The Illinois House passed legislation to make permanent the very successful Illinois Traffic Stop Data Collection Act which requires state and local police in Illinois to record particular information (including the race of the motorist) for every civilian stopped for a traffic infraction. The measure, first adopted in 2003, under the leadership of then State Senator Barack Obama, contained a "sunset" provision resulting in several temporary extensions. Should the permanent extension also win State Senate support, police and law enforcement officials will continue to compile and report the race of every motorist stopped for traffic violations in Illinois, casting a spotlight on racial profiling problems. By making the program permanent, the bill, sponsored by Monique Davis (D-Chicago) and supported by ACLU of Illinois, keeps in place a process which forces law enforcement officials to self-assess and check their motivations for stopping drivers. Ed Yohnka, ACLU of Illinois Communications Director, emphasized that the program’s existing sunset provision would have ended the data gathering in 2015 unless another extension was granted, as has been done in the past:
"We have been forced to do this dance every couple of years to renew this act,” he said. Permanently extending the measure would be a “great policy victory for the state."
