Whirlwind day yesterday--whirlwind month, really (is it really nearly September?!?). So glad to be able to cap it off with the honor of being able to attend a private bill signing ceremony for HB 2378; a great bill in the company of even better people: our Governor Pat Quinn, my State Senator Mattie Hunter (and senate sponsor of the bill), my supervising attorney at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law Margaret Stapleton, Beth Johnson and Gail Smith from Cabrini Green Legal Aid and Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM), John Maki from the @JohnHowardAssociation, a representative from the League of Women Voters of the U.S., Anthony Lowery and Sodiqa Williams from Safer Foundation, and, of course, my beloved mother Laura Walker and father Leonard Belcore. HB 2378 (now Public Act 98-1009) allows people who have made mistakes in their past, and have gone four years after completing their sentence without committing any other offenses, an opportunity to ask the courts to limit who can look at certain old, misdemeanor offenses to law enforcement. If the court finds that the person has turned their lives around, the court does exactly that. While it may sound minor, even the presence of old, lowest level offenses on an individuals record has been proven to be a significant barrier to individuals ability to obtain employment, housing, education and all the other basic necessities needed for our community members to provide for themselves and their loved ones. In all, literally hundreds of thousands peoples lives can be changed overnight because of this bill. Special thanks to State Representative Rita Mayfield for sponsoring this legislation in the house and being open-minded when it came to my suggestions:-), Senator Hunter, our Governor, his staff (i.e. Jessica McMiller Baptiste), the members of the General Assembly who exhibited the courage to vote yes on such a critical bill, and everyone else who helped ensure the passage of this important legislation!
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 22:35:00 +0000
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