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* The Pantagraph in January…
Nearly 20 years ago, survivors of one of the worst school fires in American history brought a novel idea to Illinois lawmakers: an arsonist registry akin to the long-established database of sex offenders.
The concept was fairly straightforward. Convicted arsonists upon release from prison, plus those found not guilty by reason of insanity, would be required to disclose their address, place of employment and/or the school they attend. […]
Known as the Arsonist Registration Act, it passed the legislature with no opposition and was signed into law by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2004. […]
“Currently, the act is an unfunded mandate,” said ISP spokeswoman Melaney Arnold. “In the 19 years since the act was passed, the General Assembly has never appropriated funding to ISP for this Act. ISP would need to create an extensive, new database (similar to the sex offender registration) and maintain it. This requires funding for setup and ongoing administration of the program.”
* Earlier this week from the Pantagraph…
A spokesman with the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal confirmed to Lee Enterprises on Monday that the Illinois State Police sent over the first set of names and associated information late last month.
As of Sept. 1, there are nine convicted arsonists on the registry, according to the publicly available database on the fire marshal’s website. The arsonist’s birth date, county of residence and information related to their case, such as court case number, charges and conviction date, are also included. […]
Though the number of convicted arsonists living in Illinois is believed to be in the hundreds, the amended law only requires that the registry include names of those convicted after Gov. JB Pritzker signed it earlier this summer. […]
Arsonists’ names will remain on the list for 10 years following their conviction.
posted by Isabel Miller
Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 10:05 am
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Interesting response from ISP about it being an unfunded mandate. I spent 10 years at a state agency and we often had to take on new projects, including those requiring IT, with no additional funding. It never occurred to us we could just tell the legislature no.
Comment by Grimlock Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 10:33 am
“ISP would need to create an extensive, new database (similar to the sex offender registration) and maintain it.”
C’mon. It’s not 1985 anymore. For a practically inconsequential cost this database can be setup in about five minutes on AWS - with security, redundancy and backups, and be ready to use.
Then a few more minutes to set up a daily batch job to pull the text data and import it into the DB.
This is below even the bare minimum of how every ecommerce site operates and handles inventory.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 10:45 am
=I spent 10 years at a state agency and we often had to take on new projects, including those requiring IT=
Tell that to CMS, they have ignored Illinois law related to Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal since 2014
https://www.dailyherald.com/20140813/news/state-agency-is-ignoring-salary-database-law/
Comment by Donnie Elgin Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 10:53 am
=It never occurred to us we could just tell the legislature no.=
Good to know now. Education has too many unfunded mandates to count, now I know we don’t have to implement them. This will save our small rural district over $1 million annually at least.
Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 10:57 am
- ISP would need to create an extensive, new database (similar to the sex offender registration) and maintain it. This requires funding for setup and ongoing administration of the program.” -
I really hope those 9 names didn’t strain you too badly, ISP. I’d be embarrassed to be so averse to work.
Comment by Excitable Boy Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 11:23 am
Note what the ISP didn’t say: that they ever asked for funding to implement it.
Comment by QTNA Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 11:33 am
===ISP would need to create an extensive, new database====
===As of Sept. 1, there are nine convicted arsonists on the registry==== is believed to be in the hundreds====
There seems to be a difference of opinion between me and the ISP on what constitutes “extensive”
Comment by Been There Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 11:39 am
Re Portal, from the link: “Some lawmakers say they were never told it would cost anything, maintain there is no additional cost … .”
That encapsulates the problem. Legislator / politicians thinking things happen at no cost. Suppose on Halloween they’ll join Linus in waiting for the Great Pumpkin to appear.
Comment by Anyone Remember Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 11:53 am
===There seems to be a difference of opinion between me and the ISP on what constitutes “extensive”===
ISP’s opinion is driven by, no doubt, the “expectations” of OAG and DoIT.
Comment by Anyone Remember Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 11:55 am
I get the skepticism about whether agencies are doing the best they can with implementation because they frequently are not.
I don’t think this is one of those cases. Here, an amendment was passed this session that made this a registry as opposed to a registration, a far less burdensome task for ISP. They need only publish the required information about people convicted of arson. Under the new law, arsonists are not required, as they previously would have been, to go register themselves and do regular check-ins with the sheriffs in a similar manner as sex offenders.
Also, if I remember correctly, the old law was also subject to appropriation, meaning that the legislature intended that it be implemented only if there was appropriation. There was not appropriation. In addition, a “shall” in the original bill also prevented ISP from moving ahead without the completion of a state and city collaborative data-base that never came into existence.
Write better bills that are realistic, appropriated, and actually achieve goals (even in the wake of a tragedy) and you’ll more likely to both have them implemented and help real people.
Comment by Who else Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 12:14 pm
Donnie - Some of that information (though not as much as there used to be) is still available through the IOC. It’s way more comprehensive and reliable than the CMS system ever was despite the efforts of their systems admin. Ironically, he might have retired about 10 years ago, too, and the BCCS -> DoIT transition likely hampered its ongoing maintenance.
Comment by Dirty Red Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 12:31 pm
Isn’t this just the usual we-pretend-to-do-something gimmickry to fool the voters - like ethics reform?
obviously, no one took it seriously, even those legislators who passed the law and apparently didn’t notice it was ignored two decades.
Comment by jim Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 12:58 pm
- Isn’t this just the usual we-pretend-to-do-something gimmickry to fool the voters -
Is this really a big issue for the average voter? It seems like it would be mostly useful to law enforcement so they can quickly identify people to talk to after an arson incident.
Comment by Excitable Boy Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 2:38 pm
==It seems like it would be mostly useful to law enforcement==
They already have access to this information.
Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 4:29 pm