SPRINGFIELD — Less than a year after a sheriff’s officer fatally shot a Black Springfield woman, the Illinois Senate has passed two measures aimed at issues raised during nationwide protests over the shooting.
One bill would prohibit law enforcement agencies from hiring any cops unless they authorize previous police departments they worked for to make their employment records available. The second would allow Sangamon County to create a process for countywide elected officials to be recalled through a referendum vote in the 2026 election. Both bills now head to the Illinois House.
The legislation follows the killing of Sonya Massey on July 6 by Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson during a confrontation inside her home outside Springfield. Grayson has been fired and is awaiting trial on murder charges in Massey’s killing. Her death also led to Sheriff Jack Campbell’s decision to step down and a $10 million settlement with Massey’s family.
State Sen. Doris Turner, a Springfield Democrat, said in an interview that the shooting death was personal to her because her grandmother was friends with Sonya Massey’s grandmother. When Turner would speak to Massey’s mother, she would tell the state senator, “‘I want you to get justice for my baby,’” Turner said.
The first measure, which places the requirements on law enforcement agencies and police officer applicants, was spurred by revelations that before he became a Sangamon County deputy, Grayson worked for five law enforcement agencies and had been the subject of citizen complaints and criticism from superiors who questioned his competence. Before he went into law enforcement, Grayson also had two DUIs on his record.
Sangamon County’s hiring of Grayson in 2023 occurred after officials with the sheriff’s office spoke with some of Grayson’s previous law enforcement employers whose representatives questioned Grayson’s abilities as an officer and said he needed more training. But Grayson was still hired after a former Sangamon County deputy gave him a good recommendation.
“In speaking with all aspects of law enforcement, they want good officers out on the street. They don’t want to just put anybody, willy-nilly out there,” Turner said. “But they want to be able to have the best tools that they have to identify those good officers and kind of weed out the bad ones and the ones that they don’t think would be a good fit. And unfortunately prior to this bill, they did not have those tools.”
According to the legislation, applicants for police jobs would have to allow their previous law enforcement employers to turn over “background investigation materials collected in connection with making a final offer of employment; duty-related physical and psychological fitness-for-duty examinations; work performance records,” and other investigations related to an officer’s alleged criminal conduct or allegations of violating law enforcement agency rules.
That bill passed the House without opposition. But the second bill allowing the creation of a recall process next year for countywide elected officials did face some resistance, partly because it is limited to just Sangamon County.
Turner said the legislation was written narrowly to avoid drawing in other counties that might not want recall, but Republican state Sen. Jason Plummer of Edwardsville said voters should be able to recall elected officials across the state.
“We’ve seen these problems at the municipal level, at the state level, at the federal level,” Plummer said. “If we’re for good public policy, and if we’re for cleaning up government and if we’re making sure that our constituents’ voices are heard, all of our constituents should have the same rights. All of our elected officials should be held to the same standard.”
The second measure, which passed 35-19, was in response to Campbell’s exit as sheriff amid public outrage over Massey’s death. Campbell, a Republican elected to the post in 2018, resisted calls to resign for weeks. He also downplayed the disclosure that the sheriff’s office hired Grayson despite some of the criticism from at least one of the deputy’s previous employers.
Turner said Sangamon County citizens asked to recall the sheriff after the shooting but that county board members, through their attorneys, didn’t think the county had the legal authority.
The legislation says the Sangamon County Board may establish the recall process, though it would not allow for the recall of the county treasurer, which has its own process for a recall, or the regional superintendent of schools.
