Will County Gazette

State Rep. Tim Ozinga (R-Mokena) criticized the signing of House Bill 3653 into law, saying that Democrats passed the police reform bill without letting Republicans and other appropriate people take a look at it.

Supporters say House Bill 3653 was needed to hold police officers accountable for incidents of brutality. The law also mandates body cameras for police officers, ends cash bail, and creates statewide use-of-force standards.

State Rep. Ozinga criticized Gov. Pritzker for signing it into law without including proper review from Republican lawmakers and law enforcement officials.

Ozinga said that before the bill was passed, lawmakers should have held discussions with law enforcement. He said that those individuals are at the receiving end of the penalties implemented by the law and they should have had the right to contest any aspect of the bill or even just speak their mind about the whole thing before it was passed into law.

Ozinga also said that since Republicans had little opportunity to study the bill, it is only now, after it was passed into law, that they are finding several bad policies in it. Ozinga said, “Many bad policies are coming to light in the bill, such as massive unfunded mandates, undercutting judge discretion, and constant contradictory language. I am disappointed the governor decided to toss these concerns aside instead of vetoing this legislation and allow the General Assembly to do our work correctly.”