View as Webpage

Hi everyone!

We have started a New Year and already had the first week of legislative session! With both the House and Senate up for election this year and the primary in March, it is expected that not much will be moving until after the primary. ICADV has two new handouts for elected officials this year and you can learn more below. ICADV is also working on a priority bill list which will not be ready until all the bills are filed and have bill numbers. For what is happening on the legislative front, please see the link below to the ICADV Fast Democracy Web Bill Tracker. All the colors remain the same as they were on the old legislative tracking spreadsheet and the list continues to reference the policy platform number. 

PLEASE CONTINUE TO CALL YOUR CONGRESS MEMBERS CONCERNING VOCA! You can find more information below. 

ICADV is seeking stories from survivors who had to deal with consequences of being in a community with a crime free nuisance ordinance. These can include threats of eviction for calling the police, trying to enforce a protection order or more. Please see the below request with the link to all the communities across the state that have such an ordinance. 

Advocacy, Funding, and Accountability (AFA) Committee members will be making calls to the Program Council Primary Delegates to set up a time to come to Springfield to meet with legislators on a Wednesday during session. Please be prepared with what Wednesday you would like to come to Springfield and meet with your legislators at the Capitol. Doing so is important for on-going advocacy efforts. These meetings have to be coordinated with ICADV given the newest ethical legislation that passed the General Assembly and it is in your best interest to have a registered lobbyist with you during these meetings. Feel free to ask questions when the AFA Committee members reach out to you, or feel free to reach out to me with questions. It is important that we demonstrate "One Mission, One Voice" publicly.

In Peace,

Christine Raffaele

Director of Policy and Systems Advocacy

STATE POLICY UPDATES

The ICADV Communications Team worked hard over the winter to develop two amazing handouts. The first handout is a graphic of the Policy and Advocacy framework of ICADV using the values developed by the Advocacy, Funding, and Accountability Committee. The second lays out the overarching legislative priorities for ICADV for 2023-2024. Shout out to our communications team for such great work! As you are meeting with elected officials and community stakeholders, please feel free to print these out and share them. If you have questions, please contact Christine.

Here is the latest edition of the ICADV Web Bill Tracker. This is regularly updated, but this most recent version was linked as of February 9, 2024. The color code remains the same as the old legislative tracking spreadsheet (see below). This list also includes references to the policy platform pillars. If you have questions about accessing the list, please reach out to Christine. You can subscribe to the list and get daily or weekly updates for the bills on the list, or you can create a free account to track individual bills. You can learn more here.  

A reminder for the color code: purple are bills we have put resources into development and strongly support, green are bills that we support, and red are bills we oppose. 

Safe Homes Act:

ICADV is currently working on the bill “Summary of Rights for Safer Homes” which will require landlords to include a cover page that describes the various rights survivors are entitled to under the Safe Homes Act. This cover sheet is to be prepared and available through the Illinois Department of Human Rights. ICADV is working Professor Debra Stark at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law on this bill. Once a bill number is available, it will be provided along with a factsheet. 

Seeking Survivor Stories:

ICADV expects to support several bills in Spring Session including Karina’s Bill, a Safe Homes Act bill, a bill that will make a small change to the Victims Economic Safety and Security Act, Paid Leave for All, and the Pretrial Success for All. 

We are currently seeking any survivor stories related to threats of eviction for calling law enforcement for things such as having the abuser arrested for the incident, to enforce a protection order, or anything regarding domestic violence. It has come to our attention that in the last few years, many communities have nuisance ordinances that require the landlord at threat by law enforcement to evict or threaten to evict survivors for calling law enforcement in these types of circumstances. If you have a survivor story and would like to share it please contact Christine. Here is a list of all the communities in Illinois to our knowledge that have such ordinances - please review and see if you have survivors in these communities who might be willing to come forward with a story.

Please also contact Christine if one of these ordinances have been used to keep you from locating shelter or housing in a community. ICADV would like to hear more about this situation. Thank you! 

KARINA’s BILL:

The Network Advocating Against Domestic Violence is continuing to move Karina’s bill forward in the Senate. The newest factsheet can be found here. The bills are: HB4469 and SB2633. ICADV is continuing to support Karina’s bill as it will finally bring the much-needed cleanup to remedy 14.5 protecting survivors. 

VESSA (Victims Economic Safety and Security Act):

Update to Victims Economic Safety and Security Act bill by Rep. Daniel Didech. The Representative is working on an amendment to HB3134 that will require an employer to provide data including photographs and videos that were obtained from an employer’s device to be available to a victim or family member for use in pursuing criminal cases or other protective actions. ICADV is providing support to this bill. 

Gender-Based Violence Re-Sentencing: 

The Illinois Supreme Court issued an opinion in People v. Wells, 2023 IL 127169, which undermined the intention behind SB2260, PA 103-403, the Gender Based Violence Re-sentencing bill.  The Illinois Supreme Court held that Section 2-1401(b-5) is sentencing relief, but this relief was not available to the survivor because she had entered into a fully negotiated guilty plea. The Court relied on precedence that fully negotiated plea agreements are not subject to sentence reductions. The Court also held that under the plain language of the statute there is no exception for proceedings under (b-5) and the plain language does not allow the survivor to seek withdrawal of her guilty plea based upon new evidence of domestic violence. Therefore, this code section does not apply to the survivor’s fully negotiated guilty plea, she could not state a viable claim for relief, and the premature dismissal of her petition was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. To read more, Quick Take on Illinois Supreme Court Opinion Issued Thursday November 30, 2023, page down to People v. Wells, a pdf of the opinion is linked in this article. 

ICADV signed on to the amicus brief in support of the survivor in this case. ICADV also participates in the Alliance for Criminalized Survivors who is working on a bill that will clarify the code section at issue in the Wells case in response to this decision. ICADV will support this bill and put resources towards getting it passed by the General Assembly. Drafting is in process and bill number has not been provided as of this date. ICADV will have more information on how everyone can help as we go forward. 

FEDERAL POLICY UPDATES

FFY (Federal Fiscal Year) 24 Updates:

Both the House and Senate passed FFY24 Continuing Resolutions (CRs) to keep the government open through March 1 and March 8.  The March 1 extension is for four bills: Agriculture, Energy & Water, Military Construction/Veterans Administration (VA), and Transportation, Housing & Urban Development (THUD) bills. The other 8 appropriations bills including the Labor Health and Human Services (LHHS) and Labor, Commerce, Justice, and Science (LCJS) bills have a deadline of March 8. Note funding for domestic violence services are in THUD, LHHS, LCJS bills. So different dates for different funding sources.  

Next step is for the Senate Appropriations Chairwoman and the House Appropriations Chairwoman to agree on what is called 302(B) funding allocations for each of the 12 appropriations bills. Once there is agreement, then the appropriations staff will have until March 1/March 8 to finalize FY24 spending measures. This agreement is not an easy task and must be completed to avoid a year-long Continuing Resolution (CR). ICADV will keep you updated on any progress. 

For more information on the latest CR, House clears stopgap funding extension into March - Roll Call.

Take Action to Save VOCA!

Hello everyone,

The current landscape is not looking good for VOCA. We have to mobilize like we did for our state funding investment! We need everyone to be active, make phone calls and send emails! We did a call in day on November 8 but need on-going contacts and phone calls. Please activate your communities, your Board members, your stakeholders - everyone! If we do NOT have a fiscal solution to VOCA there will be a 40% cut to all states.



We have two asks:

CALL YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS NOW (AND KEEP CALLING)

Please call your congress members and utilize the following script:

“This situation is dire for survivors in your community. Please take action to prevent a devastating $700 million cut to the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA). Victims and victim service programs will suffer greatly unless Congress acts. We ask that Congress invest adequate resources to ensure level funding for VOCA in the final FFY24 budget without cutting other programs that victims and survivors rely on.”

With your script include specific information and hard numbers about exactly what your program will lose.

• Include your name and role at your program
• Include any hard numbers – such as:
• Percentage of revenue that will be lost
• Real numbers of what that percentage means (for example 40% is $300,000 dollars or what ever it is)
• Positions and titles of what will be lost
• Specific programs and services that will be lost
• If you can, calculate the number of survivors who will not be served.

You can call the Capitol switchboard and ask to be transferred to your Representatives’ and Senators’ offices at this number: (202) 224-3121 

There is also a phone call toolkit that you can utilize, which can be found HERE.

ENGAGE IN SOCIAL MEDIA (POST AND REPOST FREQUENTLY)

Utilize the social media toolkit below.

• Tag your Congress members and our two Illinois Senators in your posts.
• Schedule regular ongoing posts.
• Share and tag.

IMPORTANT CASE LAW

Vanessa Taylor Case

Vanessa Taylor’s estate brought a wrongful death claim against the City of Chicago under the Illinois Domestic Violence Act. Chicago Police Department failed to perform duties and responsibilities outlined in the Illinois Domestic Violence Act after being called to Ms. Taylor’s home during an extremely violent incident, instead allowing the abuser to be released and return to Ms. Taylor’s home where he killed her. There was a prior appeal that concerned a granting of a motion to dismiss, after which the City agreed to withdraw the motion to dismiss and remand. On remand, being sent back to the trial court, after the City lost its motion for summary judgment, the case went to trial, resulting in a $3 million verdict. The City appealed that trial verdict, and the First District Court of Appeals affirmed the verdict. ICADV signed on to both the amicus brief for the prior appeal on the motion to dismiss and to the amicus brief on the appeal of the judgement after trial. 

• Read full decision here.
• Read amicus brief here.
• Read more here.

ICADV is excited to announce that Dr. Janet Jackson had her parole granted at the hearing on February 1, 2024 and she was released from prison the following day. Dr. Jacson plans on being active in supporting other survivors.  

Dr. Jackson has been incarcerated since 1986 when her co-defendants killed her husband. Throughout Dr. Jackson’s marriage, she was subjected to unimaginable violence at the hands of her husband, Kim Jackson. He broke her bones, shook her, strangled her, and threatened to shoot and kill her on numerous occasions. Dr. Jackson was also brutally and repeatedly raped, which included forcible anal sex and violent intercourse shortly after she gave birth to their daughter. Like many women experiencing intimate partner violence, Dr. Jackson endured ongoing emotional and psychological abuse. Her husband towered over her in height and was extraordinarily strong. He was obsessed with weapons and held troubling views about needing to accumulate firearms. He kept guns in the house and frequently used them in the middle of the night. After sharpening his knives, he would test them out by cutting Dr. Jackson’s arm and leg hair. In addition to her husband’s propensity towards violence and easy access to weapons, he also stalked Dr. Jackson at work and monitored her actions at home. Once, when Dr. Jackson finally managed to escape with her daughter after a particularly violent incident at home, her husband showed up with a firearm and insisted that they return home. Though she called the police to intervene, the police ultimately did little to protect her. After that, knowing he was entirely shielded from consequence, Kim Jackson’s stalking intensified and became a daily occurrence, leaving Dr. Jackson in a perpetual state of fear. At the time, the police repose was troubling but in line with attitudes of the 1980s. Illinois did not recognize marital rape at the time as a crime (it is now a crime in Illinois). There were also very little resources available to domestic violence victims as the Violence Against Women was not passed until many years after Dr. Jackson’s incarceration. Dr. Jackson did not directly participate in her husband’s death but was convicted under the theory of accountability. 

Last year, Dr. Jackson was granted clemency in that her sentence of natural life was commuted to life with the possibility of parole. Despite the trauma that Dr. Jackson has suffered, in the last 37 years she has completed her Associate’s, Bachelor’s, and Master’s Degrees and holds two PhDs., earning summa cum laude distinction at every level. Dr. Jackson is the founder of Stop the Violence Program at Dwight Correctional Center and has an exemplary disciplinary record. She continues to support and uplift incarcerated survivors. Dr. Jackson had a Prisoner Review Board hearing on February 1, 2024, at 9am.

You can read Dr. Jackson’s support letter to the Prisoner Review Board written by Women’s Justice Institute and Ascend Justice in which ICADV signed on here. 

ARTICLES & RESOURCES

Wait! Don't unsubscribe yet!

ICADV values timely and consistent communication with members. We ask that you carefully consider before unsubscribing to ICADV emails. Unsubscribing from a certain campaign might result in you not receiving important information and notifications that are sent using that same group in the future. If you have questions or wish to unsubscribe from a particular type of email campaign, please contact Christina.