SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — A plan to allow Sangamon County residents to recall its elected officials passed the Illinois Senate Thursday.

The policy was made after the death of Sonya Massey, who was killed by Sangamon County Deputy Sheriff Sean Grayson.

State Sen. Doris Turner (D-Springfield) filed two bills to make sure this never happens again. Senate bill 1953, that would change police hiring practices passed the Illinois Senate with unanimous support Wednesday.

Senate bill 1954 would create a referendum in 2026 for Sangamon County. Residents would then vote on if they want to add recall laws to their County.

Originally, the proposal was much more expansive. At the start, the recall laws would be added to all Counties through the same referendum process. A little later, the bill language was changed, with the referendum planned for the 2026 midterm and gave Counties the ability to repeal the recall law. Now it only applies to Sangamon County.

This is due to pushback from both Republicans and Democrats. In the bills committee hearing, state Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) said the proposal would have a "chilling affect on a public officials on their day to day duties."

With the bill now amended with that concern, Republicans voted against it on the Senate floor. State Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Vandalia) said the bill was too narrow and every county should have recall laws.

However, Democrats could pass this bill without Republican support, since they hold a supermajority in both chambers. This proposal received criticism from other Democratic Senators during committee hearing. State Sen. Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) said she wants to talk to Turner privately about the policy because she has "serious concerns."

This led to the plan in the current state it is in, only applying to Sangamon County officials. Turner said she has taken all points of critique and opinions from lawmakers, state associations and counties to craft the final bill language.

"What I'm bringing today and having it narrowed in the way it is narrowed, it is taking all of that into consideration and bringing forth a piece of legislation that I feel has the best opportunity of being passed," Turner said.

The plan passed the Senate on a partisan 35-19 vote. It will now head to the House, where lawmakers could talk about it in the coming weeks.

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