Week of April 19th., 2010
Most of the first week upon return from the two week spring break of the General Assembly was consumed by Committee hearings in both the House and Senate. Dozens of proposals were heard in committees as the filtering process got underway to consider bills in the House that passed the Senate and vice versa. Remember, you can follow the status of legislation that you are concerned with by going to www.ilga.gov and simply typing the Bill number into the search box. You can also listen in live to the proceedings at that site.
Much of the House floor time was used to discuss the possibility of placing on the ballot next November a number of proposed changes to the Illinois Constitution so that voters in Illinois might decide if they would like to see certain changes made here in Illinois. Due to the fact that according to a recent poll performed by the Center for Governmental Studies at Northern Illinois University, around sixty percent of the people in Illinois are not satisfied with the way things are going in Illinois, one might expect a number of proposals to be brought forward in an effort change things.
There are many Constitutional Amendment proposals being floated in the House and Senate for the voters of Illinois to possibly consider next fall. There are two ways for a proposed Amendment to make it to the ballot. One method is through the General Assembly in each Chamber passing what is known as a Joint Resolution for a Constitutional Amendment. The proposed resolution carries the name of the originating Chamber in front of the resolution. For example, if it is House Resolution, the measure is referred to as House Joint Resolution Number 19 (HJCR19 for short). If the proposal is filed in the Senate, it would be SJR19. It takes a super-majority (three-fifths) vote in each Chamber in order for the proposed Amendment to be placed on the fall ballot.
The other way for a proposal to make it on the November ballot is for a “citizen’s initiative” to take place. In that case, petition signatures are gathered from each of the counties in Illinois and if there are enough valid signatures collected and filed appropriately then the question as presented on the petition would be placed on the ballot next November. Many of you are aware of such an initiative taking place currently related to the way we draw legislative districts in Illinois. That initiative is being led by the non-partisan League of Women voters. They are collecting signatures now. It takes a huge effort and hundreds of thousands of signatures to get a citizen’s initiative placed on the ballot.
There are also rules related to the number of Amendment questions that can be placed on the general election ballot. For proposals that originate in the General Assembly, only three Articles of the Illinois Constitution can be addressed during any election. The General Assembly has already passed a Joint Resolution regarding Recall of Executive branch members. That obviously deals with Executive Article Five of the Illinois Constitution. By the way, there can be multiple Amendment questions for any of the three Articles on the ballot but only three of the Articles can be the subject of ballot questions. That means that there can be additional Executive Article questions and that would not count against the limit of three questions on the ballot and two other Articles can be the subject of General Assembly placement.
In my travels around the 109th District, constituents on both sides of the political aisle have consistently complained to me about the way legislative district boundaries are drawn here in Illinois. As you know, here in Illinois, the maps are drawn by members of the General Assembly. In effect, politicians get to pick who votes for them under the current system rather than the other way around. I think we need to change that and would like to see the General Assembly pass the Fair Map Amendment and thereby ensure that the people get a chance to vote on that next fall. A Joint Constitutional Resolution has been filed to make that happen. It is HJCRA08 and that Resolution, if passed by the General Assembly, would ensure that the people of Illinois would have the chance to change the current system. We tried to get that Resolution discharged from Rules Committee last week where the Speaker is keeping it locked up although it is a proposal supported by people on both sides of the aisle. That would effect Article four of the Illinois Constitution.
Instead, there are other proposals being brought forward and allowed a vote. While some of the proposals might make sense and have a lot of support, they are clearly not as vital to the types of systemic changes we desperately need here in Illinois as the fair map change. Last week, a proposal was made related to victims rights. Before that a proposal to change the way we elect the Lt. governor in Illinois was voted on. I am sure that in the next few weeks, there will be more proposals being brought forward that would take up one of the three Articles slots that are available on the ballot. One again, some of the proposals are worthy. However, we need to keep our priorities straight here and get the real Fair Map resolution on the ballot. I expect that the Speaker will continue to withhold his support for a fair way to draw legislative lines. In fact, we will likely see another smoke screen next week as the Senate passed a mapping resolution that really does not make enough changes while keeping the power to choose in the hands of the politicians instead of the people they are supposed to serve. That Senate proposal will likely be heard while the proposal that might threaten the Speaker’s political power will be held in committee.
As far as a budget update goes, there was really no movement last week. It appears as if the plan is to possibly run a tax increase proposal in the next few weeks without any real reforms in spending. All proposed legislation that is intended to cap spending, require pay as you go or even require income means testing for Medicaid is being held up by the majority party. Other efforts to improve the job climate that would make a real difference like unemployment reforms and worker’s compensation reform proposals are also not being heard. In the meantime, the unemployment rate continues to climb in Illinois because the Democratic majority is unwilling to address some of the job-killing public policy that we have hear in Illinois.
I will keep you updated in the coming weeks as the session draws to a potential close. There are only three weeks left until the scheduled adjournment date of may 7th. You can reach me at: P.O. Box 125, Hutsonville, IL 62433, call me at 618-563-4128 or 217-558-1040 or e-mail me at reddyunit1@aol.com. You can also read more on my web site: www.peopleforeddy.com or and follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RepEddy and www.tweetillinois.org.