SPRINGFIELD, Illinois- It was a unanimous vote for increasing penalties in the Illinois House today.
April 3, lawmakers passed a bill in honor of Pam Knight a Dixon DCFS worker who was brutally beaten and later died while checking on the welfare of a two-year-old child back in 2017.
The bill increases the penalty for people who hurt social workers.
Right now if someone attacks a social worker they face two to five years behind bars.
This new bill strengthens that penalty to four to 15 years the same punishment for assaulting other first responders like police.
A similar bill failed last year.
Today, it passed unanimously, the bill now heads to the Senate.
