House Floor Sessions Day 2

On Saturday, March 5, two original pieces of legislature were introduced and passed on the House floor. The first piece of legislation passed was HB0001. It was introduced by Minority Leader Alex O’Daniel of Eastern Illinois College (EIC).

The bill itself is a criminal justice reform bill that targets inconsistencies in the FOID Act. It eliminated the 20 year wait times for all felons to receive a FOID card and dropped it to five years for nonviolent felons. Violent felons are never able to receive a card.

The second piece of legislation was HB0002. It was introduced by Rep. Ana Vidric of Millikin University. The bill, also referred to as the Sexual Assault Evidence Act, would require that all sexual assault evidence be analyzed within one month in the case of an adult and two weeks for a minor. The bill asked for funding that equated to 6 percent of the $800 million budget.

HB0827, or the Partial Birth Abortion Act, was the next bill to be introduced. A lobbyist from Planned Parenthood spoke to the Assembly before debate began. The Democrats voted against the passage of the bill while the Republicans were in favor of it. Two Republicans joined the Democrats in voting no and the bill failed.

HB0152 next came to the floor. It would create a sex offender registry within the state of Illinois. Democrats felt that a registry would actually increase the percentage of sexual offenses while the Republicans statesd that the public deserves to know where sex offenders are at all times.

23 members voted in the affirmative. Two voted no and three abstained. The bill passed.

By: Ryland Pietra