Pritzker Signs Bill Ending Cash Bail, Requiring Police Bodycams

CHICAGO — Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a sweeping package of criminal law and police accountability reforms, making Illinois the first state in the nation to abolish cash bail for pretrial detention.

Pritzker held a signing ceremony Monday at Chicago State University with state lawmakers, law enforcement members and activists from community groups.

House Bill 3653, a criminal justice omnibus bill sponsored by the Legislative Black Caucus, passed the Senate 32-23 and the House by a vote of 60-50 with about an hour remaining in last month's lame-duck legislative session.

Pritzker said the bill's sponsors had pushed to address systemic racism following national protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

"They transformed the pain into progress, and, in just a few minutes, into law," Pritzker said. The governor said the bill would make the state safer, and said opponents of the law do not believe there is injustice in the criminal law systems.

"All Illinoisans will live in a safer and more just state with this law on the books," he said. "This legislation marks a substantial step toward dismantling the systemic racism that plagues our community, our state and our nation and brings us closer to true safety, true fairness and true justice."

Sen. Elgie Sims (D-Chicago), the Senate sponsor of the 764-page legislation, said the bill was a response to calls for comprehensive changes to criminal law procedures in the months following the in-custody homicide of George Floyd in Minnesota. He said at the signing ceremony Illinoisans across the state are demanding police reform.

"They recognize we've tried the failed the tough-on-crime policies of the past, which have not made us more safe. They recognize that you can support good officers and want reform at the same time," Sims said.

"They are not deterred by those 'Trumpian' strategies to deflect deny and defame as a way to stall progress. By fear-mongering and politicizing public safety, by taking a bill aimed at making it harder for a law enforcement officer to shoot a fleeing suspect in the back, or basing pre-trial detention decisions not on the size of someone's bank account but on their threat to public safety or their failure to appear in court, and some twisting it into an anti-law enforcement bill to protect criminals — the reality is that a majority of Illinoisan want real reform in the criminal justice system," he added. "They want law enforcement officers held accountable for violating someone's rights. Illinois citizens want all of their neighbors have the same access to safety and justice. Now I know, change can be difficult. But history will judge how we responded in this moment, which called for big bold transformative changes. This is not a moment for incrementalism but one which calls for us to reimagine what public safety looks like in this great state."

State Rep. Justin Slaughter (D-Chicago) was the bill's House sponsor. He said it was fitting that the Black Caucus-sponsored bill was being signed during Black History Month.

"Four hundred years of slavery did not break us, it only made us stronger," Slaughter said. "Together we picked up the blood-stained banner, and now it's forward march with criminal justice reform. Power concedes nothing without a demand. Together we are done asking, requesting, begging. Together, this is our demand. Together, we will rise. Together, we will go from protest to progress."

Pritzker has said the bill gives Illinois the opportunity to become a "lesson in true justice for the nation" by changes to pretrial detention, sentencing laws, police licensing, bodycam mandates and changes to training requirements.

"I was proud to make ending cash bail and modernizing sentencing laws a legislative priority of my administration," the governor said after the bill's passage. "I have long pledged my support to the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus in their efforts to pass not just criminal justice reform and police accountability measures, but also to truly root out the systemic racism that pulses through all our nation’s institutions by pursuing greater equity in healthcare, higher goals in education, and deeper investments in economic opportunity for communities that have for too long been left out and left behind."

READ MORE: Police Reform Bill Ends Cash Bail, Mandates Bodycams: HB 3653

More than 100 community organizations, including faith-based, civil liberty and legal aid groups, endorsed the inclusion of the Pretrial Fairness Act ending money bond as part of the package.

About 90 percent of people detained in the state's county jails are being held awaiting trial, according to activists from the Coalition to End Money Bond. Supporters of ending monetary bail point to similar reforms in New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and the federal court systems. Studies of those reforms have shown no significant differences in crime rates.

“In 30 seconds, a judge set my money bond at $20,000 and changed the course of my life. I spent 14 months in jail. As a consequence, I lost my business, housing, and I nearly lost custody of my children," said Lavette Mayes, an advocate with the group. "When I heard that Governor Pritzker was signing the Pretrial Fairness Act, I began to cry knowing that never again will families in our state experience the pain mine did."

While some parts of the bill will be effective on July 1, the changes to bail do not take effect until 2023 to give judges time to develop procedures to set conditions of release. Other parts of the law do not take effect until 2024 or 2025.

The law presumes people charged with a crime are entitled to release on their own recognizance on the condition they attend all court proceedings and do not commit a criminal office while awaiting trial.

"Additional conditions of release," according to the text of the bill, "shall be set only when it is determined that they are necessary to assure the defendant's appearance in court, assure that the defendant does not commit any criminal office, and complies with all conditions of pretrial release. Detention only shall be imposed when it is determined that the defendant poses a specific, real and present threat to ta person, or has a high likelihood of willful flight."

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In addition to ending cash bail, the bill also requires all departments to equip their officers with body-worn cameras by 2025 and creates a new system for certifying and decertifying licenses for officers.

Attorney General Kwame Raoul praised the inclusion of the decertification plan, which he said creates a single set of statewide rules for officers while promoting professionalism and transparency in law enforcement.

“These certification reforms are the result of collaboration between my office, law enforcement, advocates and the sponsors – Rep. Justin Slaughter and Sen. Elgie Sims. Senator Tim Bivins began this journey years ago, and I am proud that today we have reached our destination and will be implementing meaningful reform that will promote professionalism, increase transparency and restore the public’s trust in law enforcement,” Raoul said last month in a statement. “I applaud the tireless effort of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus to address criminal justice reform in Illinois in a comprehensive manner.”

Police unions and other associations representing law enforcement officials have opposed the bill.

Last week, the state lodge of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police released the results of a January survey of 1,500 members that found police officers oppose the reforms. Nearly half said they were actively looking into leaving Illinois, with 40 percent of that group indicating they will leave the field of law enforcement entirely.

A total of 97 percent of responding officers "feel physically or financially threatened by the provisions of the legislation," 97 percent said it will have an effect on the way "they, their families and friends will vote in future elections" and 99 percent thought it would "embolden criminals."

The state union, the FOP Labor Council, FOP Chicago Lodge 7, Illinois Sheriffs’ Association and the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police issued a joint statement criticizing the governor's decision to sign the bill pointing to the signatures in opposition to the bill submitted before its passage.

“In signing this bill into law, Governor Pritzker chose to listen to a few strident political voices rather than the 120,000 petition signing citizens who plainly saw the bill for what it is. This new law is a blatant move to punish an entire, honorable profession that will end up hurting law-abiding citizens the most. Because we are sworn to protect and serve the public, we sincerely hope that we will not be proven right about this new law, that it won't cause police officers to leave the profession in droves and handcuff those who remain so they can't stop crimes against people and property," the group said. "Please don't let us measure its dismal failure by the shattered lives it produces. We urge all citizens to remember who supported this law, and keep that in mind the next time they look to the police in Illinois for the protection they can no longer provide.”

Illinois House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) said Pritzker had "turned his back" on police officers by signing the bill.

“The Governor’s support of House Bill 3653 is an insult to our first responders, law enforcement and the law-abiding citizens of Illinois who work to live free of violence and destruction from the criminal element," Durkin said. "It’s clear that Governor Pritzker does not understand this bill and what it means to our criminal justice system. Illinois and its citizens will not be safer because of this bill."

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx congratulated lawmakers for passing the bill.

"I am here to thank you all for rejecting the false premise that we can either have public safety or criminal justice reform. The reality is: you cannot have public safety without criminal justice reform. The reality is: if the credibility and legitimacy of our institutions are doubted by those who need the most, then those who will rely on our services will not come," Foxx said at the signing ceremony.

"For those who engage in the fear-mongering rhetoric, for those who wish to hold on to a system that hasn't made us safer, for those who wish to ignore the historic and systemic issues of racism in our institutions at the cost of lives, particularly Black and Brown lives, I say to you that this legislation is just the starting point for the continued work that we must do collectively collaboratively to ensure that all of our communities are safe and just."

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Raoul said that law enforcement associations, including the Illinois State's Attorney's Association and the Illinois Sheriff's Association, participated in meetings to develop legislative language involving police certification.

Other police unions also provided "constructive input," the attorney general said, while leaving the door open for changes to the legislation ahead of implementation.

"I want to state very clearly that I remain committed to working with law enforcement partners, legislators, the governor's office and advocates on any cleanup language to address any oversight or unintended consequences," Raoul said. "I've made that commitment known to all parties."