Gov. JB Pritzker signs Sonya Massey Act, reforming police hiring in Illinois

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday signed new legislation requiring more thorough background checks before hiring police officers, a law inspired by the shooting death of Sonya Massey.

Massey was shot and killed by former Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson in July 2024 inside her home near Springfield.

Grayson has been fired and charged with first-degree murder in Massey’s killing, and questions have been raised about why he was hired in the first place, given concerns about his conduct at past police jobs.

Grayson shot and killed Massey as she was checking on a pot of boiling water in her kitchen while saying “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” but prosecutors have said Grayson asked her to move the pot off the stove, and that she never posed a danger that justified the use of lethal force.

Earlier this year, the Illinois House and Illinois Senate overwhelmingly passed the Sonya Massey Act with bipartisan support. The legislation would require more comprehensive background checks before hiring police or other law enforcement officers in Illinois. 

Pritzker said Tuesday that he signed the measure “to help prevent these tragedies, to better equip law enforcement to keep our communities safe, and to continue working to build a justice system that protects all of our citizens.”

The new law requires local, county, and state law enforcement agencies statewide to conduct full background checks on a potential hire before offering them a badge and gun.

The measure also prohibits law enforcement agencies from making a final job offer unless they’ve reviewed all of an applicant’s prior employment records.

Anyone applying for a police officer job in Illinois would be required to authorize all previous employers, including other law enforcement agencies, to provide full employment records – including “duty-related physical and psychological fitness-for-duty examinations; work performance records,” and any criminal records or records of other investigations connected to their conduct on the job.

“Officers with histories of serious disciplinary issues should not be serving in those capacities in our communities, and those histories should not come to light only after disaster happens,” Pritzker said. “Our justice system needs to be built on trust. Communities should be able to trust that when they call the police to their home, the responding officer will be well-trained and without a history bias or misconduct. And police officers should be able to trust that they are serving alongside responsible and capable individuals.”

Massey’s family has said they hope this new law will become a model for other states.

“Thank you for your support and God bless you,” her mother, Donna Massey, said after the governor signed the legislation.

Before Grayson was hired in Sangamon County and went on to kill Massey, questions about his conduct were well-documented by other police agencies. But those concerns were somehow never shared with the Sangamon County Sheriff’s office during the hiring process.

In his fifth police job, he refused to terminate a high-speed chase and drove more than 110 mph — only coming to an end when he hit a deer. A report from a department where Grayson was employed also said he struggled with report writing and was aggressive in his pursuit for drugs.

Grayson is scheduled to go on trial for Massey’s death in October in Peoria County. The Illinois Supreme Court is weighing a request from Grayson to be released from jail ahead of his murder trial.