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SB 1515

ATTORNEY GENERAL-BLACK WOMEN

104th Regular Session Introduced by Mike Simmons-Gessesse

Creates and staffs the Illinois AG's Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls to coordinate data, policy, and investigations, with a public dashboard.

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Bill Summary · SB 1515

Summary — SB 1515 (Attorney General — Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls)

Status / jurisdiction
- Introduced in the Illinois Senate by Sen. Mike Simmons on February 4, 2025.
- Companion: HB 1435.
- Note: the document supplied contains text from multiple different bills (Arizona, Hawaii and Illinois) with the same bill number. This summary focuses on the Illinois measure titled “Attorney General — Black Women.”

Purpose
- Establish an Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls (MMBWG Office) within the Illinois Attorney General’s Office to improve legal, policy, investigative, and data responses to cases involving Black women and girls who are missing or murdered.

Key provisions
- Creation and staffing
- Creates an Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls inside the Attorney General’s Office.
- Staffed by Assistant Attorneys General appointed by the Attorney General and additional staff as needed.

  • Core functions

    1. Serve as legal and policy advisor to the Attorney General to “ensure justice” for missing and murdered Black women and girls.
    2. Develop policy recommendations to address inequities and systemic issues in criminal justice responses to these cases.
    3. Coordinate with state and local agencies to collect and analyze detailed data and to provide technical assistance.

  • Data collection and review (examples listed in the bill)

    • Collect case-level data on missing-person and homicide cases involving Black women and girls: total cases, clearance/solve rates, time cases remain open, and comparisons to cases involving other demographic groups.
    • Collect Amber Alert data: total Amber Alerts, number involving Black girls, and outcomes by race and sex.
    • Collect data on missing Black girls (including runaways) and compare with other demographic groups.
    • Conduct case and cold-case reviews, including reviews of deaths ruled suicide or overdose where circumstances are suspicious.
    • Provide technical assistance to state and local law enforcement and develop tools/processes for a centralized data repository and a public dashboard tracking missing and murdered Black women and girls.

  • Reporting requirement

    • The Office must file a report with the General Assembly no later than January 1 following the bill’s effective date and biennially thereafter. The report will include the collected information described above.

Impact and who is affected
- Affected parties: families and communities of missing/murdered Black women and girls; state and local law enforcement agencies; prosecutors; policymakers; public safety and victim-service organizations.
- Expected outcomes: improved data visibility, targeted policy recommendations, increased coordination and technical support for investigations, and greater accountability/transparency through public reporting and dashboards.
- Fiscal/operational impact: the bill creates a new specialized office within the Attorney General’s Office, implying staffing and administrative costs. The text does not specify funding or appropriation mechanisms; implementation would require resources appropriated by the General Assembly or reallocation within the AG’s office.

Procedural/timeline notes
- First statutorily required report: due January 1 after the act’s effective date; then every two years.
- Because the bill centers on coordination and data collection, many provisions will require interagency cooperation, rulemaking, and establishment of secure data systems before full implementation.

Prepared objectively from the bill text (15 ILCS 205/6.7).

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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