The Illinois House of Representatives Wednesday voted to approve a bill that aims to address the state’s significant backlog of Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) card applications and renewals while encouraging gun safety through increased fingerprinting and background checks.
The House voted 75-40 to approve Senate amendments to HB562 (Hoffman). The bill requires all gun sales, including private sales, to include federal background checks; creates an electronic version of the FOID card that will be easier for the Illinois State Police to process; sets an incentive for firearm owners to submit fingerprints to gain access to automatic renewals; and creates of a law enforcement task force that will seek out firearms carried by individuals with revoked FOID cards.
“We have gun violence all over the state. We have gun violence all over the country. I think gun violence should be treated like an epidemic just like the global [COVID-19] pandemic. That’s real. We passed the FOID bill today, we passed [Firearm Restraining Order] bill today, because we recognize that we need to continue to address these issues. Can more be done? I think so,” House Speaker Chris Welch (D-Westchester) said at a Wednesday evening press conference.
“The bipartisan legislation passed by the General Assembly is a hard-fought victory for Illinois gun violence prevention advocates and survivors that will save lives and support equity by investing in critical mental health services for the communities most impacted by gun violence. We are very grateful for the courageous work of our legislative leaders, which led to the development of this package of gun safety reforms,” said Kathleen Sances, President of Gun Violence Prevention PAC Illinois, in a statement.
The House also voted 71 to 44 to approve changes to the budget recommended by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in an amendatory veto issued Tuesday. The party-line vote was only made possible by a last-minute rule change that allowed several members to vote and participate remotely. Republicans criticized the move as an underhanded effort to fix errors that resulted from a rushed budget bill drafting process.
Welch said that this one-day session added to the successes of the 2021 session overall.
“We got it done because we have some great people in the House of Representatives, on both sides of the aisle,” Welch said.
On the FOID bill, sponsor Jay Hoffman (D-Belleville) noted that the Illinois Sheriffs Association was neutral on the bill, a rare occurrence on a bill supported by gun safety advocates. The bill passed with some Republican support, with Rep. Keith Wheeler (R-North Aurora) explaining that he still opposes the concept of FOID cards but supports the intent of the bill.
He said he specifically supports the parts of the bill that allow guns to be taken away from individuals with revoked FOID cards, saying such an individual fatally shot several people he had connections to within his district, including the son of a high school classmate of his.
“After reflecting on the broken and flawed process that we have right now regarding FOID card revocation, I engaged in lots of discussions with members on both sides of the aisle and with stakeholders across the spectrum on how we can fix this system. When someone loses their FOID card, we can actually do something about it --- we can make a difference. I made a commitment to my classmate that we as a body would someday actually make that difference through legislation,” Wheeler said.
Many Republicans said they supported parts of the bill that were ultimately outweighed by the parts they opposed. Others said the bill would not help improve gun safety, saying criminals will continue to skirt the FOID and federal background check systems.
In other business, the House voted to concur with Senate amendments on HB1092 (Stoneback), which would expand the pool of individuals who can ask a judge to apply a firearm restraining order upon someone who they fear may hurt themselves or others. Republicans similarly opposed the measure, calling it a “gun grab.”
The House also voted to approve, among other legislation, HB2643 (Hoffman), which provides amnesty for individuals who were overpaid unemployment insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic, and HB2908 (Ramirez), which phases-in a fully elected school board for Chicago Public Schools over successive elections in 2024 and 2026.
Those bills now head to Pritzker’s desk for final approval.
Members of the House Democratic team Wednesday evening also said that negotiations with stakeholders on energy legislation continue, but Rep. Ann Williams (D-Chicago) said that, despite the fact that no agreement has been reached, the process has been far more collaborative than in years past.
Allison Richard
Legislative Consultant
