Page 21 - July2021

Trailer bill modifies rules for body cameras, use of force and more
Governor Pritzker has now signed the po- lice trailer bill, HB 3443 (Slaughter/Sims). This bill represents the initial trailer bill to the Black Caucus criminal justice reform passed in January. Key provisions include:
Training: Clarifies that all mandated
law enforcement training will be provided
at no cost to the employees, and employees must be paid for all time spent attending mandat- ed training.
Body cameras: Provides that officer-worn body cameras may be turned off when the officer is inside a correc- tional facility or courthouse that is equipped with a functioning camera system. Provides that a law enforcement officer shall not have access to or review his or her body-worn camera recordings, the body-worn camera recordings of another officer or any other recordings prior to completing incident reports or other docu- mentation under specified circumstances. Provides that notwith- standing provisions of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, a law enforcement agency receiving a complaint made against a law enforcement officer will provide an opportunity for the com- plainant to view the available recordings from a body-worn cam- era system pertaining to the incident as soon as practical and pri- or to the complainant finalizing their complaint, if so requested by the complainant.
Use of force: Provides that a peace officer is not justified in us- ing force likely to cause death or great bodily harm when there is no longer an immediate threat of great bodily harm to the officer or another. In provisions concerning prohibited use of force by a peace officer, it provides that “chokehold” does not include any holding involving contact with the neck that is not intended to reduce the intake of air. Places restrictions on the use of chemical agents or irritants.
Duty to intervene: In a provision concerning the duty to inter- vene, replaces a reference to a person acting on behalf of a peace officer with a reference to a person acting under the color of law.
Other changes: Makes changes in a provision concerning rules and regulations for sentence credit (with regard to participation in certain programs, assignments and activities). Makes changes in a provision concerning mandatory supervised release, as well as in a provision on the reporting of deaths of persons in custody in correctional institutions. It also delays the effective date of var- ious provisions changed by Public Act 101-652.
In addition, the General Assembly also approved and the gov- ernor has signed remap legislation for changes to district bound- aries for the Illinois General Assembly, the Illinois Supreme Court and the Cook County Board of Review. All were approved on par- tisan roll calls.
Redistricting typically relies on U.S. Census block-level data, but due to the pandemic, census data will not be made available to states until September. The Illinois Constitution dictates that the General Assembly is to approve new legislative boundaries by June 30. If not, the redistricting process falls to a bipartisan com- mission. And should the commission fail to reach a consensus, a lottery is held to select a tiebreaking member. The supermajority Democrats, not surprisingly, approved maps prior to May 31 to avoid risking a lottery where Republicans could gain control of the mapmaking process. Democrats relied heavily on the Amer- ican Community Survey (ACS) data and other voter data to draw the new districts. Republicans and many advocates protested the use of the ACS data and asked Democrats to wait on official
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census data to draw the new boundaries. They were not successful.
While adjustments were made to legislative districts in the revised maps, several legislators, primarily Repub- licans, are now in the same district:
• Senators Cullerton (D) and Glowiak Hilton (D) in Senate District 23
• Senators Plummer (R) and Bailey (R) in Senate District 55 Representatives Conroy (D) and Mazzochi (R) in House District 46
Representatives Grant (R) and Lewis (R) in House District 47 Representatives Wheeler (R) and Ugaste (R) in House Dis- trict 50
Representatives Bos (R) and Morrison (R) in House District 51
Representatives McCombie (R) and Chesney (R) in House District 90
Representatives Frese (R) and Davidsmeyer (R) in House District 99
Representatives Caulkins (R) and Halbrook (R) in House District 107
Representatives Bourne (R) and Murphy (R) in House Dis-
DAVE SULLIVAN
trict 108
The General Assembly is also required to redraw Illinois’ con-
gressional maps, but those new district maps have not been pub- licly released.
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