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The spring legislative session comes to a very busy close
The spring session of the second year of the 100th General Assembly came to a close on May 31. The closing days of a session are when many things can happen, and this year was no different.
The legislation that made headlines during the month was SB 2339, which was the vehicular hijack- ing bill that failed to make it out of the House com- mittee due to Black Caucus objections in May. On May 30, a House bill in the Senate that was stripped out and amended with the language from 2339, was sent to the Senate floor for a vote, passed out of the Senate, arrived in the House, assigned and passed
out of the rules committee (meaning it had no hearing), and a concurrence vote was passed at 7 p.m. on May 3. This is an ex- ample of how a piece of legislation can be passed in the House and Senate in a 24-hour period if it is desired.
Lodge 7 was very busy in its interactions with legislation, fil- ing more than 90 witness slips and testifying in several commit- tees both for and against legislation. We have established the type of presence that was required, and it resulted in no nega- tive police legislation being passed — including the three bills seeking to repeal the sworn affidavit legislation and the attempt to rescind the sunset date in PA 99-352, which would have re- quired police departments across the state to collect traffic and pedestrian stop data forever (SB 3415). Even when the pot was sweetened (SB 2369) to include the wording from our quota bill and the need for FOID cards for police officers as a condition of employment, we stuck to our position that it was bad law, no matter the price, and both failed to pass out of the Senate.
We will need to continue this position in the fall and in the next General Assembly as more “progressive Democrats” take office. The potential for a progressive governor will only serve to embolden those who want to enhance the anti-police feel- ings and rhetoric that we heard this session. We have already begun to work on changing those opinions by rewriting an an- ti-police resolution in the Senate and having the sponsor com- mit to talks in early fall with several legislative reps whose out- look we need to change.
Lodge 7 introduced five bills this session and have gotten three of them out of both houses and in the process of being on their way to the governor. HB 4467 is the higher education bill that will clarify previous legislation that gives children of line- of-duty death or disabled first responders four years of college tuition at state schools. Our bill was amended in the Senate to include children and dependents not legally adopted prior to the death/injury and passed out on concurrence in the House on May 31.
HB 5177 will allow for those entitled to purchase service credits from service in the Sheriff’s Office and other county po- sitions, who were turned down for a rehearing on their cases as the Pension Code did not allow for such, to get a rehearing on their bids to purchase the service time in pension. There is a chance that the governor may veto this bill based upon his past actions, but it has passed out of both houses with a veto-proof majority.
SB 3509, the bill that will prohibit quotas for traffic citations as a means of evaluating an officer’s performance in the City of Chicago, has passed. We are now to be treated the same way
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that all municipal law enforcement in the rest of the state have been treated since 2014.
The City of Chicago openly opposed and/or attempted to amend all three of these bills so that they would be changed significantly from the way we intended them to pass. Our suc- cess in keeping them in their intended format was in large part due to our chosen sponsors asking our position on proposed amendments, and then standing with us in declining the op- tions and demands from the City. Please remember Senator Bill Cunningham and Representatives Fran Hurley and Kelly Burke, who stood with us and against the City, when you see their names on ballots.
Also, Representative Rob Martwick took on the task of HB 4659 which, if passed, would remove the “born before” date from our pensions so that all Tier I pensioners will receive their 3 percent COLA when they retire. This bill passed the House and was “bricked” in the Senate, but we have Representative Martwick’s continued commitment to this legislation in time for those next impacted in 2021.
Finally, SB 2525 was introduced, seeking a 3 percent com- pounded COLA when a retiree hits age 75. Not unexpectedly, it went nowhere, but it will serve as a means of discussion for future pension talks with both Tier I and Tier II annuitants.
A lot of time and effort were spent on a bill that was intro- duced by the FOP Labor Council, originally seeking protections for officers seeking counseling and possibly receiving confiden- tial mental health treatment. After a meeting with the council and President Graham in January, the idea morphed into sim- ply disallowing municipalities from making possession of a FOID card a condition of employment. At that, point Lodge 7 was all on board, as this issue has been discussed since this new administration came in. Unfortunately, once again the City had other ideas, which resulted in another four amendments to HB 5231. Although the bill appears to be much better than what we have experienced, it would have better benefited our officers who feel a need to seek help without so much bending to the City.
Other legislation that was watched or worked on includes:
HB 4045, which makes changes to downstate and other City funds, including the establishment of a Defined Contribution style plan.
HB 4100, which provides better security for medical person- nel treating arrestees but still allows law enforcement the deci- sion on when to remove restraints.
HB 4265, which would have allowed for further actions prior to arresting someone for nonpayments of fines, was defeated.
HB 4345 establishes a First Responder Mental Health Day in Illinois.
HB 5115, which would allow for FOAI stipulations on cap- tured body camera recordings, did not pass.
HB 5203 passed and will require sensitivity training as part of the ILETSB training for youthful and sex assault victims.
HB 5342, which some call the Spisatto bill, allows for a Chi- cago alderman to purchase service time into the Fire Pension Fund after service as a firefighter for the City of Chicago.
HB 5513 allows for the state lottery to approve Police Memo- rial scratch-off tickets, the proceeds of which will be distributed among Police Memorial Foundations in the State.
MARK DONAHUE LODGE 7 LOBBYIST