyone in their right mind think this is reasonable?

And before you say it’s all about consent searches… the way the bill is written, it goes way beyond consent searches. Murder suspects have been arrested on consent searches. Don’t commit crime and you have nothing to worry about!

Comment by Wyatt Earp Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 11:26 am
===Timothy McVeigh was stopped for a missing registration sticker===

And what happens if the officer sees a body or trafficking victim during the wrongful stop? Oh well, just send the driver on their merry way? Or arrest them and they walk on a technicality? This at least needs to exclude felonies from the crimes for which evidence is inadmissible.

Comment by thechampaignlife Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 11:54 am
Justin Slaughter’s next bill should be to just get rid of police officers.

Comment by Chicagonk Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 11:56 am
“The Trace filed a Freedom of Information Act request with CPD and learned that police made arrests in 21 percent of fatal shootings between 2013 and mid-October this year. That number has remained almost the same over the past decade, dropping slightly from 19.4 percent in 2013 to 18.6 percent in 2022″

Obviously they need to do both. Fun fact LA’s crash deaths exceeded gun deaths last year.

Comment by P. Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 11:59 am
I don’t think they should eliminate police being able to stop a car that has minor equipment problems. However, I do support police having to give warning tickets, giving the motorists a warning and 30 days to correct the problem. License plates should be required, an expired sticker should get a warning.

Comment by DuPage Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 12:02 pm
“Slaughter’s bill might seem odd to white folks … .”

People who are out of townies & drive in rural Illinois towns / small villages next to larger cities experience the same “treatment”… so I obey the traffic laws, make sure the vehicle is licensed, has a current sticker, is insured, etc. Perhaps the Representative needs to re-watch the Chris Rock video?

Comment by Anyone Remember Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 12:15 pm
=it’s to prevent law enforcement from using minor violations to get around 4th amendment protections.=

A lot of these guys think there are only two amendments and ignore the 1st one and the first half of the 2nd one.

Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 12:20 pm
===Does anyone remember what Timothy McVeigh was stopped for? Might have been a license plate violation…

I have several issues with the bill. Some of it makes sense like not wearing a seat belt shouldn’t be a reason to pull someone over for example. That said, because we might catch a terrorist we should be hassling as many people as possible seems like a really bad way to conduct public policy.

Comment by ArchPundit Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 12:34 pm
=== License plates should be required, an expired sticker should get a warning.

Please inform my wife of this. I’m getting tired of having the discussion.

Comment by ArchPundit Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 12:35 pm
==Slaughter’s bill might seem odd to white folks who haven’t had each of these offenses used against them as transparent pretexts for racial profiling stops.==

How does a police officer know the race of a driver if the driver’s windows have excessive tint?

Comment by City Zen Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 1:14 pm
- City Zen - Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 1:14 pm:

Ask the New Jersey State Police.

https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/23/nyregion/us-will-monitor-new-jersey-police-on-race-profiling.html

Comment by Google Is Your Friend Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 1:31 pm
A big expansion of automated traffic enforcement can solve this problem. It would increase the amount of tickets written, make the roads safer, eliminate racial profiling, and reallocate police resources to concentrate on more serious crime. One little problem with that, though: passing a bill that expands automated traffic enforcement.

Comment by Telly Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 1:53 pm
===Some of it makes sense like not wearing a seat belt shouldn’t caube a reason to pull someone over for example.===

I am alive today because it is illegal to drive a car without a seatbelt. My 17 year old self feared a $35 ticket and therefore I wore it.

And when Oklahoma Trooper Charlie Hanger stopped Timothy McVeigh on I-35 northbound at milepost #202, that was no pretextual traffic stop. He stopped McVeigh for -no- license plates. Mc Veigh had no driver’s license and he was arrested because Trooper Hanger fully intended to take him to jail. He discovered the Glock .45 in McVeigh’s waistband as he took him into custody, by himself on a very lonely stretch of interstate. McVeigh warned Trooper Hanger to “it’s loaded”. Trooper Hanger replied “mine is too.”

Everyone feels singled out when stopped by police. They blame it on having a red car, or a nice car, or a beater car, out of state plates, and a million more. It’s human nature to blame something beside the simplest explanation: You were commit ting a traffic violation that made you “the best game in town” at that time and that place.

Has anyone considered how difficult it must be to get the attention of the police these days? In case one hasn’t noticed, things are mighty wild and wooley out there!

Comment by Occasionally Moderated Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 1:57 pm
This bill is very bad for Democrats in an election year. This legislation will cause huge division in the party.

Comment by Old school Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 2:10 pm
===I am alive today because it is illegal to drive a car without a seatbelt. My 17 year old self feared a $35 ticket and therefore I wore it.

I’ve had seat belts do the same, but there’s a difference between ticketing someone who is already pulled over for not wearing a seat belt and having it be a reason for the officer pulling you over. It’s highly questionable that an officer can reliably tell someone is wearing their seat belt especially as the officer would have to be relatively close and moving. I know it’s quaint, but I’d like the police to pay attention to the road while driving.

I would disagree with not displaying plates as being excluded as I think that is a big safety issue, but that needs to be based on actual likely dangers such as using the car for crimes or just unlicensed drivers not on one terrorist who got caught one time.

We should be pulling people over for a public safety reason not as a pretextual reason to see if they are doing other illegal things.

Comment by ArchPundit Tuesday, Jan 30, 24 @ 3:30 pm