Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a wide-ranging bill reforming the state’s gun laws Monday at the Aurora Police Department.
SPRINGFIELD — Within five miles of the scene of a 2019 workplace mass shooting that left six people dead and five law enforcement officers injured, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a wide-ranging bill reforming the state’s gun laws Monday at the Aurora Police Department.
Advocates for the new law — including Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly — hailed it as a measure that would provide the statutory backing and funding necessary to retrieve guns from those with revoked Firearm Owners Identification cards, while also streamlining the application and renewal process for law-abiding gun owners.
“I will never forget those images, nor will I ever forget the look in the eyes of the officers of the Aurora PD. I will forever live with the scars of that day,” Kelly said during the bill signing Monday, speaking of the Aurora shooting. “Nor can any of us forget the weaknesses in the firearm safety system that were exposed.”
Kristen Ziman, police chief in Aurora, recalled how the community was “ripped apart” by the shooting at Henry Pratt Company, calling it the “defining moment” in her career ahead of her scheduled retirement at the end of the week.
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Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman speaks at a news conference Feb. 15, 2019, in Aurora, about the shootings at a manufacturing company in the city.
“What has kept me up at night since that horrific day is that the shooter used a gun he never should have had. He used that gun to steal these precious lives,” she said. “He had a revoked FOID card, which should have rendered him unable to continue owning a firearm, but a broken system caused the revocation to fall through the cracks.”
Her officers “immediately began working with lawmakers” to try to fix the system, she said.
Following the shooting, Kelly began a push to seek what he called “modernization” of the FOID system, while ISP also began serving more firearms enforcement details — more than 450 since the shooting, “with over 1,300 prohibited persons placed directly in compliance,” according to Kelly.
Kelly said those actions were made possible by stable state government budgets, and the pace of revocations could be accelerated with the new law’s dedicated revenue streams for those actions.
Brendan Kelly
The new law, which was supported by gun reform advocates while the Illinois State Rifle Association remained neutral, creates a number of changes to gun statutes, including:
- Within 90 days of the bill’s Jan. 1, 2022, effective date, State Police must create a “prohibited persons portal” to track people who have had their cards revoked or suspended. Law enforcement agencies, state’s attorneys and the attorney general would have access to that portal.
- The bill also requires ISP to establish the Violent Crime Intelligence Task Force to aid in enforcement of FOID card revocation or suspension enforcement. The task force would “conduct enforcement operations” for those with suspended or revoked licenses, with a priority on individuals “presenting a clear and present danger to themselves or to others,” according to the bill.
- The $10 renewal fee for FOID cards will remain the same under the law, but beginning in 2022 half of it will go to the State Police Firearm Services Fund which oversees applications and renewals, and half to the State Police Revocation Enforcement Fund. Previously, $6 of that fee went to the state Fish and Wildlife fund while $3 went to the Firearms Services Fund and another $1 went to the State Police Services Fund.
- FOID card applicants would not be required to submit fingerprints, but if they do, or they share with the Illinois State Police the fingerprints they filed to receive their Concealed Carry License, they would be eligible for automatic renewal without a renewal fee, provided they purchased a gun sometime within the 10-year period between renewals and passed the ISP background check in the process. That process is to be established by 2023.
- Starting in 2024, private sellers will either have to work with federal licensees or with ISP to “determine the validity” of the purchaser’s Firearm Owners Identification card “under state and federal law including the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.” Buyers would have to submit a record of the transfer to a federal firearm license dealer within 10 days of receiving the gun.
- Beginning in January 2022, State Police must develop a stolen gun database through which potential buyers may search the serial number of a gun to determine whether it is stolen.
- The measure also requires the State Police to monitor state and federal databases for residents charged with firearm-related crimes and to correlate the records with FOID and Concealed Carry Licenses to identify individuals who should not be allowed to own a gun.
- The bill also creates a FOID Card Review Board to consider appeals on denied or revoked cards.
- The bill also authorizes ISP to produce an electronic FOID and Concealed Carry License, allows the agency to provide a single card for FOID and CCL, and would update FOID and CCL renewal dates to be the same for one cardholder.
- The state’s concealed carry law directs funding to a state Mental Health Reporting Fund, and the new law stipulates that if there is a surplus in the fund, half will go to community-based mental health programs aimed at reducing gun violence, and half will go to award grants that use and promote the National School Mental Health Curriculum model for school-based mental health support, integration, and services.
See the new Illinois laws that took effect July 1
665 bills
The Democrat-controlled Illinois General Assembly approved 665 bills this legislative session, with the vast majority awaiting Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature.
But, Pritzker has signed 42 bills into law. A handful of those will take effect Jan. 1, 2022, but most went into effect immediately upon signing or will take effect this Thursday.
Here are some notable new laws in effect now or on Thursday that Illinoisans should know.
Election reform
With pandemic-related delays to U.S. Census redistricting numbers, lawmakers moved back the state’s 2022 primary election from March 15 to June 28. The legislation also makes Election Day a state holiday, requires every county to have at least one universal voting center and allow people to be added to a permanent vote-by-mail list. (SB825)
Vote by mail
Some pandemic-induced changes to voting for the 2020 general election, such as vote-by-mail and curbside drop-off, will now be permanent features of future elections. (House Bill 1871)
State legislative redistricting
As they are tasked with doing every 10 years, lawmakers approved new district boundaries for the Illinois House and Senate. The Democrat-drawn maps, which utilized the U.S. Census’ American Community Survey instead of waiting for the decennial census numbers that will arrive later this year, have been challenged in court by Republicans and some other groups. (HB2777)
Illinois Supreme Court redistricting
The seven-person Illinois Supreme Court’s district boundaries were successfully redrawn for the first time since the 1960s. (SB642)
Police reform
There was no more controversial bill that passed this year than House Bill 3653, also known as the SAFE-T Act, which passed during the lame duck session this January. The provisions ending cash bail and requiring all police to wear body cameras will not take effect until 2023 and 2025, respectively. But starting Thursday, police will be required to render aid to the injured, intervene when a fellow officer is using excessive force and and be limited in use of force. It also offers stricter guidelines for the decertification of officers and would allow people to file anonymous complaints of police misconduct. (HB3653)
Payday loans
Lenders are now prohibited from charging more than 36% annual percentage rate on consumer loans. The average rate in Illinois was nearly 300% prior to the law’s signing. (SB1792)
Vaccine lottery
Tucked into the state’s fiscal year 2022 budget is $10 million for a “vaccine lottery.” All Illinois residents vaccinated by July 1 will be automatically entered into the contest. It includes $7 million in cash prizes to vaccinated adults, ranging from $100,000 to $1 million, and $3 million in scholarship awards to vaccinated youth. (SB2800)
COVID-19 emergency housing
Created guidelines for distributing more than $1 billion in federal stimulus funds for COVID-related housing relief. Also creates automatic sealing of evictions during the pandemic. (SB2877)
Pretrial interest
Victims in personal injury and wrongful death cases will be allowed to collect interest from defendants from the time a lawsuit is filed. It is meant to incentivize settlement of these cases. It was supported by the trial lawyers and opposed by business groups. (SB72)
Casino labor
All casino applicants in Illinois are now required to enter into a project-labor agreement when seeking a new or renewed license. (SB1360)
Crime victims compensation
Provides that a victim’s criminal history or felony status shall not automatically prevent compensation to that victim or the victim’s family. Extends the applicant’s period for submitting requested information to 45 days from 30 days and provides that a final award shall not exceed $45,000, up from $27,000, for a crime committed on or after August 7, 2022. (HB3295)
Electronic signature
Provides that a contract, record, or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability simply because it is in electronic form or an electronic record was used in its formation. Provides that if a law requires a record to be in writing, an electronic record satisfies the law. (SB2176)
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