Over the past month, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed over 100 bills. But three gun violence prevention measures that advocates thought could make a difference were not among them: Karina’s Bill, the Homicide Victims’ Families’ Rights Act, and the Homicide Data Transparency Act.
Despite being introduced by the start of the year, legislators did not bring these bills up for a vote during the session that ended in late May.
Gun violence prevention advocates and bill sponsors are hopeful that the setback is just a delay, and that they’ll be heard and signed during the fall veto session, but they plan on keeping pressure on officials until then. It’s common for bills to be delayed, said Democratic State Representative Kam Buckner. Sometimes, he added, it takes time to finalize and pass legislation, regardless of the issue. “It’s just the way that Springfield works,” he said. “But we got to stay on it and do all we can to get it over the finish line.”
Buckner is the lead sponsor for the measures that touch on victims’ families’ rights and data transparency. While he was disappointed that neither was called up for a vote, he said he was inspired by the support they garnered from advocates and government officials. “I still have tremendous faith and confidence that we’ll be able to do it and bring some justice, peace, safety, and closure to the people of Illinois.”
Here’s a breakdown of what these three bills propose.
Karina’s Bill
On July 3, 2023, Karina González and her 15-year-old daughter were fatally shot in their home. González’s husband was arrested and charged with murder, among other charges. González had submitted an order of protection against her husband that could have removed the weapon that police say ended their lives, but his firearm was never seized. The bill clarifies the process for removing firearms after courts grant an order of protection. It requires judges to issue a search-and-seizure warrant if they find an alleged abuser is a danger to others. This allows law enforcement to immediately remove the alleged abuser’s firearms, ammunition, or gun parts.
The bill would also:
- Require law enforcement to carry out the warrant no later than 96 hours after it was issued.
- Require people with orders against them to surrender their firearms to their local law enforcement agency — not to people with valid state Firearm Owners Identification cards (FOID).
- Clarify that the measure can apply to an intimate partner, not just spouses or co-parents.
- Allow law enforcement agencies to store guns collected from orders of protection with federally licensed firearm dealers.
Advocates were disappointed that it was not called up for a vote, said Amanda Pyron, the executive director of The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence, a domestic violence prevention organization. “We know Illinois women need this bill,” she said. “It would be life saving.”
In 2023, domestic violence homicides more than doubled in Illinois compared to 2022, according to a new report by the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence. That same year, a firearm was used in 68 percent of the 120 of those deaths, up from 49 percent in 2022.
Pyron is not sure why the bill was not called for a vote, but noted that the Supreme Court case, U.S. v. Rahimi, which challenged a federal law that bans people under domestic violence protection orders from possessing guns, may have held things up. Now that the justices have upheld the law, she thinks it may have a higher chance of passing.
“It’s a remedy that survivors desperately need,” she said. “It’s essential that we have this legislation to clarify the language and make sure that law enforcement are removing weapons before tragedies occur.”
The Homicide Victims’ Families’ Rights Act
Over the past decade, the Chicago Police Department has maintained a low clearance rate for fatal shootings. In 2022, the police made arrests in 18.6 percent of fatal shootings. This bill creates a pathway for families to submit a petition for law enforcement to assign new detectives to a case file marked as an “open unresolved murder.” These include cases that have gone cold for three years with no likely perpetrator identified. After reviewing the application, the relevant agency will have six months to decide whether the case requires a full reinvestigation.
It also includes these measures:
- The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority must compile and publish information and statistics of open unsolved murders three years after the bill goes into effect.
- Each law enforcement agency must employ or designate a minimum number of family liaison officers proportionate to the average number of homicides in the agency’s jurisdiction .
- The bill redefines the role of a family liaison officer, stating that they must remain in contact with the family at least once every 30 days for the first six months the case is open and then once per quarter until it becomes inactive.
The Homicide Data Transparency Act
The current standard for law enforcement has been to count cases that were closed by “exceptional means” — including when someone accused of a crime dies before conviction or when prosecutors lack enough evidence to convict them — as cleared cases. This bill seeks more transparency in those reports. It requires law enforcement to publish the following monthly data on their websites:
- The number of homicides based on the time of the injury that caused the death of the victim.
- The number of nonfatal shootings.
- The number of homicides and nonfatal shootings that ended in arresting and charging an alleged perpetrator.
- The number of cases that were cleared because of exceptional means, including the alleged perpetrator’s death, prosecutors rejecting the case, or the suspect’s incarceration.
- The number of cases referred to the relevant State’s Attorney Office for prosecution.
The bill requires law enforcement to submit data to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority in addition to the Illinois State Police. Buckner seeks to improve public safety by holding law enforcement agencies accountable and increasing transparency. “This is about making sure that people who have suffered these unthinkable fates have their police departments and their government working for them,” he said, “that these families don’t get left behind.”
