An Illinois lawmaker has introduced a bill that would prohibit police from pulling over drivers who speed up to 25 mph over the limit and commit other traffic infractions.
Illinois State Rep. Justin Slaughter (D-Chicago) filed House Bill 4603 on Monday.
The bill amends the Illinois Vehicle Code and prohibits all law enforcement officers from conducting traffic stops on vehicles throughout the state for a variety of offenses.
Those offenses include speeding up to 25 mph over the posted speed limit.
The bill says officers can only stop drivers who commit felony or misdemeanor speeding offenses.
In Illinois, speeding 26 mph or more over the limit is a Class B misdemeanor, while speeding 35 mph or more over the limit is a Class A misdemeanor.
The bill says officers who do stop speeders traveling more than 25 mph over the limit cannot use any evidence obtained on the stop at trial, even if the evidence was obtained with the consent of the driver.
The bill additionally restricts officers from stopping vehicles that fail to display license plates or stickers or operate with an expired registration sticker.
Slaughter’s bill says that officers also cannot stop drivers who commit improper lane usage or fail to comply with requirements relating to vehicle lamps or have excessive tint or defective mirrors.
Vehicles that have obstructed windshields, defective windshield wipers, defective bumpers and excessive exhaust are also not allowed to be stopped.
Drivers who do not wear a seatbelt are also safe from being stopped under the proposed bill.
Slaughter was one of the lead sponsors of the controversial SAFE-T Act, which went into effect in September and ended cash bail in Illinois.