Victory: Pretrial Success Grant Program Preserved, Funding Kept for Critical Pretrial Services
On May 31, the Illinois General Assembly passed its annual budget, including a measure to ensure continued funding of the Pretrial Success grant program. Established in 2024 as part of the Pretrial Success Act, the program funds organizations that provide voluntary services aimed at ensuring individuals released pretrial appear in court and avoid rearrest. The grant program’s inclusion in the state budget follows the Trump administration’s decision to withhold hundreds of millions in state funding, creating a budget strain that put the program at risk.
The Pretrial Success Act was part of a series of pretrial justice reform initiatives implemented by the state in recent years, including most notably the Pretrial Fairness Act, which eliminated Illinois’s money bond system. With courts across the state now releasing more people pretrial, there is an increased need for supports that assist these individuals in following their conditions of pretrial release. In this vein, the Pretrial Success Act was passed in 2024 to fund health and human services agencies, community-based organizations, and other entities that provide mental health and substance use disorder support, transportation, and child care for people awaiting trial. The aim is to address the underlying issues that lead individuals who are released before their trial to interact with law enforcement and to remove obstacles to their court appearances, in turn preventing rearrest. With the establishment of local advisory councils set for July 2025, the Pretrial Success Act further centers the voices of communities historically most impacted by the money bond system in determining how funds should be invested.
The initial bill provided a total of $3.5 million to be rolled out throughout 2025 as a pilot program, with the plan of increasing the funding in future years. Despite the budget crisis in Illinois, the Illinois General Assembly ensured continued funding for the Pretrial Success Grant Program in 2026. This funding is insufficient to meet the needs of the entire state, but the extension of this pilot for another year will improve the capacity of initiatives under the program to support people awaiting trial and will demonstrate the effectiveness of this Act.
Chicago Appleseed strongly supports the Pretrial Success Act and its goals. We firmly believe that sustained funding for the Act and its grantee services will demonstrably enhance community well-being and prevent needless entanglement in the criminal legal system.