Kane County Reporter

State Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) is calling out Illinois Democrats for scrambling to pass anti-crime legislation after passing the SAFE-T Act last year.

According to AdVantage News, Illinois Democrats have proposed adding $236 million for public safety on top of the public safety measures already included in the budget. The proposal includes $48 million for youth programs in the hopes that it will alleviate the state's spike in carjackings, as well as $124 million for police officer body cameras and other equipment. 

Republican legislators have criticized these measures as hypocritical in light of the SAFE-T Act that passed last year. 

"The safety of our residents should be a top priority for lawmakers every day, not just in an election year," Ugaste wrote in an April 18 Facebook post. "Democrats are now scrambling to clean up the crisis they created by passing the unvetted and dangerous SAFE-T Act last year."

The Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act eliminates cash bail by 2023, allows certain people accused of felonies to not have to be detained before trial, and imposes restrictions on Illinois police officers, as reported by InjusticeWatch. Law enforcement groups and police unions stated that the SAFE-T Act poses a threat to public safety. Cook County state's attorney Kim Foxx supported the legislation.

The new package of proposals includes HB 1103 which would amend the Expressway Camera Act, adding cameras to highways in more than 20 Illinois counties, according to Legiscan. The images from these cameras could be used to investigate other crimes, as well as monitoring "highway safety and incident management." The legislation would also offer $100 to anyone who captures video of a crime on their own residential security cameras, which can then be used to "contribute to a criminal conviction."