SAFE-T Act

Opposite outcomings under new SAFE-T Act

Published by admin on Sun, 09/24/2023 - 2:31pm

Hannah Meisel’s recent report for Capitol News Illinois included a line that jumped out at me: “Per state law — which hasn’t been updated since 1949 — only counties with 35,000 or more residents are required to set up offices of public defender.”

SAFE-T Act now law after complicated opinions

Published by admin on Sat, 07/22/2023 - 9:18am

Both the majority and minority opinions in the Illinois Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on the SAFE-T Act last week claimed the other side was ignoring the “plain language” of the Illinois Constitution. Each focused on a single, but different word.
As the all-Democrat majority noted, the judiciary must look at the “plain language used in its natural and popular meaning when the constitutional provision was adopted.”

It will be months for court to decide on SAFE-T Act

Published by admin on Sat, 01/07/2023 - 12:36pm

Kankakee County Judge Thomas Cunnington set off a chaotic chain reaction Dec. 29 with his ruling that the General Assembly over-stepped its constitutional grounds when it voted to eliminate cash bail. Cunnington essentially said that a cash bail requirement, even though not specifically mentioned in the constitution, could be inferred; and that the General Assembly had exercised powers that properly belonged to the judicial branch.

SAFE-T Act update will allow the arrest of trespassers

Published by admin on Sat, 12/17/2022 - 11:01am

Illinois House Deputy Majority Leader Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-Peoria) headed up her chamber’s efforts to amend the controversial SAFE-T Act this year. The day before the bill came up for a vote, I asked her what were, in her opinion, the largest misconceptions about the 2021 social justice reform law.
Gordon-Booth pointed to the trespassing issue. “I don't care if you live in rural, urban, suburban. The trespassing [issue] was one that just made a lot of folks incredibly uncomfortable.”

Respect needed between Illinois Democrats, Republicans

Published by admin on Sat, 12/03/2022 - 2:23pm

The state legislative debate last week over amending the Pre-Trial Fairness Act provisions within the controversial SAFE-T Act featured many of the same obfuscations and outright misinformation that characterized the fall campaign by Republicans and many of the same insufficient answers by Democrats.

Calling out Gov. Pritzker on SAFE-T Act

Published by admin on Sun, 10/09/2022 - 10:08am

“If we didn’t pass something, we wouldn’t have gotten anything from law enforcement. We wouldn’t have gotten a serious conversation,” claimed Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) recently about why the SAFE-T Act was originally written and passed the way it was.
Rep. Ford was speaking about the cash bail provisions within the SAFE-T Act during a public event in suburban Forest Park, according to the Forest Park Review.