'Now We Must Implement This': Lawmakers Tout Passage Of HB 3653

WAUKEGAN, IL — The legislative sponsors of the sweeping criminal justice overhaul signed into law last week by Gov. J.B. Pritzker appeared at a news conference with the governor and local officials in Waukegan Wednesday to praise the passage of House Bill 3653.

HB 3653 eliminates cash bail, makes police body-worn cameras mandatory and increases police accountability and training requirements, among other things. The 764-page omnibus bill passed the state Senate after 3 a.m. and won House approval as the last act of January's lame-duck session in Springfield.

Sen. Elgie Sims (D-Chicago) recalled he had to wake up several people, including Lake County States Attorney Eric Rinehart, amid late-night negotiations in the waning hours of the 101st General Assembly.

"There have been statements made about how this process played out, and how the bill passed under the cover of darkness," Sims said. "Well, the reason the bill passed as late as it did is because we continued to negotiate. We wanted to hear from all the voices."

Sims said the bill includes resources to improve police training and mental health resources, while also aiming to avoid the criminalization of poverty.

"I know there are some who oppose the safety act for various reasons. I get it. Change is hard. Change is difficult. But change is necessary," Sims said, before commending the work of advocates who pushed to reimagine public safety and acknowledged those who opposed the bill.

"For all of those individuals who felt locked out and locked in to conditions, seize this moment," he said. "Understand that this is how you change government — by lifting up your voices, by being involved in the process, and by never, ever giving up."

State Rep. Justin Slaughter (D-Chicago) said emotions have been running high over the bill, but now is the time to focus on making sure the new law is put into action effectively.

"Now we must implement this," Slaughter said. "We shouldn't put this in the bucket of radical reforms. These are common-sense approaches to things that we needed to do to bring more fairness and equity into a criminal justice system that's rooted in racism."

Related: Police Reform Bill Ends Cash Bail, Mandates Bodycams

The changes to pretrial detention take effect in 2023, while the body camera requirement does not apply to municipalities with fewer than 50,000 residents until 2025.

"We needed to bring a common-sense approach for moving away from one that really relied on our ability or inability to financially post bail to one that leans on verified risk assessment tools. Looking at how the adverse negative impact this is having on individuals and families — disruptions with education, disruptions with our jobs, disruptions with public health," Slaughter said.

"It was time that we move away from a wealth-based detention system, with that not going into effect until Jan. 1st of 2023," he added. "Let's calm down, take a deep breath and focus our attention on making sure that when that goes live, we have the most effective system there. It's really important that we turn our attention to that."

Related: Pritzker Signs Bill Ending Cash Bail, Requiring Police Bodycams

The bill's co-sponsors were joined at Wednesday afternoon's news conference at the Waukegan Park District Field House by Pritzker, several local legislators, and Rinehart, the Lake County state's attorney who lawmakers described as actively involved in lobbying lawmakers for the bill's passage. Rinehart and Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx were the only elected prosecutors in the state to push for the bill.

In his remarks, Rinehart said the bill would improve the safety of every community in Lake County, which he described as a hotbed of law enforcement misconduct.

"As everyone here knows, Lake County has been 'Ground Zero' for wrongful convictions for two decades. I ran for state's attorney to end that culture once and for all. It was a culture that had sent innocent men to prison for over a hundred years. It was a culture that had cost taxpayers over $54 million," Rinehart said.

Rinehart, a former criminal defense attorney in Highwood who was elected chief county prosecutor last year as a Democrat, said increases to transparency and accountability in the bill provide prosecutors the tools needed to eliminate systemic injustice in the criminal law system.

"We have finally acted with foresight and with vision to fulfill a promise to the people of Lake County and to the people of Illinois," Rinehart said. "That we will never again allow the innocent to suffer in prison, and we will never burn taxpayers with millions of dollars in legal settlements."

Latoya Howell, whose son was fatally shot by a Zion police officer in 2015, was the final speaker at Wednesday's news conference.

"My son was running for his life and was shot in his back twice and killed by an officer who had sworn to protect and serve. If legislation like the bill that we're talking about today was in place in 2015, I truly believe that my son will be alive and running today," Howell said.

"I represent the fight, the struggle, and the movement in my protest. I represent the communities, Black and brown, that have been oppressed and suppressed for so many years," she added. "I've watched fellow advocates and activists die in this fight. It is time for change, and the change is happening now."