Reacting to charges of wide-scale racial profiling by law enforcement, the Illinois House voted Thursday to require police to record the age, gender and race of drivers they stop for any reason, as part of a two-year study to gauge the magnitude of the problem.
On a day of frenetic activity, House lawmakers also approved plans to help provide low-cost prescription drugs to seniors, a toughening of seat-belt enforcement and a weakened parental notification bill for young women seeking an abortion.
Under the racial-profiling plan, approved by the House on a 91-24 vote, police would be required to note the race of drivers they stop, to determine the frequency of racial profiling, where the practice is common and what categories of people are most targeted.
Police also would have to note whether a search occurred and the result of the stop.
“A few police officers–very, very few–bring to their job their racial prejudices, the stereotypes they’ve learned, and they act out on them,” said sponsoring Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago).
Law enforcement agencies opposed the bill, contending the data could be inaccurately interpreted to reflect racial profiling in certain areas, said Greg Sullivan, executive director of the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association. He said his biggest fear is that officers under scrutiny for racial profiling might not make as many traffic stops.
“Policemen aren’t stupid,” Sullivan said. “They’re not going to put themselves in a trick bag.”
This is the third consecutive year a measure to launch a racial profiling study has passed the House, Davis said. Previous measures failed to advance in the Senate, where Davis’ plan will now be considered.
The House also sent to the Senate three plans aimed at helping seniors purchase low-cost prescription drugs.
One, sponsored by Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), would allow seniors to enter into a buying club to purchase prescription drugs at wholesale prices. It passed 62-50.
Franks said the bill would help people over age 65 who do not qualify for the state’s circuit breaker program, which helps subsidize the cost of medicines for low-income seniors.
Another Franks bill, backed by a 116-0 vote, would require Medicare recipients and other seniors to be able to receive the same prescription drug benefits as people covered by the state’s Medicaid program for low-income families.
The House also approved, on a 117-0 vote, a measure sponsored by Republican Leader Lee Daniels of Elmhurst that would broaden the circuit breaker program to cover more seniors and increase the number of drugs it covers. The cost of the plan is estimated at $40 million.
House lawmakers also sent the Senate, on a 61-40 vote, a measure that would allow police officers to stop motorists solely for failing to wear their seat belts. Current law prevents a stop for a seat-belt violation unless it occurs as part of another traffic offense.
Senators, meanwhile, sent the House a measure doubling the current $25 fine for drivers who fail to buckle up young children or place them in child-safety seats.
With Gov. George Ryan ordering transportation officials to begin buying up land near his prized metropolitan airport site near Peotone, House lawmakers voted 94-21 to approve a plan requiring the public disclosure of land owners, including those in normally secret land trusts. The price the state paid for the property also would have to be disclosed.
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Even though abortion opponents in the House found it unsatisfactory, they joined with abortion-rights supporters in approving, on a 96-15 vote, a weakened bill that would require girls under 18 to notify either parents, stepparents, grandparents, other relatives, siblings or clergy 48 hours before obtaining an abortion.
Conservatives said they were hopeful the Senate would strengthen its language so only parents or stepparents in the young women’s households could be notified. A Senate panel endorsed such a plan later in the day without a dissenting vote.
In the Senate, lawmakers voted 34-17 to send the House a measure that would authorize 15 new charter schools in Chicago, double the number the state originally authorized.
Sponsoring Sen. Dan Cronin (R-Elmhurst) said the schools, which are allowed to operate free from many bureaucratic rules, have been “a huge success” in the city. But Sen. Miguel del Valle (D-Chicago) said more should be done to ensure accountability.
Senators also voted 34-0 to send the House a measure that would allow students who obtained inferior degrees from a Governors State University master’s degree program to take examinations to become licensed clinical social workers.
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, meanwhile, sent to the full chamber a bill to allow people who have obtained a court order of protection to carry a concealed firearm. Sponsoring Sen. Ed Petka (R-Plainfield) said no one has more reason to exercise their constitutional right to carry a firearm than to “defend one’s self against an aggressor.”