Measures to increase penalties for assaults against Illinois Department of Child and Family Services employees are slowly progressing, after a caseworker’s death earlier this year. Republican Senator Tim Bivins introduced a bill inside the Senate back in January, that would make aggravated battery without a firearm a felony, if it causes a permanent disability or disfigurement to a DCFS worker. The bill was revived last week, after it cleared a Senate subcommittee, after lingering for months. Bivins stated that, “I introduced Senate Bill 22-72 to address the dangerous situations that Department of Children and Family Services employees often face while they are at their jobs.” He continued by saying, “I am currently working to fully address the valid concerns expressed by other lawmakers and to craft a bill that will get past through the end-of-session pressures and find support in both the Senate and the House.” A House bill with similar language failed to clear a House committee, with some lawmakers expressing concerns over such bills. They cited that they need to address mass incarceration and calling for a criminal justice reform. Ed Yohnka, who is the communications director for the American Civil Liberties Union in Illinois, says, “People do not want to just be tough on crime, they want to be smart on crime.” Caseworker Pamela Knight, who was 59-years-old, was attacked back in September 2017, while she was attempting to take a child into protective custody. The attack left Knight with a fractured skull. She ended up dying several months following the attack in February. Bivins introduce another Senate bill, which will require child protection investigators to be accompanied by a law enforcement official, when they visit homes on an investigator’s request. Democratic Senator Michael Hastings is the bill sponsor, which would provide employees from the DCFS, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Department of Corrections with quarterly reports on violence against them from citizens. Both bills have made it through the Senate and are now being sent to the House for approval.