North Egypt News

Illinois lawmakers have made changes to the so-called SAFE-T Act, but Republicans including State Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) believe the fixes don't do enough to address their concerns over much of what's contained in the controversial law. 

In a December 6 Facebook post, Bryant promoted her latest "Bryant's Bulletin" update, which included information on the amendments to the SAFE-T Act. 

"Controversial SAFE-T Act undergoes changes, but public concerns remain," Bryant wrote in her post. 

In her weekly update, Bryant criticized her Democrat colleagues for doing "the bare minimum" to address the worries people in the state have about the implications of the law passed in 2021. Bryant pointed out that even with the changes there are still offenses that don't require being held and unfunded mandates weren't addressed. She said, "at the end of the day, the good components of this bill don’t come close to making up for all of the issues contained in the original law."

The amendments were included in House Bill 1095 which has been sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) for his signature. Under the law, more crimes have been added to the list of what could prevent someone from getting a pretrial release. The standard for pretrial release was also expanded and now requires prosecutors to prove a defendant presents "a real and present threat to the safety of any person or persons or the community, based on the specific articulable facts of the case."

The SAFE-T Act has received criticism from law enforcement, police unions and many Republican state lawmakers, SE Illinois News reported back in August.