They put down the crayons alright: Cook County got a new subcircuit map last night

For the record, the new Cook County map, the one that got posted on the House Redistricting website just this past Monday, got joined by a few friends sometime yesterday afternoon or evening. Here's a screenshot:

All those links are active as of this morning.

But there still needed to be a vehicle, a vessel into which this carefully brewed cartographic data might be poured.

HB3138 was chosen for this task.

Until yesterday afternoon or evening (I'm not privy to the exact time), this was the text of HB3138:

1    AN ACT concerning courts.

2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3  represented in the General Assembly:

4    Section 5. The Supreme Court Act is amended by changing
5  Section 11 as follows:

6     (705 ILCS 5/11) (from Ch. 37, par. 16)
7    Sec. 11. Marshals.
8    (a) The office of marshal for the Supreme Court is hereby
9   created, such marshals to be selected by the Supreme Court,
10  and the duties of such marshals shall be to attend upon its
11  sittings and to perform such other duties, under the order and
12  direction of the said court, as are usually performed by
13  sheriffs of courts. The salary of such marshals shall be fixed
14  by the judges of the Supreme Court, such salary to be payable
15  from the State treasury, upon bills of particulars, signed by
16  any one of the judges of the Supreme Court.
17    (b) Marshals are peace officers and have all the powers
18  possessed by police officers in cities and by sheriffs.
19  Marshals may exercise these powers throughout the State. No
20  marshal has peace officer status or may exercise police powers
21  unless: (i) he or she successfully completes the basic police
22  training course mandated and approved by the Illinois Law
23  Enforcement Training Standards Board; or (ii) the Illinois Law


    HB3138 Engrossed - 2 - LRB102 10630 LNS 15959 b

1  Enforcement Training Standards Board waives the training
2  requirement by reason of the marshal's prior law enforcement
3  experience or training or both.
4    (c) The office of marshal for the Supreme Court may also
5  employ court security officers to be responsible for
6  maintaining the security of any courthouse or courtroom
7  occupied by the Supreme or Appellate Court of this State. A
8  court security officer has the authority to arrest in the same
9  manner as authorized by similarly certified officers of a
10  county sheriff. However, the arrest powers of the court
11  security officer are limited to the performance of the
12  official duties of the court security officer. A court
13  security officer who is trained and qualified as permitted by
14  law may carry a weapon at his or her place of employment and to
15  and from his or her place of employment. No court security
16  officer authorized under this Section may exercise arrest
17  powers or carry a firearm unless: (i) he or she successfully
18  completes the basic court security officer training course
19  mandated and approved by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training
20  Standards Board; or (ii) the Illinois Law Enforcement Training
21  Standards Board waives the training requirement by reason of
22  the individual's prior experience or training or both.
23  (Source: P.A. 100-151, eff. 8-18-17.)

24    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
25  becoming law.

What, you may ask, does this have to do with judicial redistricting... in Cook County (or anywhere else)?

Absolutely nothing.

But... yesterday... things changed.