It has been a year since George Floyd died beneath a Minneapolis police officer’s knee, setting off riots in Chicago and protests across Illinois. Lawmakers vowed reforms, but nothing will change as long as police contracts overpower state law.

If the Illinois General Assembly wants to see true police reforms, it must first change the state law that gives police union contracts more power than public laws and regulations. Without that change, reforms become empty intentions.

While Illinois law explicitly states union contracts trump all other state laws, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled a police contract allowing the destruction of disciplinarily records defies public policy and cannot be enforced.