Some of Illinois’ most powerful Democrats are signaling a willingness to revisit parts of the SAFE-T Act, the sweeping criminal justice overhaul that eliminated cash bail and significantly loosened restrictions on electronic monitoring. But there are questions about who, if anyone, is actually studying the law’s effectiveness.
House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch told Capitol News Illinois this week that he is waiting for a report from the chief judge of Cook County before deciding whether to pursue legislative changes. Welch suggested the new chief judge was reviewing how the law is working and could bring recommendations to lawmakers.
But the chief judge’s office says there is no SAFE-T Act report coming.
Welch’s comments come amid renewed political pressure following a series of violent crimes in Chicago, many involving men with lengthy records of random attacks who were released pretrial or placed on electronic monitoring. Several of the incidents occurred on the CTA and in the Loop, fueling public scrutiny of how the SAFE-T Act and the county’s monitoring program function in practice. One of the most high-profile cases involves a man accused of setting a woman on fire aboard a CTA train while he was on electronic monitoring.
In November, Gov. JB Pritzker acknowledged growing debate around the law, telling reporters, “I think everybody is open to listening to what changes might be made.”
Judge Charles Beach became Cook County’s chief judge on December 1, stepping into the role as criticism of the electronic monitoring program under his predecessor, Timothy Evans, dominated news coverage.
On his second day in office, Beach announced the creation of a panel tasked with examining the chief judge’s electronic monitoring program. That group was instructed to review how the program functions and return findings and recommendations by the end of January. The announcement did not reference the SAFE-T Act itself or broader statutory changes.
This week, Welch expanded on Pritzker’s SAFE-T Act statement in an interview with Capitol News Illinois.
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch (D-Hillside) and House Minority Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) talk about the possibility of making changes to the SAFE-T Act.
— Capitol News Illinois (@CapitolNewsIL) January 14, 2026
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“I don’t know if there are any changes to the SAFE-T Act itself that need to be done,” Welch told the outlet. “The new chief judge here in Cook County has asked us to give him time to take a look at that, you know, report back, and he’d be happy to make recommendations, if any. If the chief judge comes to me and he has some ideas, I’ve told him I’m going to be all ears because our goal is always to try to make things better. It’s working. But can it be better?”
After Welch’s comments were published, we asked Beach’s office whether evaluating or improving the SAFE-T Act is part of the assignment given to the electronic monitoring panel and whether the chief judge was preparing a separate report with recommendations for changes to the law.
“The answer to both questions,” a spokesperson for the chief judge said, “is, simply, no.”
Republicans, meanwhile, say they are not waiting. House Minority Leader Tony McCombie told Capitol News Illinois that her caucus has already submitted proposed changes to the governor.
“We want to be able to offer some solutions,” McCombie said. “They can own it and take it and run with it, but we want to make sure to give them the tools.”
According to Capitol News Illinois, Republican proposals include expanding detention eligibility to cover all felonies rather than only violent ones, allowing judges to revoke pretrial release if a person commits any new crime while released, removing language that permits people on pretrial home confinement to move freely two days each week, and creating a presumption of detention for defendants charged with crimes against minors.
Welch’s office did not respond to a request for comment and clarification of his statements.
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