Pritzker Anticipates Tweaks, but Says ‘SAFE-T Act' Should Go Into Effect Jan. 1

As lawmakers return this week for the final veto session of 2022, and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker predicts tweaks will be made to the controversial SAFE-T Act.

“I think there will be a good bill that will be  presented,” he said. “We shouldn’t be flinging the doors open Jan. 1, with the misinformation that’s been put out there, as the driver of that, let’s fix that.”

Pritzker supports the elimination of cash bail, but also favors changes to better explain the bill as “there are tweaks and changes and clarifications that need to be made.”

Campaign ads in the November election focused on the wide ranging bill, but Pritzker says much of those ads spread misinformation. This fall, more than half of Illinois’ state’s attorneys filed lawsuits focusing on blocking the end of cash bail.

The lawsuits have been consolidated with an initial hearing coming on Dec. 7 in Kankakee. State’s Attorney Jim Rowe will lead the plaintiffs in the case, as he was one of the first to file suit against the measure, citing provisions in the state constitution that provide for cash bail and citing the speed with which it passed through the General Assembly.

Pritzker does not want a delay in implementing the provisions of the law.

“I think that we should pass it now, we should pass the changes, the trailer bill now, and should go into effect as intended on January one,” he said.