Gov. JB Pritzker defends SAFE-T Act, but leaves door open to possible changes in legislative session

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WLS) -- Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker defended the SAFE-T Act once again while leaving the door open to possible changes during the spring legislative session on Tuesday.

This comes as Republicans ramp up their push for a series of modifications.

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Since the Safety Accountability Fairness and Equity Today Act was signed into law, eliminating cash bail in Illinois, there have been some modifications. But the public debate, mainly along party lines, continues about how effective it is. And that will be the case when the legislature reconvenes next week.

The goal of the SAFE-T Act, with its no-cash bail provision, is to provide a better way to keep dangerous suspects in jail pending trial. At the same time, it was written to make sure people did not stay locked up for lesser offenses pre-trial, simply because they were poor and couldn't afford bail.

On Tuesday, Pritzker said, it has been working.

"The SAFE-T Act has been highly effective. In fact, as you've seen since the SAFE-T act was passed, crime rates across the state have gone down," Pritzker said.

In November, when a suspect with 72 prior arrests, who was out on electronic monitoring, was caught on video setting a woman on fire on a CTA train, it reignited debate about the SAFE-T Act. It prompted House Republicans to send a seven-page letter to Pritzker with a series of proposals.

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"We drafted a letter to help him with those changes. Here are some ideas. You don't have to recreate the wheel. You can own it, and you can do it because all we care about is the fix," said Illinois House Republican Leader Tony McCombie.

Among the suggestions are expanding "the offenses eligible for pretrial detention to include all felonies" and allowing "for revocation of pretrial release if a person commits a new offense while on pretrial release."

"So, I think if they're really going to make the changes and amend the SAFE-T Act to actually make it work, we have got to quit propping up criminals and repeat offenders and stand with victims," McCombie said.

Democratic Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch also weighed in, saying, "Well, I don't know if anything needs to change at all, if anything, but let me say this, the SAFE-T Act is working."

Nevertheless, Welch expressed a willingness to listen.

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"In a role like this, you're always looking to see if you can do better. Are there some things that we can do to the SAFE-T Act to make it even better? I don't know," he said.

With Democrats holding super-majorities in both chambers of the legislature, and having broadly championed the law, it is not clear what, if anything, they would change.

"All I've said, and I think this is always true, I am opening to listening to what changes ought to be made, these are tweaks I believe could be made to the SAFE-T Act, but proposals have to be made in the General Assembly," Pritzker said.

But the unofficial rule that Welch has imposed on the House is that before any bill can be brought to the floor for a vote, it has to have the support of 60 Democrats, which could make passing any changes a challenge.