In this episode, I had the privilege sitting down with Jeremy Gorner, a reporter from the Chicago Tribune. Our discussion centered around the recent legislative changes that came into effect on January 1, 2024, and it offered insights into various topics, including the implementation of the assault weapons ban, the state’s updated stance on vaping, its approach to book censorship, and a host of other noteworthy developments.
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Links mentioned
- https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-illinois-new-laws-2024-20231229-fqxzoyzwkndvbnlsnqpsdlga2u-story.html
- https://x.com/DarrenBaileyIL/status/1741637201161863247?s=20
The auto-generated transcript is available below.
folks this is the Cole memo I am your host Cole Preston every episode is released in audio video and transcript format to find the transcript audio or video version of any episode please refer to the description of the episode that you’re listening to now within that description you can find a link that will take you to our website which will display the transcript for this episode and the platforms where you can find this episode in audio or video formats if you’re unable to locate the episode description on whichever platform you’re listening from Simply note the episode number and visit the memo.com from there you can find the corresponding episode and then you’ll be able to access the audio video or transcript version of that episode you might also find any links that we reference during the episode so that you might be able to do your own research if you’re not listening to this episode of the Cole memo on patreon then you’re listening to this episode later than our patrons to become a patron go to the memo.com patron on once again that’s the co memo.com Pat o n it’s a great way to support our show it only costs $3 a month and it allows you to to get exclusive access to our episodes as they release but one of the best ways to support our show is absolutely free subscribe to or follow our show leave us a positive review from wherever you’re listening to us from favorite this episode give it a thumbs up leave a comment or post a review your engagement and support is appreciated today is January 2nd 2024 enjoy this episode of the Cole memo Jeremy thank you for sitting back down with me last time we spoke I was hosting the co or the chillino podcast I’ve since changed uh show names so welcome uh to the Cole memo in case people don’t know who you are do you mind uh introducing yourself yeah my name is Jeremy gorner I’m a reporter with the Chicago Tribune I cover uh state government and state politics um I’m uh based out of the Illinois capital in Springfield awesome and uh yeah so once again you can find Jeremy’s work in the Chicago Tribune we’ll actually be referencing uh one story that I’ll have linked uh and then we’ll take a deep dive into a different story that we’ve talked about in the past uh Happy New Year though first I just wanted to yeah you too you too and uh congratulations on the the the image change I I mean I’m sure uh um uh yeah what were the reasons for that what what prompted the uh the makeover well you know many different reasons uh but the main reason I’d say is so that I could Branch out but one of the reasons if I could just be candid with like especially with a person like you like you know I reach out to a reporter like you or somebody else who’s highly regarded and they’d see the the chillino podcast in my logo and they’d be like well do I really want to like risk my career or reputation going on this show and so I feel that this gives it a more uh professional look and if you didn’t know Jeremy the Cole memo is I like to tell this for our audience so they can do a little bit of uh learning um the Cole memo is actually not just a Cheesy reference to my name it’s it’s actually a reference to federal policy that began in the Obama era it is the reason that adult use cannabis is allowed to go on state by state okay right right right okay it just happens to be convenient that my name is in it as well right right right no that’s well that’s that’s perfect probably uh um I mean I don’t know I mean I didn’t have a problem with your uh your old name but imagine had you uh had had this been your original name imagine all the policy wonks you would who would have yeah latched you know who would have latched on earlier perhaps I mean who knows right and that’s that to your point that’s what I love about this name the policy wonks will get it right away and and other people it’s it’s vague enough to where I can basically talk about anything and everything and and to that point we’ll we’ll kind of be all over the map at least for the beginning of this show 2014 a new year means new laws uh right and I think that kind of Segways us into one of our main stories that that I wanted to discuss today how do you want to break this down um Jeremy yeah I mean you know so there’s so Cole I mean you know there’s been you know more than there were more than 300 new state laws that went into effect uh yesterday January 1 um and you know as I’ve said in our story as Dan patrell my co my cohort and I said uh in our story um yesterday this these new laws range from everything from education to criminal justice to employee benefits to a ban on indoor vaping um and um you know these are basically you know the priorities that are reflective of um Governor JB pritzer and his Democratic allies in the um Democratic controlled legislature um so like first and foremost probably the the most talked about new law is um the assault weapons ban registry uh basically what this is is by yesterday if you um in if you you know are an Illinois resident who owned any of these more than 100 or so high-powered um semi-automatic rifles handguns or shotguns that are deemed assault weapons under the new assault weapons ban um that you know went into effect last year um you had until yesterday to if you had the owned these weapons prior to the law going into effect last January 10th you could still keep those weapons however you have to register them through the Illinois State Police um and you have to Reg and you had to register them uh by yesterday January 1 um basically what the statute says is that if you are found to be in violation of this it’s a misdemeanor for a first offense um in subsequent offenses you could be charged with a felony um I mean I’ve been you know paying attention to some of these hearings that have been going on about you know from concerned residents about you know how this registry is going to be enforced there were concerns that you know some of the some of the rules put into place by the state police um per the state law were kind of vague is um you know how is this going to be put into place and one of the one of the lawyers for the State Police made it clear at these hearings that you know enforcement could vary from County to County it could be it could be up to the county how they want to prosecute it if they want to prosecute it um but you know it it would be interesting to see what happens with this because you know as we’ve seen with bail reform I mean register lack of registering a gun the the fine line between registering and not registering an assault weapon which could mean the fine line between what’s legal and illegal um like we don’t know you know it’s not a violent crime so it’s not like it would be a detainable offense you know especially with misdemeanor with with with with you know with a misdemeanor but still um the law is the law so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of compliance um we get with this you know um because we’ve seen I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention Cole earlier this year um on January 10th of last year when um the assault weapons ban went into effect um something like 90 County share 90 out of the Illinois 102 County Sheriffs basically said they weren’t going to enforce this ban including the registry and there was a lot of paranoia that the that the police are going to come door Todo to um see if uh you know gun owners are in compliance with this which isn’t going to happen um but it’ll be you know I I think we’re GNA what we’re going to see in the coming weeks is really this is going to be a true test I think for the State Police and I think for State officials just to see how this is going to be enforced and and in addition to that I mean the assault weapons itself is being litigated um through the courts at the right now on the federal level uh so far um pritsker and attorney general uh kwami Raul have been successful in staving off legal challenges from gun rights groups who believe that the assault weapons ban itself is unconstitutional viol and violates the Second Amendment um and of course the gun R the the assault weapon ban registry is part of that um but you know it the way that it’s shaping up right now Cole it could go up to the US Supreme Court and a lot of gun rights um Advocates are very hopeful of that because of as you know the Supreme Court um is a 63 conservative majority um you know uh handful of them um appoint appointees of former president Trump who um obviously you know very Pro Second Amendment so we’ll we’ll see what happens with that yeah and different states are doing this too right Illinois is not alone isn’t California another one that is a yeah California Delaware Maryland um Illinois is like I believe the ninth or you know about you know or or about that of you know so so you’re saying one way or another oh gotcha District of Columbia too yeah yeah and well it’s interesting because you know you’re just bringing up your point about the states is that you know the thing that we keep hearing from Governor pritsker is a renewed call for a federal assault weapons ban which we had for 10 years um you know from 1994 till 2004 um and he’s obviously you know but but in this day and age with a such a divided Congress um I mean we that’s probably not going to happen but you know he’s also somebody who pritzer of course has really branded himself as among his among his issues that he’s really push forth you know of course being you know um you know for pro-abortion rights for examp example and you know all about Criminal Justice Reform and after what you know the horrible the deadly mass shooting in Highland Park he’s also become a gun control advit himself so of course that’s going to be something he’s going to Champion but I don’t know if a federal assault weapons ban appears realistic at this time but that’s but but the state ban is definitely something you know that’s within his control yeah and um have you seen recent like compliance rates do we had do we keep track of yeah compliance rates yeah so let me um let me pull them up sure right right here and and and I this is what I think I want to stress for um this is really what what I want to stress you know for your audience here is that you know the so here okay so there’s 2.4 million um uh uh FID card holders in Illinois a FOID card is a firearm um owner’s identification card that is what illinoisans must have in their possession in order to own a firearm in in the state of Illinois so there’s 2.4 million people who have these cards two 2.4 million of these cards issued and of that 2.4 million um of of that those 2.4 million uh FOID card holders um there have been 29,35 people who have registered um either a gun that is deemed an assault weapon or an accessory to a gun deemed an assault weapon so the State Police website has a portal where uh that requires owners of these grandfathered in guns to to register their guns so I mean just to you know so just to say so so basically um you know uh just to to kind of do the math here um uh um yeah so so just to to kind of do the math here um you have just over 1% of all FID card holders in Illinois have registered either um a gun deemed an assault weapon or an accessory um to those guns now the question is is like does that mean that people just aren’t following the law well I want to stress to your listeners we don’t know and this is this is why this is important because just because you are a FOID card holder in Illinois that doesn’t mean that you own a gun gun um and just because you are a FOID card holder in Illinois if you own a gun that doesn’t necessarily mean you own a gun that is deemed an assault weapon so we we truly don’t have an exact accounting of how many of these banned weapons should be grandfathered in you know that where there’s non-compliance now we’ve seen a lot of pro Second Amendment folks in Illinois said that they are not going to follow um you know this gun this gun uh ban registry um you know probably you know in the last 24 hours if you’ve been paying attention to social media Darren Bailey the former um gubinatorial candidate to who lost to pritsker in the last election um Bailey republican from uh Southeastern Illinois basically put out a um uh it he basically put out an image of um his you know depicting his home where he’s sitting at a table doing a puzzle and a couple of long you know long guns that are basically laid out out there and he’s saying I’m not going to comply um that’s you know so and I and there’s a lot of people who feel that way about this law who are um really pro gun rights so that’s the thing but but but get still we don’t know you know that 1% that I mentioned you know we don’t know how many people in this state own guns that should be registered yeah yeah it’s like uh we’re just the sound so it sounds like the compliance rate is just basically seeing of the number of total FOID card holders comparing it to the number of people that have registered either a a weapon that qualifies under this ban or or like you say an accessory that qualifies under this ban what was the percentage you said again given that it was just over one it was just over 1% of card holders well and then the other element that I think is important to consider you know I know that that that you’re very well aware of it and and we’ve talked about it so I’m you know somewhat aware of the developments and such but I I got to wonder how many people in Illinois are actually keenly aware of these details and what’s required yeah I mean that’s kind of been so so that’s been um it was it’s so interesting you bring that up Cole because that’s kind of been an issue especially from for Downstate residents you know I mean there was I heard a question that was asked at a press conference about people who live in rural rural communities who don’t have access to you know Broadband you know internet you know how how are they going to because you have to go online to register you have to go through an online portal through the illis state police so I mean not to be an apologist not to make excuses or anything like that of course I’m just telling you just based on reporting and from talking to people that this is what I’m gathering but what you said you know is a legitimate issue with some folks and and but but I think what attorney general Raul’s staff will say because they’ve argued this in court is that um you know constitutionally they have satisfied their requirement to notify the public about um the registry and here’s here’s here’s why I mean put it this so January 10th of 20123 that’s when um pritsker signs the assault weapons ban into law and um and if you read the statute it pretty clearly spells out that um beginning on October 1st of 2023 um illinoisans who own these guns have to fill out what’s called a so-called endorsement affidavit which is a fancy way of saying they have to register their gun with the state police but that’s kind of a legal ease term with well I mean that’s what state police is calling it and that’s what it’s how it’s written the statute that process began October 1st and um and ended you know yesterday January 1 um and um basically that and in that those numbers I gave you were a reflection of um the percentage of total flid card holders in Illinois who registered um their grandfather didn’t um banned guns um from October 1st until yesterday basically so um so so my point is is that on January 10th of last year it was codified into law that you had to register these guns between October 1st and January 1st that’s number one number two there were three public hearings um about concerns regarding the um the assault weapons ban registry um beginning in September or September October it was in the fall basically there was one down in downstate Caseyville there’s one in Chicago one in Springfield and there you basically had gun rights Advocates kind of airing out their concerns about this registry saying it’s it’s vague on you know what kind of you know you know as far as like some of the the gun attachments that they have to register like what constitutes a flash suppressor a flash suppressor or a pistol grip um the definitions that they give could be different different you know AR aren’t clear enough to some people like that was that was one concern and then another concern too that was raised by lawmakers uh by Republican lawmakers is that you know when it comes to um when it comes to owning a gun you know you know gun rights Advocates what they value is is data privacy like they’re not um like the the government does not keep track um does not keep like a registry of what kind of guns they’re you know or like ATF doesn’t keep track of what kind of guns you know people own like they don’t have like a a master registry like that what they do have of course they can access you know the 4473 forms that you would fill out when you go to a federally licens firearm dealer um you know and ATF you know agents could do that but there’s no like by and large there’s data privacy when it comes to firearm ownership and by by having to report what guns you own to the state police some folks feel that goes against that you know what I mean so of course another question is if this law is deemed unconstitutional in the courts um what are they gonna what’s the state police going to do with all that data um so that’s another thing they’re sorting out but anyhow I’m going off on a tangent here my point is is that the state law when it was signed when it was signed law by pritsker January 10th spells out you know that a registry it does exist and number two in the in from the you know after that in the fall there were public hearings about that so my point is is that attorney general Raul he and his staff believe that they’ve given the public ample notice about this and and and they’ve fulfilled their um constitutional duties by informing the public the way they have might not be considered adequate by a lot of people especially Pro Second Amendment folks who who are not in favor of the assault weapons band but Raul’s staff is pretty adamant saying that they’ve done their job in notifying the public yeah yeah I bring that up just to add I felt like a layer of nuance to what you were saying which is that you know some people might be out in vocal saying I’m not registering my guns you know to the government but some people I don’t know like you said living under a rock I mean some people truly do so so but but to your point I I get what you’re saying um but I I like I say I bring that up just to you know it’s a it’s an extra layer of uh like I say Nuance to one of the points I think you were making and another thing I just actually read the other online to another point you brought up with regard to just having a registry in general is the privacy concerns that people have with database leaks becoming a normal thing you know so I just that’s an interesting thought that I didn’t even think of I read that uh a concern the other day and I was like oh I didn’t even think about the fact that yeah that database could be breached you know if we don’t have the the highest security protocols or whatever yeah I mean like I said you know the federal government if they really want to if they’re doing like an investigation into gun trafficking or gun running or you know um you know for example or like any kind of gun crimes I mean they can have access to the 4473 forms that one to fill out to buy a gun at like a gun shop for example there’s a lot of States though that um you know don’t keep track of um of Private Sales you know from you know you know as far as like just regular trans everyday people selling a gun to another everyday person I mean there is there’s laws that I think where they have to keep records for x amount of years but you know there’s no registry that you know that reflects all that that keeps track of all that um but I but I guess what you’re bringing up too is that you know what one of the things that came out the hearings in regards to data privacy is that there was a question about um you know uh you know so so there’s a thing called the leads database I don’t know if you’re familiar with the leads database or um so the leads database is basically um it’s a very commonly it’s it’s administered by the state it’s commonly used by law enforcement agencies within the state of Illinois so um you know law enforcement like if they pull you over for a traffic stop they can run your name and leads to see what your criminal history is if you if you’re wanted for any crimes Etc and you know one of the things that you know law enforcement has records of whether somebody you know they’re doing a background check on or a search or they’re doing a search on rather um you know in the database they could tell whether they have a FOID card or not so the state police’s argument was basically you know so so like some of the legislative Republicans were saying well you know it’s it’s kind of we’re concerned about you know the fact that the database lead’s database could also say um yeah this person um you know owns these guns registered them with the state police under you know these person actually own assault weapons they they are legally registered with the state police and you know Republicans were expressing concerns that gun owners might be a little iffy about that and the state police has come back and said that this is really no different than you know an a police officer knowing right off the bat that you are a FOID card holder this is just a little more information to show like okay what kind of guns do they have um you know that they legally registered in the system but nonetheless this goes back to my point about you know how gun rights Advocates are concerned about data privacy um basically and that’s and that’s basically that would be kind of the um you know that would be the C clearing house if you will for um some of this data would be in like the leads database or a comparable law enforcement database used by you know police in Illinois yeah any other bases we haven’t covered uh just on the latest developments with this I’ve got like one more question and it kind of you’ve kind of already touched on it um but I just wanted to ask give you the space was there anything else that we haven’t touched on with regard to this new gun gun law firearm law nothing that specifically um you know I that I could think of that specifically went into effect yesterday okay Year’s day but like you know obviously just you know the ban also applies to um to to magazines so like for example you know in addition to the sale import purchase of you know these high-powered guns um you know also included in the ban are um high-capacity magazines and the way high-capacity magazines are defined is that anything more than 10 rounds for a long gun um or anything more than 15 rounds for a handgun so those are also um subject to the assault weapons ban gotcha and so like I said you had already kind of address this question but just to put a bow on this topic before we skip to new laws that that are going into effect what is next when when’s the next hearings uh when might it go to the Supreme Court but I don’t know just get kind of what what is your what does it look like will occur I mean of course these are predictions but yeah so I mean it’s really so I I I I wish I had a list in front of me to show you how many legal challenges they’ve been like I unfortunately don’t have it memorized chapter and verse like when the next hearings are for these cases but what what it’s it’s been expressed to me like so right before Christmas break um uh a federal judge in Southern Illinois denied um a motion from gun rights Advocates um you know who requested a preliminary injunction basically a to temporarily halt the registry from going into effect January 1st basically that was denied by a federal judge um the same federal judge who initially granted an injunction if you recall the assault weapons ban was overturned for a brief time because this same judge through um an injunction said it was likely unconstitutional that decision was overturned by a panel in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals here in Chicago um and uh so one of the other things the gun rights folks tried to do was get you know basically site you know siphon out the registry from the ban itself to try to get an injunction on that and the judge wouldn’t go for that so basically what’s next is in the next couple of months you’re going to Pro you’re going to see both sides um the gun rights Advocates and um attorney general rul staff basically argue on the merits of um the assault weapons ban itself and you know that could be subject to you know whatever the whatever judges you know federal judges you know on the district level in Illinois rule there you know that could be appealed um subject to appeals from either side what whatever whatever side is you know um you know doesn’t you know was on the losing end of some of these initial legal challenges and before you know it it probably could go up to the US Supreme Court in the coming months so that’s kind of where we’re at right now it’s really we’re really in the appeals process for several of these legal challenges I mean there’s a legal challenge out there too by um uh by State Rep Dan Caulkins he’s a republican from decar um you know so the ill there was a there was a there was also a separate Pathway to ban to um to basically overturn the ban uh through the Illinois Supreme Court and that failed um but Caulkins of course was making um you know made some news and Emotion by saying that you know alleging that a couple of the judges who voted to um keep the assault weapons ban in place were actually recipients of some big donations from Governor pritzker when they um you know when they ran for their seats so Caulkins is appealing you know the state Supreme Court’s ruling to the US Supreme Court which I don’t I mean a lot gun one gun control Advocate I talked to who’s a lawyer said doesn’t think that that has a good chance uh didn’t didn’t really seem like there there’s really grounds for an appeal like that but that’s what we’re going to see next I mean that’s that’s among the legal challenges that you know the the US Supreme Court is going to field or not or decide not to field we’ll see and that’s kind of what I was going to ask is this just is the endgame here in the United States Supreme Court is that probably I think that’s probably safe to say I mean as of right now I mean CA um I I I mean both sides are fighting tooth and nail you have you know attorney general rul and Governor pritsker I mean you know because of what happened in Highland Park are fighting tooth and nail to keep this in place they’re very confident that the law is constitutional especially since other states have pass their own bans but you know you have the gun rights Advocates who are very passionate that they think that they violated the Second Amendment and you know in the times that we’re in you know they probably feel more emboldened to keep fighting this law especially with the makeup of the Supreme Court of the US Supreme Court as we see it today yeah and I’m I’m asking this because I hear it thrown around a lot by people on the the rights of firearms and I’m just curious as a reporter if you’ve ever heard a response to people saying you know Chicago has the strictest gun laws in the nation yet it has a really huge problem with with firearms in the city has anybody have you ever heard anybody address that idea in other words they’re saying how’s a ban gonna help you know type of thing well I mean I think one thing to look at you know is I think it’s kind of tricky but you know if I were I would like to look and see like what kind of guns are being recovered from the streets of Chicago at crime scenes yeah and if um and and you know if if some of these guns are you know if these are guns that are indeed banned under state law for legal gun owners then it kind of makes you then it kind of makes you wonder you know if these are B you know these guns had to have come from somewhere they had to have come from gun shops that aren’t supposed to be selling these guns you know um so how did they get out on the street but I think that it’s going to be a while but because this B like I said this band it hasn’t even been a year yet yeah um just went into place before we can draw that conclusion as to the effectiveness um you know of the but I know that that is a very you know that is obviously a very common saying and I think you know um you know obviously what I think you know a lot of you know gun control Advocates will say to that is you know Illinois does have a lot of strict laws but there’s also neighboring states that have guns like at crime scenes that and you know guns that originated from neighboring states that end up on you know at on the streets of Chicago as well um um you know but then also there’s an argument to be made about you know think of some of the ways that these guns end up on the streets you know it’s you know you have a lot of you know you have police like to bring up straw purchasing you know straw purchasing obviously for your audience is when somebody who is not allowed to own a firearm legally get somebody they know who is who has a FOID card um and in order to get a FOID card you can’t have a felony conviction that basically will disqualify you essentially from owning a firearm they might get some one of their friends who has a FOID card to get them guns I mean that’s how um Street conflicts have um you know have occurred because you know we we’ve seen that with straw purchasing the thing is is that those cases are pretty seldom prosecuted you know on the state and federal you don’t really hear a lot of prosecutions um for straw purchasing I mean there’s not there’s not really um you know I don’t think that that’s like a an actual criminal charge but like in terms of actually proving that you know basically you know illegal gun running or anything like that or gun running is illegal that’s or Doney but you know what I mean that’s that’s something like gun running like is is kind of like through St is through St purchasing you you hear of prosecutions from time to time but it’s not a regular thing right what you do hear a lot what you do hear a lot is and I know I going on a tangent here but uh you do hear a lot of people in Chicago getting arrested for illegal gun possession and and and there’s two schools of thought there you have the police who think well it’s illegal for to to carry a gun if you’re not allowed to own one and if you don’t have a FOID card and we catch you with a gun that is a felony but then you have um you know you have a lot of Criminal Justice reformers you have a lot of progressives who say you know you know certain communities in Chicago particularly on the south and west side um African-American communities in particular are overp policed and when they pull you know people over they’re bound to find a gun but it could be people carry guns you know for a lot of different reasons doesn’t necessarily mean that you know they’re out to kill someone or out to shoot someone and you know and the thing is is that um you know when you know the so so what a lot of progressives will say is that these aren’t necessarily the people who are behind the violence the people who are actually shooting the guns are behind the violence and if you look at statistics you know it’s you know it’s under like 10% a year you know of the clearance rate for like a non-fatal shooting which is the most common form of gun violence in Chicago so you know a lot of progressives will say that’s what you really need to focus on are people doing the shootings not people who are carrying the illegal guns so it’s um but but yeah I mean I think it really depends on where these guns come from how people get access to them sometimes that could be you know a total mystery especially because you know you know especially like with straw purchasing with police which is what police emphasize a lot we just don’t see a lot of those cases being prosecuted even though the police cite that as a big reason for illegal guns ending up on the street yeah this is all very interesting uh the subject is definitely going to be uh interesting to see play out and I would love to have you back on to to continue to talk about the developments and please no need for apologies on the tangents that’s what makes this podcast great we can have a long form uh you know long form conversation with that Nuance um so well cool I feel like we covered that subject what are some other new laws that are coming into Place uh you mentioned indoor Vape ban and other things yeah so um yeah vaping vaping is no longer going to be allowed you know in most uh indoor public places um this was an expansion several years ago they had the smokefree Illinois act which basically banned traditional smoking from most indoor places um and um yeah so that was 16 years ago um so so basically you know use of electronic cigarettes you know it’s banned everywhere in Illinois that you know places that use combust you know where where combustible tobacco products as they say was not previously allowed um and so this will include within 15 feet of entrances to public buildings so basically wherever smoking regular smoking is banned so is vaping um I’m sure I think that there are some exceptions like if you’re in a tobacco shop and a big percentage of your business comes from ecigarettes well then it’s okay but yeah it’s but if it’s from like but tradition traditional places that we we all know like Office Buildings restaurants any you know Sports Arenas whatever it’s or yeah it’s banned and quick fun fact just for the audience we’ve visited consumption lounges in the state in the past and that’s how they do it they get a tobacco retailers permit and then uh you like you say there is a certain percentage of sales that has to be of those tobacco products but you’re you can be defined as not a public space and therefore you would not be you would not fall under the smokefree Illinois act exactly exactly right um and then you know also um you know some of these other laws uh too so um you know book band you know there was a law that addressed book bands um so you know this was this really um attracted a lot of attention especially because of the you know partisan divides we’re seeing across the country Cole um you know so this was an initiative from Secretary of State Alexi janulus um libraries uh public libraries you know which would include schools um in Illinois uh School libraries as well you know um would be cut off from State funding if they’re found to have removed books uh and other materials um from their shelves um for quote partisan or doctrinal reasons um and basically you know this is a law like I said it comes as debates over book Banning have um intensified across the US it’s you know there’s been a renewed discussion about censorship school curricula and how much say parents should have over what books are in library shelves and Democrats on the state and National level say that book bands often discriminate against the lgbtq plus community and other marginalized groups Republicans have argued that some of these titles need to be out of the reach of children because they contain pornography or obscene imagery and basically what this law does is that um you know for you know for your you know for your audience if they’re not aware um in addition to the Secretary of State running um driver’s facilities you know to get your license renewed or your you know a new driver’s license the secretary of state is also the state librarian which means that they provide grant funding for libraries across Illinois so what this law does is that if they are found to have banned books um you know you know if they don’t follow certain guidelines that are outlined in the statute it’s House Bill 2789 for anyone who wants to read the statute I know that um you know that that that’ll kind of tell you a little bit about it um then the Secretary of State’s office has the right to deprive um these libraries of grant funding if they’re seeking grant funding basically um so you know we’ll kind of see how that plays out as well I mean there’s um you know some Republicans who think that you know you know again um who don’t know how this is gonna this is going to work you know you know um especially because you know in the law the Democrats are following What’s called the American Library association’s Bill of Rights um this is a National Organization that’s been around for decades um and that’s that’s where the the language about banning books for part quote partisan or doctrinal endquote reasons comes from or these libraries can adopt their own policies that explicitly bar them from Banning books um so so yeah and and then you know to and another question a big question that came up I mean um you know for secretary of state janulus was you know you know this raises questions too like to to some people who don’t know how the process works is like how do books end up in libraries to begin with and um you basically have Library boards you have school boards who make that determination as to what titles will end up on shelves janolia said that that process is not going to be interfered with this process focuses on books that are already on the shelves basically so that’s there there’s there’s that as well interesting I heard it and I I hate to say this because it confused me the first time but it makes sense now it’s a b B on book bands right right it’s a ban on book bands but it’s it’s it’s it’s I mean I I don’t even know if I would say it’s a ban on book bands what it really is is like if you like the way the law is written is that you know if you are if you’re seeking grant funding which many l i mean Secretary of State you know dishes out Millions tens of millions of dollars each year in library grants you know um for what ever improvements that the libraries need if you if you want that and you are found to have banned books um then secretary like you say it’s like the board could choose it’s it’s if it gets removed for those reasons I see I see why you clarify that right right but but I mean I will say I will leave you this this a big question is going to be how are they going to enforce it sure right I mean that’s going to be I think something that everybody is GNA watch is how are you going to accuse a library of banning books if it you know like like what is that entail so I think that that we’re it’s going to be an interesting six months to see how or first 100 days like with anything in government to see how this plays out with that um and I can keep going another another um uh janulus initiative that made it through the the legislature um police will no longer be allowed to pull over motorists solely for having small objects such as air fresheners danging from uh their vehicles rearview mirror um this ba this law basically seeks to prevent traffic stops for minor infractions that could be um a pretext you know to look for more serious offenses um you know julius’s office has said that these stops obviously can be racially motivated and have the potential to lead to um violent confrontations um you know between police and motorists um so that’s another thing that um that we’re seeing um and then you know another other thing as well as as far as um you know I think I told you about this earlier uh Cole but not not in this podcast but like last week um the secretary it’s another another initiative here related to the secretary of state is that this applies to people who’s who’ve served time in prison um the Secretary of State office um State the Secretary of State’s office um will now issue identification cards to state prison or Juvenile Detention inmates if they provide you know the appropriate documentation a birth certificate social security card photograph proof of residency this is basically um you know for um people who are incarcerated who are about to be released from prison you know basically for landing on their feet you know we’ve heard complaints you know you know officials have said that there’s been complaints that if somebody is in incarcerated for a certain period of time they may have an ID but who knows it could get lost in law enforcement may still have it it could be lost somewhere in the chain of custody where you know a detainee has to give up their belongings or it could or they’ve been incarcerated for an extended period of time so much where their ID expired so um basically an application must be submitted 60 days prior to their scheduled release um from either IDOC or the Department of Juvenile Justice and these two entities um for juveniles and adults they or for minors and adults they must help people who are incarcerated you know obtain this documentation so that’s another new law um I think another one too um should I keep going yeah yeah absolutely yeah yeah another one um another one basically uh here um oh yeah so there’s uh oh yes okay so there’s there were laws that were passed pertaining to online harassment um so basically anyone in Illinois who engages in doxing and for those who don’t know doxing is basically when you share um when you go online and you share personal identifiable information about another person um you know to harm them or you know or harass them um anyone who engages in doxing can be found civil liable um you know and basically what the stat says is that those people who could be found liable um are those who share information with Reckless disregard that the person to whom the information belongs quote would be reasonably likely to suffer death bodily injury or stalking so that’s another so that’s um one law another another um Law related to online harassment that passed is um uh you know anyone who is found to have altered image of someone else in a sexually explicit manner um could also be subject to uh to legal action um civil damages that’s a practice that’s known colloquially as deep fake porn um this law is called the digital forgeries act this would Grant plaintiffs Financial reliefs and lawsuits if it’s found that they falsely depicted somebody in this manner without their permission um so there’s that and then you have um uh oh yeah well you know you also have minimum wage minimum wage for workers 8 and older went up by a dollar um to $14 an hour this year so these are annual pay bumps Cole they result from a measure that pritsker signed into law in 2019 when the minimum wage was like 825 an hour um so the final increase is going to come next year when it reaches $15 an hour um so there’s that um but you know some of the state so like you know Chicago so like I know like Chicago um I think on July 1 you know the minimum wage for employers that have 20 or more workers you know went up like 1580 an hour so I mean this is kind of what I mentioned before about the 14 an hour is kind of a Statewide thing um or is a Statewide thing rather yeah then um you know you know I’m just kind of going down the list here because this story was very long 3,200 words um oh yeah so as know you know we have uh you know new casino you know there’s new casinos in the state in the last uh couple of years as you know um and there’s a new measure it’s supported by state gambling reg regulators and it basically holds that people convicted of felonies um previously were ineligible for to hold any job in an Illinois casino but this there’s a new law that allows people convicted of these crimes to be eligible for employment if these position don’t directly deal with betting so so so um people who have felonies on their record can work in casinos in like the food service sector or like housekeeping or maintenance um and obviously this comes as several new casinos have opened in the state um you know including in Chicago and you know this comes after you know 2019 the the big gambling expansion which um you know you know propon say that it will provide more job opportunities in this industry in the state um and then I can another big one that that we talked about last week that I was pretty excited to read was that a measure that largely prohibits judges from ordering people to refrain from consuming alcohol or marijuana as a condition of probation conditional discharge or Court supervision yes yeah so often times um you know when any criminal defendant is charged with a crime what what judges do obviously is they impose certain restrictions on these defendant and that includes you know prohibiting them from consuming marijuana or alcohol um you know if they’re espec you know if they’re convicted of if their conviction is for you know for you know is if they’re sentenced to probation conditional or Court supervision that’s a pretty common thing this this law basically will allow judges to do that really in you know very specific cases so I would imagine I would here’s an example I would imagine I’m not a lawyer but I would think like if you are arrested and convicted of aggravated driving Under the Influence where you’re drunk driving and you crash into somebody and you seriously injure them I would and say as part of the whatever sentence you get um you you know if it is I don’t I don’t know if it’s a probationable offense but I guess it might depend on bodily injury I’m not again whatever a criminal conviction like that my point is is that you know drugs and alcohol were gerine to the commission of that crime so just pick any crime that you’re sentenced to probation where drugs and alcohol were germa to that crime that those are cases where a judge can um basically impose a refrain those substances you know which are contingent on you staying on probation or you know on court supervision so there’s that and also um and also you know courts can still Place restrictions on people under 21 um and and they can you know you know a judge can still impose such restrictions on anyone under 21 and also participants in special programs called problem solving courts um so yeah I mean those are just some of the conditions where a judge is still allowed to order people from refraining from um alcohol and in in marijuana um and then also speaking of that I mean we’re since we’re talking about like substance abuse there were also several measures that took effect um that are aimed at addressing the opioid epidemic um and so um particularly with um fenel of course highly dangerous synthetic opioid attributes to many overdose deaths in Illinois um especially in the last decade um um so like one new law allows pharmacies and other retailers to sell um fentel test strips over the counter um and it’s it’s an it’s basically it’s a very important um that’s a very important thing for um as a harm um reduction strategy because you know you know drug users oftentimes you know if they ingest a certain drug they don’t know if fanel is in it and you know that’s how we’ve seen many overdoses and even deaths you know so this basically um you know the availability of of these test strips allow users to basically detect that you know whether it’s present in other drugs another law allows trained overdose responders these are you know for organizations um that are part of the Illinois Department of Human Services they have a drug overdose pre prevention program they’re um allowed to dispense drug adulter and testing supplies this was something that only Pharmacists and doctors and medical assistants were allowed to do in the past and um also high schools will now be required to teach the dangers of fent fentanyl in every state required health course um uh in high school beginning um in the fall and um you know so instruction on the dangers of fentanyl it must come from federal agencies like the National Institute suits of Health um this should include material about side effects and risk factors of fentanyl how to detect the drug using test strips um and the roles of other opioid antagonists like like um like Narcan for instance um and then public and private schools in Illinois um are also required to keep Narcan or you know some of these other opioid antagonists in a secure location um in you know you know in the you know in the event of an overdose previously um this was optional in schools now it’s going to be mandatory I’m sorry I was muted uh common Zoom mistake maybe we can wrap up with uh this this last uh story which at first I like misread it and I was like wait a minute what uh it starts out with and maybe you can take it from here Illinois is repealing a portion of the 2013 law that legalized same-sex marriage that’s the part that I was like wait a minute where is the sentence going um can you pick up where I left off there yeah yeah so so Illinois um they’re repealing a portion of the uh um same-sex marriage law it that prohibited marriage licenses from being issued to same-sex couples um for out a state if their state doesn’t allow such unions um to take place so same-sex marriage was um it’s been legal Nationwide since the Obama years since a 2015 Supreme Court um ruling um you know of course you know at this time you know we we’ve seen that lgbtq plus Advocates they’re concerned about you know this decision you know after the high court last year you know overturned um the Federal right to abortion under that were granted under roie Wade and in in that concurring opinion if you recall Justice Thomas he called for the court to reconsider reconsider other um rulings including the feder you know the Supreme Court ruling that legalize same-sex marriage so you know basically um you know the previous law made it a Class C misdemeanor for a public official to issue a marriage license to couples who would not be permitted uh to Wed under the laws of their home state but that’s been repealed basically um cool yeah very cool well Jeremy uh folks that are listening we’re going to have this story linked I don’t we covered actually most of the article but I think there are some bases maybe we we skipped over so folks I encourage you to read the full article uh by Jeremy gorner and is it Dan Petrella am I saying his last name right and Petrella correct okay yeah we’ll have it linked in the podcast description we’ll also have uh Jeremy’s social media like his Twitter uh linked in case you want to follow Jeremy uh for his work Jeremy I got I got to thank you for doing what you do to keep the public informed um just on behalf of my listeners and on on behalf of myself somebody who reads your work thank you thank you yeah thank you and I I know I was rambling but there was a lot there Cole so no it was perfect and like I say it’s exactly what this podcast I I think it’s what separates my podcast from other forms of media the fact that we can take a deep dive and we can you know go off on tangents and stuff I think that’s what makes it unique I’d like to hope at least so sure sure well folks I hope you found as much value in this conversation as I did uh Jeremy I look forward to uh maybe catching up with you in the future on uh whatever you might be reporting on then so absolutely absolutely and uh congratulations with everything with the with the change uh with the image change and everything so yeah hey thank you so much thank you so much folks you take care all right bye
The Cole Memo 
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