Governor J.B. Pritzker has signed the Lake Michigan Rescue Equipment Act into law, which will require life rings in Chicago and all along the lakefront.
The legislation, championed by State Representative Kelly Cassidy, followed a drowning in 2021 off of a pier in Rogers Park.
At that time, pressure was being put on the park district to install life rings. A citizen went as far as to install a life ring himself, and it was removed.
At the time, Alderwoman Maria Hadden described how the Chicago Park District had been working to block efforts to install life rings.
“We’ve been working for a couple of years trying to get the Chicago Park District to care about the safety of swimmers along the lakefront,” Hadden said. “We’ve been asking for life rings. The Chicago Park District has been blocking us with legal concerns.”
The park district ultimately decided to install life rings before the Lake Michigan Rescue Equipment Act passed in the Illinois General Assembly.
Now, what had been a pilot program is permanent.
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