Kankakee Times

Jackie Haas introduced HB0075 in the Illinois House on Jan. 9, 2025, during the general assembly session 104, according to the Illinois General Assembly.

According to the Illinois General Assembly site, the legislature summarized the bill's official text as follows: "Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Provides for enhanced penalties for hate crime. Provides that hate crime is: (1) a Class 1 felony if committed by a person 18 years of age or older while armed with a firearm or if the victim of the hate crime is under 18 years of age; (2) a Class X felony if a crime of violence as defined in the Crime Victims Compensation Act is committed against a person by reason of the actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, citizenship, immigration status, or national origin of another individual or group of individuals; or (3) a Class X felony for which the person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 15 years and not more than 60 years if a crime of violence that is a Class X felony is committed against a victim described in (2). Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Provides that a person who commits any of these offenses is ineligible for a period of probation, a term of periodic imprisonment or conditional discharge. Provides that a prisoner serving sentence for the offenses described in (2) or (3) shall receive no more than 4.5 days of sentence credit for each month of his or her sentence of imprisonment. Provides if the underlying offense was first degree murder committed against a person by reason of the actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, citizenship, immigration status, or national origin of the victim or victims, the court may impose a term of natural life imprisonment upon the offender."

The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.

In essence, this bill proposes amendments to the Criminal Code of 2012 and the Unified Code of Corrections in Illinois to increase penalties for hate crimes. A hate crime becomes a Class 1 felony if the perpetrator is over 18 and armed with a firearm or if the victim is under 18. Furthermore, a hate crime constitutes a Class X felony if it involves violence based on victim characteristics such as race, religion, gender, or other listed identities. Perpetrators convicted under this category cannot receive probation, periodic imprisonment, or conditional discharge. If the crime involves first-degree murder due to these biases, a natural life sentence may be imposed. Additionally, for those imprisoned for these offenses, sentence credits are limited to 4.5 days per month. This law takes effect on Jan. 1, 2025, and aims to address hate crimes with more severe consequences, reflecting the state's commitment to combating hate-based violence.

Haas graduated from Valparasio University in 1988 with a BA.

Jackie Haas is currently serving in the Illinois State House, representing the state's 79th House District. She replaced previous state representative Lindsay Parkhurst in 2020.

Bills in Illinois follow a multi-step legislative process, beginning with introduction in either the House or Senate, followed by committee review, floor debates, and votes in both chambers before reaching the governor for approval or veto. The General Assembly operates on a biennial schedule, and while typically thousands of bills are introduced each session, only a fraction successfully pass through the process to become law.

You can read more about bills and other measures here.

Bill Number	Date Introduced	Short Description
HB0075	01/09/2025	Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Provides for enhanced penalties for hate crime. Provides that hate crime is: (1) a Class 1 felony if committed by a person 18 years of age or older while armed with a firearm or if the victim of the hate crime is under 18 years of age; (2) a Class X felony if a crime of violence as defined in the Crime Victims Compensation Act is committed against a person by reason of the actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, citizenship, immigration status, or national origin of another individual or group of individuals; or (3) a Class X felony for which the person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 15 years and not more than 60 years if a crime of violence that is a Class X felony is committed against a victim described in (2). Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Provides that a person who commits any of these offenses is ineligible for a period of probation, a term of periodic imprisonment or conditional discharge. Provides that a prisoner serving sentence for the offenses described in (2) or (3) shall receive no more than 4.5 days of sentence credit for each month of his or her sentence of imprisonment. Provides if the underlying offense was first degree murder committed against a person by reason of the actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, citizenship, immigration status, or national origin of the victim or victims, the court may impose a term of natural life imprisonment upon the offender.
HB0071	01/09/2025	Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Provides that the penalty for aggravated domestic battery is a Class X felony for which the person shall be sentenced to a mandatory term of imprisonment of not less than 6 years and not more than 30 years when the person, in committing a domestic battery, strangles another individual.
HB0072	01/09/2025	Amends the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. Provides that, if a person has 3 or more pending charges for misdemeanor domestic battery, battery, violation of an order of protection, or criminal damage to property when the property belongs to a family or household member as defined in the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986, the defendant may be charged as a habitual misdemeanant offender. Provides that the 3 or more charges alleged do not have to be for the same offense. Provides that any offense that results from or is connected with the same transaction, or results from an offense committed at the same time, shall be counted for the purposes of this provision as one offense. Provides that: (1) the third offense must have occurred after the second offense; (2) the second offense must have occurred after the first offense; and (3) all of the charged offenses must be proved at trial in order for the person to be adjudged a habitual misdemeanant offender. Provides that, once a person has been adjudged a habitual misdemeanant offender, any of the following charges for domestic battery, battery, violation of an order of protection, or criminal damage to property in which the property belongs to a family or household member as defined in the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986 shall be charged as a Class 4 felony. Provides that a habitual misdemeanant offender shall be sentenced as a Class 4 felony offender for which the person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than one year and not more than 3 years. Provides that the court may deny pretrial release to a person charged as a habitual misdemeanant offender. Amends the Unified Code of Corrections to make conforming changes.
HB0073	01/09/2025	Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Provides that a person, in addition to other elements of the offense, obstructs justice when, with intent to prevent the apprehension or obstruct the prosecution or defense of any person, he or she knowingly takes a body camera or any part of a body camera from a person known to be a peace officer. Provides that a violation, if the body camera or any part of the body camera is taken from the peace officer during the commission of an offense that has caused great bodily harm to the officer or another person, is a Class 1 felony. Provides that any other violation of this provision is a Class 2 felony.
HB0074	01/09/2025	Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Provides that a period of probation, a term of periodic imprisonment, or conditional discharge shall not be imposed for a felony offense that requires registration under the Sex Offender Registration Act.
HB0076	01/09/2025	Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Provides that if the county jail located in the county where the committed person was residing immediately before his or her conviction for the offense for which he or she is serving sentence in the Department of Corrections has a reentry program for committed persons, the Department of Corrections shall reimburse the county for any expenses incurred in the transfer of the committed person to the sheriff of the county where the reentry program is located, including the housing of the committed person transferred to the reentry program.
HB0077	01/09/2025	Amends the Illinois Controlled Substances Act. Schedules xylazine as a Schedule III controlled substance. Provides that notwithstanding the scheduling of xylazine as a Schedule III controlled substance, xylazine shall not be considered a controlled substance when: (1) used by licensed Illinois veterinarians dispensing or prescribing for, or administering to, a nonhuman species of a drug containing xylazine that has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; (2) used by licensed Illinois veterinarians dispensing or prescribing for, or administering to, a nonhuman species that is permissible under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; (3) manufactured, distributed, or used as an active pharmaceutical ingredient for manufacturing an animal drug approved under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; (4) used by a licensed certified euthanasia technician employed by a certified euthanasia agency; or (5) used by a wildlife biologist engaged in legal or authorized fieldwork under the indirect supervision of a veterinarian.
HB0078	01/09/2025	Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Increases the penalties for aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a peace officer from a Class 4 felony for a first violation to a Class 2 felony and from a Class 3 violation for a second or subsequent offense to a Class 1 felony. Amends the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. Defines "forcible felony" for the purposes of detainable offenses to include aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a peace officer.
HB0079	01/09/2025	Amends the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) Article of the Illinois Pension Code. In a provision concerning suspensions of retirement annuities during employment with a participating employer, provides that an annuitant receiving a sheriff's law enforcement employee annuity shall be considered a participating employee if the annuitant returns to work as a school security guard employed by a participating employer and works more than 999 hours annually. Effective immediately.