Legislative Update
As we head into the final hours of the regular session and midnight adjournment deadline looming, several larger items remain unfinished. We spent the morning getting briefed on the budget bill that was released last night as well as new language on ethics, elections, gaming, and criminal justice. We haven’t seen a final package on an energy bill yet, but the details there are still being negotiated. In addition, several high profile bills haven’t yet been voted on including the elected school board or the alternative hybrid bill and the repeal of the Parental Notice of Abortion Act.

Over the last few days, we have advanced several important items. The new legislative maps bill passed on Friday, with long partisan debate. To give you a sense of what we faced, I’m sharing two floor speeches from that night. The first came from the other side of the aisle and makes clear what’s really at stake here when Rep. Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport) railed against what he called an unfair partisan map only to list off all the progressive policies that would be on the chopping block if only his party had drawn the map. I also spoke in the debate, sharing that while I spent the last 10 years trying to change the mapmaking process and working with my Republican colleagues to find a bipartisan solution, we still have a constitutional obligation to fulfill and this map does that while respecting the requirements of the Voting Rights Act and reflecting the diversity of our state.
Representative Kelly Cassidy shares remarks during remap debate on House floor
I will share more as details become available and anticipate doing a more detailed dive into the budget, election reform, and ethics reform as well as a session round up in the days ahead, but I wanted to offer some updates on bills I’ve been working on this session and what became of each of them:

HB251 - Local School Council background checks, this bill would eliminate the onerous background checks that LSC members are subjected to which go well beyond anything an elected school board member would face. The bill failed to advance. The companion bill SB148 sponsored by Omar Aquino, passed the Senate but didn’t advance in the House. Along with Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, who assumed sponsorship of SB148, I will continue to push for a solution that respects and protects undocumented people who want to serve in our neighborhood schools.

HB2784 - The Community Emergency Services and Support Act (CESSA). CESSA is also known as the Stephon Edward Watts Act and named for a young autistic man who was shot by police when his parents called 911 for help when he was in crisis. This bill will require that when a person seeks help for a mental health crisis, the 911 operator will dispatch a mental health response rather than a law enforcement one. This model is based on the Cahoots model being utilized in Oregon and represents the first time a state has adopted the policy. The bill passed both chambers unanimously and heads to the Governor for his signature. 

HB3265 - Clarifies the definition of rape crisis center to close a loophole that put survivors and service providers at risk of having their confidential files made public. This bill passed both chambers and will head to the Governor for his signature.

HB3540 - Requires that election authorities provide added protections for voters with disabilities in order to ensure that they have appropriate access to vote by mail. This provision was included in SB825, the election omnibus bill.

HB3548 - Creates a permanent vote by mail list for qualified voters allowing individuals to opt in to automatically receive vote by mail ballots. This provision was included in SB825, the election omnibus bill.

HB3828 - This bill laid out specific timelines and procedures to reform the state’s process for filling vacancies in the General Assembly to create more transparency and consistency statewide. A version of this with significantly less detail was included in SB825. I will continue to press for much more strict guidelines, but I am pleased to see this change after 4 years of introducing the bill.

SB626 - Originally sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Jacqueline Collins, this bill will do two important things. First, it will increase the credit defendants receive for community service hours in lieu of court costs from $4/hour to at least the minimum wage, granting judges discretion to give more credit if warranted. Additionally, the bill creates a pilot program in Cook County to allow judges to grant court cost waivers for defendants in traffic court. The bill is now headed to the Governor for his signature.

SB1079 - This will clarify inconsistencies in the sexual harassment prevention training requirements as they apply to individuals in licensed professions. The bill passed both chambers unanimously and heads to the Governor for his signature.

SB2129 - Since 2017, I have been introducing versions of this bill that will allow a prosecutor to file a motion for resentencing hearings for cases where justice would be best served by revisiting the case, for example inmates serving longer sentences than they would serve if they were convicted today as the result of criminal justice reform efforts. The bill will maintain the constitutionally mandated victims’ rights provisions in our law. The bill passed the Senate 31-17 and the House 61-48 and now heads to the Governor for his signature.

SB2204 - This bill was an initiative of State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in conjunction with organizations serving survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and clarifies that verbal threats constitute stalking and not protected speech. The bill passed both chambers unanimously and heads to the Governor for his signature.

SB2339 & SB2340 - These bills were an initiative of Cook County Clerk of the Court Iris Martinez and sought to address concerns raised by a CBS2 investigation that revealed that under the previous administration policies had led to inadvertent release of private identifying information of underage victims of sex crimes. These bills address those privacy concerns as they apply to both adult and minor victims and are headed to the Governor for his signature.

SB2567 - This bill is also an initiative of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and is a combination of several reforms and law updates for survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child sexual abuse. It defines “unable to grant consent” to ensure that victims who are drugged or abused while under anesthesia have access to justice. The bill also corrects a statutory error for penalties in cases where victims of aggravated criminal sexual assault are minors, clarifies that evidence in cases of child pornography must remain in the custody of the court, provides that consent is required before filming a person’s intimate parts, and expands the definition of neglected child and person responsible for the child’s welfare to contemplate adults other than parents, guardians, and agencies for prosecution of child endangerment, abuse, and neglect. This bill also passed both Houses and will go to Governor Pritzker for his signature.
Sincerely,

Kelly Cassidy
State Representative, 14th District

Office of State Representative Kelly Cassidy

5533 N Broadway

Chicago IL 60640
773-784-2002(phone)
773-784-2060(fax)