On August 12, 2025, Governor Pritzker signed into law Senate Bill 1953 (also known as “Sonya Massey’s Bill”). Public Act 104-0158 will take effect on January 1, 2026, and imposes new mandates on the hiring practices of law enforcement agencies and the review of potential new officers’ past employment and disciplinary records. The legislation was created in response to the shooting death of Sonya Massey by a former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy. After the deputy was charged with Massey’s murder, his past employment and criminal records revealed two convictions for driving under the influence and that he held four different jobs over his six-year career with a history of disciplinary issues. The legislation aims to heighten the disclosure requirements for prospective police officers and increase transparency and accountability for those hired to serve.

Overview of Public Act 104-0158:

Public Act 104-0158 amends the Illinois Police Training Act by adding a new section, Section 6.5, titled “Hiring decisions; inspection of employment records.” This new section includes the following requirements:

• (a) Law enforcement agencies must require an applicant to execute a signed release that directs any and all previous employers of the applicant to produce or make available all employment records, including:
  • Background investigation materials collected in connection with making a final offer of employment;
  • Duty related physical and psychological fitness for duty exams;
  • Work performance records;
  • Records of criminal, civil, or administrative investigations of conduct;
  • Arrests;
  • Convictions;
  • Findings of guilt;
  • Pleas of guilty; or
  • Pleas of nolo contendere
• (b) A previous employer that receives a signed request for employment records of a current or former employee must produce those records within 14 days after receipt of such request. A producing employer may advise a requesting employer they require an extension of up to 14 days, if necessary.
  • The producing employer must certify that it provided all known records and that it is not aware of other credible information regarding the applicant that would reflect negatively on the applicant’s fitness for employment as an officer not contained in the produced records.
• (c) The requesting agency or Board may be required to pay reasonable costs and expenses of the collecting and producing employee agency.
• (d) Personal identifying information can be redacted from records, including social security numbers, driver’s license and state identification card numbers, financial account numbers, and debit and credit card numbers. No nondisclosure, separation or settlement agreement can prevent the production of records. The requesting agency must be advised in writing if records are protected by seal or a court order.
• (e) A requesting agency can seek a court order to compel production of records from a non-compliant producing agency.
• (f) The requesting agency must receive and review all materials before making a final offer of employment.
• (g) The requirements under Section 6.5 are in addition to, not in lieu of, other required investigations under the Act.
• (h) If provisions of Section 6.5 are inconsistent with a CBA entered into before January 1, 2026, then the conflicting Section 6.5 requirements do not apply. However, CBA’s entered into or modified after January 1, 2026 cannot conflict with this Section 6.5.

 

Lastly, subsection (i) of Section 6.5 includes an example form of the required written release.

      In addition, Section 3-8002 of the Counties Code is amended to permit any county with a population of at least 75,000 to create police merit boards and commissions. Previously, only counties with a population of at least 1,000,000 could create these boards and commissions. It is expected that smaller counties will create police merit boards and commissions which will inherently strengthen police accountability across the state.

      Due to the amendments to the Illinois Police Training Act, the Illinois Personnel Record Review Act needed similar amendments. The Personnel Record Review Act was amended to add two new definitions: “law enforcement agency” and “law enforcement personnel file.” A new section titled “Release of law enforcement personnel files” was also added. This section similarly requires law enforcement agencies to release complete law enforcement personnel files upon request of a hiring agency for the purpose of making an employment decision and contains the same requirements as the new Section 6.5 of Illinois Police Training Act. Therefore, the amendments to the Illinois Personnel Record Review Act do not impose additional requirements for law enforcement agencies but reinforce the new requirements of the Illinois Police Training Act.

Requirements for Law Enforcement Agencies:

      This new law has significant new requirements for law enforcement agencies, whether they are an officer’s potential new employer, current, or past employer.  

Hiring Law Enforcement Agencies:

      All hiring law enforcement agencies must now obtain a signed release from every applicant that permits the release of their previous records. This requirement suggests that law enforcement agencies should prepare a form written release that every applicant must fill out as part of the application process. The amendment itself includes an example form of this written release that complies with the Illinois Police Training Act.

      In addition, the hiring law enforcement agency is required to receive and review all materials before making a final offer of employment. Inherently, this adds steps to the hiring process as law enforcement agencies must send requests to previous employers and track and receive their responses to ensure the agency reviews all materials before making an employment offer. The statute does not indicate how much weight these materials should be given or how to evaluate them, it just requires that the hiring agency review them. This requirement heightens transparency because all hiring agencies should have access to and review all past employment records of applicants. However, the agencies are given discretion on how these materials and records may affect their hiring decisions.

      We suggest that you work with your counsel to prepare a form release that can be implemented into your hiring process. Further, law enforcement agencies should train their hiring staff members on communicating with other agencies to obtain the required materials and how to analyze and interpret the records received.

Current and Past Law Enforcement Agencies:

      Additionally, former law enforcement agencies now have requirements and deadlines to meet with respect to current or former employees seeking new jobs. Former employers must ensure that the request for records they receive from a hiring law enforcement agency complies with the Illinois Police Training Act. If so, former employers must then search for and produce all responsive records. Not only must the former employer produce the records specifically listed in the Illinois Police Training Act, Section 6.5, but subsection (b) requires former employers to certify that it is not aware of other information regarding the applicant that would reflect negatively on the applicant’s fitness for employment as an officer that is not contained in the produced records. This extends the scope of information to provide because this broad requirement would include any other internal employment information or opinion the former employer has on the applicant.

      To ensure compliance with these new requirements, we suggest maintaining all employees’ personnel files in an organized fashion that allows them to be easily produced to requesting law enforcement agencies. Further, any information that would not be kept in the specifically listed requirements should be well documented within an employee’s file so that the producing law enforcement agency can comply with providing all known “information” that may negatively reflect the applicant’s fitness for employment as an officer.

      All Illinois law enforcement agencies will be subject to these requirements on January 1, 2026. It is important to ensure your agency is aware of the changes before then and we encourage you to reach out to your attorneys with any questions about the new requirements of this bill.

Authored by: 

Sophie Slusher (unpictured)