THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All...Why Dems made changes to cash bail law...The gun battle begins...Jesse White's swan song
December 5, 2022
Good morning, Illinois.
Illinois football will be in its first bowl game since 2019 after it accepted an invitation to the ReliaQuest Bowl (formerly the Outback Bowl formerly the Hall of Fame Bowl) January 2 in Tampa, FL. Other than being riddled with gators and “Florida Men,” it sounds like a grand old time.
A little programming note for the week: My far better half is leaving me for a work trip today so I’m playing single dad tonight. There’s only so much of me to go around, so expect a truncated newsletter tomorrow.
Wednesday, we’ll have our Livestream and Podcast again at noon. We’re scheduled to be joined by incoming House Republican Leader Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna). You can watch at noon on our YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter pages. The podcast will be posted later on Apple, Google, Spotify, or Amazon.
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Let’s get to it.
Confronted by GOP critics and confused constituents, Democrats made fixes to their sweeping criminal justice law (Chicago Tribune)
After months of blistering attacks from Republicans as well as some criticism from members of their own party, Democratic lawmakers came together during the final legislative session of the year to approve changes aimed at clarifying their controversial criminal justice overhaul.
The changes were approved along party lines just a month before Illinois is set to eliminate cash bail for criminal defendants. It marked the third time lawmakers have approved amendments to the policy, known as the SAFE-T Act, since Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed it into law in early 2021.
While Democrats preserved and expanded supermajorities in the Illinois General Assembly and held on to every statewide office in the Nov. 8 election, the party struggled to shake off the weak-on-crime narrative that Republicans pushed in making crime their top issue in the election. In the end, voters didn’t buy it, but that didn’t stop Democrats from making changes to the law they had promised were coming as they confronted GOP criticism.
“Certainly Nov. 9, when you’re looking at those results, it would have been easy to say, ‘Oh, we got a mandate, and we won and you didn’t, and we’re going to keep this as is,’ ” state Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth of Peoria, who has been leading criminal justice negotiations for House Democrats since early this year, said after the measure was approved Thursday night.
“But that would not have been right, because we knew that based on our work, regardless of what happened on Nov. 8, that we needed to tighten some of those things to be in alignment with the intent of the law,” she said.
Related: Retooled SAFE-T Act passed by General Assembly (Crain’s Chicago Business)
State lawmakers passed fixes to the SAFE-T Act before it takes effect Jan. 1. Here’s what they changed. (Chicago Sun-Times)
Champaign State’s Attorney 'satisfied — for now' with changes to SAFE-T Act (Champaign News-Gazette)
Editorial: SAFE-T Act revisions move in the right direction but still leave uncomfortable questions (Daily Herald)
Illinois would ban high-powered semi-automatic rifles under bill filed in General Assembly (Shaw Media)
High-powered semi-automatic rifles such as those that have been used in mass killings across the country would be outlawed in many cases in Illinois, and people who currently own such weapons would have to register to keep them under a Democratic proposal filed in the Illinois House this week.
Illinois also would ban certain semi-automatic pistols and prohibit other gun accessories, such as high-capacity magazines – classified as those holding more than 10 rounds – under the measure.
Additionally, Illinois would would raise the length of firearm restraining orders from six months to one year,and people younger than 21 no longer would be allowed to obtain an Illinois firearm owner’s identification card with the sponsorship of a parent or guardian, among other things.
Currently, a person must be 21 to obtain a FOID card or have written consent from a parent or legal guardian.
Related: Illinois Dems target assault weapons, age of gun owners in response to Highland Park mass shooting: ‘It really can’t wait’ (Chicago Sun-Times)
Illinois’ gun debate: Legislation, litigation and emotion fuel one of the state’s most polarizing conflicts (Chicago Tribune)
Editorial: Lawmakers must make assault weapons bill strong enough to truly curb gun violence (Chicago Sun-Times)
Secretary of State Jesse White honored for decades of community service (Chicago Sun-Times)
Outgoing Secretary of State Jesse White was honored Saturday at his namesake community center on the Near North Side, celebrated for leadership and philanthropy as volunteers handed out winter essentials and White’s tumbling team performed.
White, Illinois’ longest-serving secretary of state, declined to seek reelection this year. Fellow Democrat Alexi Giannoulias will succeed him in January.
Saturday’s event at the Jesse White Community Center, 401 W. Chicago Ave., marked a sendoff, with Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), a protégé of White, lauding him for his “many years of service to our community.
“I’m about 60 years old, and for my whole lifetime he has been giving back to our community,” Burnett said. “He may be sunsetting his political career, but he thankfully will be continuing his humanitarian work.”
White, 88, has been working with Jhin and the Korean American Friendship Network to hand out coats during Chicago winters for 14 years.
Looking back on his career, White noted that he didn’t have the support of the Illinois Democratic Party when he first ran for secretary of state in 1998 — and won.
“I came into an office with a lot of corruption and worked to clean up the office,” he said.
Related: Retiring Secretary of State Jesse White reflects on his legacy (WIFR)
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