Rep. David Welter's (R-Morris) Domestic Violence Task Force Act advances to the Senate. | File Photo
Rep. David Welter's (R-Morris) Domestic Violence Task Force Act advances to the Senate. | File Photo
The Illinois House of Representatives took a step forward to address domestic violence.
The chamber voted to create the Domestic Violence Task Force to help deal with the state's growing family violence problem.
The Task Force was created through House Bill 3317, legislation by state Rep. David Welter (R-Morris), and was approved by lawmakers on April 16.
"This [task force] provides an opportunity for those stakeholders who have been so difficult to get at the table together in a room to discuss some of the hard realities of domestic violence," Welter said before the House. "What I hope to come of this Domestic Violence Task Force is for it to produce a report of different best practices and legislation that we can consider among this body and pass to help those who continue to deal with the terrible tragedy of domestic violence and the loss of life because of it."
Welter said that the legislation came after the mother of an 18-month-old boy murdered by his father showed up at his office weeks after her son's death, urging the lawmaker to address the loopholes she felt existed in the domestic violence system.
The tragic death of the toddler happened in Joliet in 2019, when Christopher Michael Miller shot and killed his son, Colton Michael Miller, and then took his own life.
The Morris Republican said the system failed the mother and her son multiple times through repeated police visits and the local court system.
The task force will be alternatively referred to as Colton's Task Force in the boy's memory.
The bill has received a first reading in the Senate and was then referred to assignments.
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