North Egypt News

State Rep. Paul Jacobs (R-Pomona) expressed his support for a repeal of a criminal justice reform measure the state’s Republican leaders oppose.

Jacobs on Jan. 7 wrote on his website that Democratic lawmakers approved changes to the Safe-T Act, changes he felt were unnecessary since he felt the bill should be repealed.

“On Wednesday night [Jan. 5], Democrats advanced yet another piece of  legislation aimed at cleaning up errors contained in the original SAFE-T Act bill,” the lawmaker wrote in The Jacobs Journal. “The reason for the errors [ranges] from misspellings to pushing off effective dates of some provisions of the law. I voted NO.”

According to Jacobs, a entire repeal of the SAFE-T Act is better than “[nibbling] around the edges.”

“The overall idea is bad and the overall bill was bad,” he continued. “We must get back to being a pro-police, pro-law enforcement, public-safety state. Criminals need to know Illinois is serious about punishing perpetrators of violent crime. We can and must do better for the people of Illinois in the coming session.”

Jacobs added that he would add his name as a co-sponsor to House Resolution 0598, which calls for a full repeal of the criminal justice reforms passed by the Democrats.

AdvantageNews.com reported that the original Safe-T Act addresses several issues, including use of force by police, mandating body cameras, and ending cash bail for non-violent offenders.

The legislation was approved last session relatively along party lines and affixed with Pritzker’s signature. Some of the provisions in the law do not go into effect until 2023 and 2025, according to the measure’s text provided on the Illinois General Assembly’s website.

The Edwardsville Intelligencer reported that the state House approved a new law clarifying parts of the Safe-T Act focused on pretrial services and detainee phone calls and moving back effective dates in the police decertification system and body camera footage labeling.