Chambana Sun

State Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) said the minor changes the General Assembly made to the SAFE-T Act do not go far enough to protect Illinoisans. 

The trailer bill to the SAFE-T Act passed 38-17 in Senate, 71-40 in House. No Republican voted for the changes. 

“Once again, the answer to a problem the state created was to tax businesses more,” Halbrook said in a release. “I voted against the ‘Agreed’ bill that will raise rates on employers to fix a problem created by the Pritzker administration. (In regard to) the minor changes to the SAFE-T Act, criminals will remain having more consideration in the judicial system than the public. Victims seeking justice will be exposed to additional harm as they can be forced to testify in detention hearings, and Illinoisans’ safety will recede as dangerous criminals are released pending trial. To further insult law-abiding citizens, Democrats introduced legislation to give felons in jail the right to vote.”

The SAFE-T Act was a flashpoint in the 2022 campaign. Thousands of inmates who are currently being held in jails around the state while they await trial on serious crimes would be released as a result of the bill set to take effect Jan. 1, the Will County Gazette reported.

If the SAFE-T Act is implemented as intended, those charged with the most heinous crimes—such as robbery, kidnapping, arson, second-degree murder, intimidation, aggravated battery, aggravated DUI, aggravated flight, drug-related homicide and threatening a public official—will be freed.

Of the 102 state's attorneys, 60 have filed lawsuits to stop the legislation from taking effect in its current form and 100 are in favor of amending or repealing the law altogether, according to the Madison-St. Clair Record.

New Senate Minority Leader John Curran said one of his goals is to roll back parts of the SAFE-T Act. 

“So the Democrats decided to go it alone on this issue two years ago,” Curran said, WSIU reported. “And they placated the extremes of their base. And what they got was an extreme product that has caused nothing but divisiveness in this state over the last two years on the issues of balancing civil liberties and public safety.”