South Central Reporter

Sen. Steve McClure (R-Jacksonville) is disappointed with a bill designed to combat retail theft.

"Our stores in this state – most of which have not recovered from the pandemic – are being targeted in a way that we have not seen before by retail thefts," McClure said from the Senate floor. "And what do you do? You just change the words around and allow them to be charged with the exact same thing. Well, guess what's going to happen? Nothing. I'm very disappointed with this." 

McClure said though the bill works on some levels, he'd have to vote against it.

"There are some good things here like I said, and I appreciate the sponsor's hard work on this legislation, but how disappointing is this that we have a lot of new charges that are just re-wording things that are already law," McClure said. "Not good at all. So I'm going to vote no on this. I don't like to vote no on this but I'm going to because it's not going to solve the real problems that we have with retail theft."

House Bill 1091 passed the Senate with 42 yes votes and 10 no votes, and passed the House with 96 yes votes and five no votes. It's been sent to the governor to be signed. 

Monica Zanetti, the owner of downtown Springfield's Wild Rose Artisans Boutique, said that she is happy that lawmakers are doing something about retail theft, The State Journal-Register reported. "I don't want my customers to feel scared," she said. "It has an emotional impact."

"Organized retail crimes have wreaked havoc on our workers, businesses and local economies," said Sen. Doris Turner (D-Springfield), who supports the bill, The State Journal-Register reported.

"Organized retail crime is committed by sophisticated criminal enterprises that harm our communities in ways that extend beyond lost revenue and stolen products," Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a news release, the Lincoln Courier reported. "These complex operations rely on thrift and resale of stolen products to fund and perpetuate the cycle of violence through even more dangerous illegal activities like trafficking drugs and firearms."

The bill would allow a statewide grand jury to investigate, indict and prosecute violations of organized retail crime.