Illinoisans should check the tree tops for pork chops - maybe.
Legislation aimed at preventing – ever again - another decades-long political fixture, à la now former House Speaker Mike Madigan, is now in the state Senate after almost unanimously passing in the House during an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote last week.
However, given the history of term limit legislation in Illinois, no one should expect smooth passage in the state Senate, State Rep. Chris Bos (R-Lake Zurich), one of many co-sponsors of House Bill 642, said in comments issued the same day the bill arrived in the Senate.
There are no term limits in the state legislature, Bos said in a joint appearance with another HB 642 co-sponsor, state House Rep. Jackie Haas (R-Bourbonnais), on a YouTube video about the House Republican Reimagine Illinois platform.
"I know there's been a number of bills that have come up over the years," Bos said. "But they've never made it out of committee, they've never made it out to a vote."
The Republican Reimagine Illinois platform, headed by another HB 642 co-sponsor, House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), imagines an Illinois free of corruption, headed by responsible fiscal leaders, where jobs are plentiful and neighborhoods are safe.
That's not Illinois today, Bos said.
"Years of unbalanced budgets, years of corruption, years of the political system putting itself ahead of the people," Bos said, also pointing out the huge number of government entities in the state. "We are not operating efficiently, we're not operating effectively, we are not doing the best that we can with the dollars that our citizens have entrusted us with."
H.B. 642 is unique for making it out of committee, despite years of trying. The bill made it out of the House Rules and Executive committees, where it stayed for almost three months before it passed that chamber on April 22 with 115 yeas, no nays and one present, or abstention. Rep. William Davis (D-Harvey) voted present. Rep. Carol Ammons (D-Urbana) was absent.
The bill arrived in the Senate the following day and was referred to the Assignments Committee, where it has been ever since.
Republicans haven't waited, Bos said.
"One of the things that our caucus, the Republicans, have done as far as term limits for their leadership, they've already enacted those and put those in place," he said. "So, we're trying to set the example, to say 'We can do this and we should do this.' "
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