Election 2024: Illinois’ 37th Senate District candidates discuss SAFE-T Act

DeKALB – Republican candidates seeking their party’s nomination to serve residents in Illinois’ 37th Senate District shared their platform last week in a virtual DeKalb County forum, weighing in on the SAFE-T Act and other topics.

The virtual candidates forum Thursday was co-hosted by the League of Women Voters of DeKalb County and WNIJ, a northern Illinois arm of Northern Public Radio, and featured six candidates from three different primary races. The full forum can be viewed on WNIJ’s Facebook page.

Li Arellano Jr., Chris Bishop and Tim Yager are the three candidates vying for the 37th Senate District Republican nomination in the March 19 primary election. The 37th District covers parts of DeKalb, Henry, Bureau, La Salle and Lee counties.

In August, state Sen. Win Stoller, R-Germantown Hills, said he would not seek a third term.

Yager did not participate in the forum.

Arellano and Bishop were asked their opinions on the SAFE-T Act, part of which went into effect in September and prohibits cash bail in Illinois.

The cashless bail provisions outline a more detailed set of criteria that court officials will need to follow to determine whether someone arrested and charged with a crime is eligible for release under the SAFE-T Act.

Judges in Illinois still maintain the ability to determine eligibility for bail based on a set criteria, according to the SAFE-T Act. That criteria includes more steps for prosecutors and judges to use to determine qualification for release, including if a person is a flight risk if released or what type of violent crime the charges entail.

Bishop, who was asked first, said he believes the legislation is a fiscal issue for northern Illinois counties.

Bishop: “One of the things we talk about a lot is just the different constraints it puts on law enforcement, and something I think that we miss sometimes is the financial constraints it’s putting on counties. We have counties within this district that are going to lose out on hundreds of thousands of dollars, and not just the bail but also the processing fees that are going on.

“So fiscally, it’s causing an issue. And then, No. 2, for our judicial system, there’s a backlog of cases that are building up. Our state’s attorneys don’t have enough manpower to keep up with them. It puts a constraint on how much time someone has, and before they have to go and see a judge, and it’s really throwing things into a loop as far as how we condensed everything down.

“So much so that the Illinois Supreme Court now has a task force that’s looking at this issue and how we can actually streamline some of the things that are going on and make it a little bit more efficient, and ways that we can go back to the legislation itself and maybe make some changes. That report’s going to come out on March 1.

“One of the things that I would suggest that legislators do is take a look at that report, sit down with our law enforcement but also our state’s attorneys and our judges in the district, and try to figure out how we can make this thing work maybe as it’s intended to.”

Arellano, on the other hand, said he thinks the law was passed in an unethical manner.

Arellano: “It needs more amendments. I think we’re working on our fourth trailer bill here. We still have a lot of problems with it if you talk to our sheriffs and our law enforcement. It was passed in an unethical manner, quite frankly, in the middle of the night with no time to really read and study, and the results have shown that.

“So there was some good intentions in there, but in the rush to get it through when they had a chance, they threw a lot of things – it just didn’t work. So it needs continued amendments.

“The other thing I’d say is it’s clearly, certainly in the beginning and even as amended, it’s clearly looking through the lens of what they believe law enforcement needs in the Chicago area for reform. And it really didn’t take into account rural or ex-urban voices and the kind of challenges we face, which are dramatically different than what Chicago faces.

“So the challenge, as you’ll see in Grand Detour, where I grew up – about 350 people – [and] in Dixon, where I was mayor – about 15,000 people – [as well as] in Sterling and Rock Falls, and Geneseo and Rochelle, they’re just not the same, and that bill doesn’t take that into account.

“So we need to continue amendments, and we need some voices from the counties that we will be representing – the [37th District], from the sheriffs, from the law enforcement [officials], as well as those advocates that are seeking reform to get it to better match our needs.”