By a final vote of 56 to 3, the Illinois Senate passed a sweeping death penalty reform bill. The bill was passed last week by the Illinois House with a 117-0 vote. The bill now goes to Governor Rod Blagojevich for his signature.

The measure proposes refining the capital justice system at nearly every point from investigation to post-conviction legal wrangling, with a multitude of changes meant to prevent execution of the innocent.

Here are some of the provisions of the bill:

It would change police procedures regarding disclosure of their investigative field notes, set up a system to get rid of police officers who lie and create pretrial hearings to help determine the credibility of jailhouse informants.

In addition, the proposal would create a presumption that anyone with an IQ lower than 75 is mentally retarded and not eligible for the death penalty.

The law would reduce the number of situations that qualify a convicted murderer for the death penalty and would create a pilot project for certain police lineup procedures to make them more fair. The law also would require police to inform witnesses that the person administering a lineup doesn't know which person in it is the suspect and that the person who committed the crime may not be in the lineup.

Another condition, called the "fundamental justice" provision, would empower the Illinois Supreme Court to overturn a death sentence if justices thought it was not called for in a particular case. The high court would not be required to jump through the legal hoop of finding a procedural error to justify throwing out the death penalty, which it must do now.

Governor Blagojevich has not committed to signing the legislation. He says it sounds like something he will support, "But I haven't studied it. I haven't looked at it." We're fairly confident the Governor will sign the bill. Days after being elected in November, he announced he would retain the death penalty moratorium instituted under former Governor George Ryan, at least until the legislature addressed the problems pointed out by Illinois Death Penalty Commission.

For more on why this legislation is so sorely needed, we recommend Thomas Sullivan's article, Think Now, Execute Later. Sullivan served on the Illiniois Commission.