FAIR Act

Funded Advocacy & Independent Representation (FAIR) Act

HB 5842 – Rep. Dave Vella, Rep. Justin Slaughter, Rep. Kevin Olickal, Rep. Lilian Jiménez, Rep. Lindsey LaPointe, Rep. Will Guzzardi, Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, & Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz

The FAIR Act will create a constitutional statewide public defense system that will provide oversight, expand resources, and establish standards to ensure that every person who cannot afford an attorney is zealously represented by their public defender.

Learn More

FAIR ActFact Sheet
HB5842StatusandText

Press Coverage

Chicago Sun-TimesEditorial
Chicago TribuneOp-Ed

FAIR Act Endorsers

33rd Ward Working Families
Access Living
A Just Harvest
AIDS Foundation Chicago
Ascend Justice
Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Chicago
Better Government Association
BlackRoots Alliance
Cabrini Green Legal Aid
Cannabis Equity IL Coalition
Champaign County Bailout Coalition
Change Peoria
Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts
Chicago Community Bond Fund
Chicago Council of Lawyers
Chicago Urban League
Chicago United for Equity
Chicago United Solidarity Project (CUSP)
Children’s Best Interest Project
Color of Change
Faith Coalition for the Common Good
Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project (FLAP)
First Unitarian Church of Chicago
Greater West Town Community Development Project
Health & Medicine Policy Research Group
Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Illinois Collaboration on Youth
Illinois Harm Reduction & Recovery Coalition
Illinois National Organization for Women (NOW)
Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice
Illinois Prison Project
Illinois Prisoner Rights Coalition
Illinois Social Justice Alliance
Interfaith Criminal Justice Task Force
Lawndale Christian Legal Center
League of Women Voters of Illinois
Liberation Library
Live Free Illinois
Metro East Organization
NAMI Illinois
National Lawyers Guild - Chicago
Nikkei Uprising
Phalanx Family Services
Prison Policy Initiative
To Defend If Necessary,LLC
The Center for Empowerment and Justice
The People’s Lobby
The Porchlight Collective SAP
Restore Justice
Rockford Urban Ministries
The Resurrection Project
She Votes Illinois
Shriver Center on Poverty Law
Smart Decarceration Project,University of Chicago
Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL)
TASC (Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities)
Trinity United Church of Christ Chicago
Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois
Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois
Youth Empowerment Performance Project (YEPP)
YWCA Champaign County
YWCA McLean County