A press release from State Senator Karen McConnaughay:
Legislation that prohibits a countywide-elected county board chair from serving simultaneously as a county board member sent to Governor Rauner
SPRINGFIELD—In response to a situation that arose in McHenry County earlier this year, State Senator Karen McConnaughay (R-St. Charles) and State Representative Mike Tryon (R-Crystal Lake) have successfully passed legislation that would expressly prohibit an individual from running for County Board Member and County Board Chairman in the same election. The bill, House Bill 6418, was approved in the House in May and sailed through the Senate in the final hours of the fall veto session on December 1.
“When members of the McHenry County Board created the position of a countywide-elected Chairman of the County Board, their intent was clear,” said McConnaughay.
“The board determined that the chairman would not be a voting member of the board.
“Unfortunately, the approved rules did not expressly prohibit an individual from seeking that position while also seeking a voting seat in the district where they live.
“This legislation fixes that loophole and preserves the true intent of board’s decision to make their chairman a countywide-elected post.”
According to HB 6418, the restriction on serving in both roles simultaneously applies to all Illinois counties, but in counties with a population of between 300,000 and 3 million, the chairman may vote to break a tie.
Current law extends that tie-breaking voting authority only in counties with populations between 400,000 and 3 million.
“When the McHenry County Board created the stand-alone position of county board chair, board members wanted the new chairman to preside over the county as a whole and not be beholden to any specific county board district,” said Tryon.
“Serving in both positions at the same time would potentially lead to conflicts of interest and the people of McHenry County and all of Illinois deserve to have a county board chairman who is free from conflicts.”
The bill will now be sent to Governor Bruce Rauner for his signature.
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The bill passed the House unanimously in May.
The vote was 49-0 in the State Senate.
Back in March I contacted Tryon’s office asking him to write legislation prohibiting a State Rep. from running for County Chair.
His response was ‘Thank you for contacting my office. The intent of this specific legislation is not to change the law, just to prevent someone from simultaneously holding two seats on the County Board. Regarding your request, that is a different issue, and certainly one worth looking into. The bill filing deadline for this year has past, but your email has been printed and put into a file for consideration for the next bill filing period.’
Running for a position is one thing, holding two offices at the same time is another.
Holding two elected positions should not be a option.
The Senator’s press release isn’t quite right.
HB 6418 only prevents a person from *serving* as both a County Board Member and Chairman at the same time.
10 ILCS 5/10-7 already prevents someone from *running* simultaneously for two incompatible offices.
The bill simply adds Board Member/Chairman to that category “Effective immediately”, it would have created an interesting state of affairs if Walkup had won both of his races (assuming, of course, that Rauner signs the bill).
HB 6418 made another change to state law regarding County Board elections.
“In counties over 300,000 [was previously 450,000] population and under 3,000,000 population, the chairman shall be elected as chairman without having first been elected to the county board.”
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A person previously or currently elected to the county board cannot run for office as a County Board Chair?
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McHenry County population is 307,409.
Kane County population is 523,643.
Cook County population is 5,241,000.
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Abbreviated Legislative History of HB 6418 in the in the 99th Illinois General Assembly (ILGA).
March 3, 2016 – filed by Michael Tryon
May 26, 2016 – passed the Counties and Townships Committee. All 11 members voted yea.
May 29, 2016 – House Floor Amendment 1 passed the Counties and Townships Committee. Michael Tryon, not a member of the Counties and Townships Committee, voted in place of Reginald Phillips. 10 members voted yea, with Lawrence Walsh Jr (Joliet office) not voting (NV).
May 31, 2016 – passed the House, 116 Yea – 0 Nay – 1 Present (Jack Franks).
May 31, 2016 – added chief Senate sponsor, Karen McConnaughay
December 1, 2016 – passed the Senate, 49 Yea – 0 Nay – 0 Present.
Way to go Mikey! A true Repli-RAT! …. (tecnically, though he’s not a rodent at all, but a Repli-tarsier)
I actually got sick at his first ‘fishboil” fundraiser some years ago. (Somebody who couldn’t attend gave me tickets they bought, and I went with my grand-nephew who didn’t like or eat fish … so the kid was OK, quite unlike me!)
Two dirty-birds of afeather….. Mikey “the human-tarsier’ Tyron and his Svengali:
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SCfwBkF65oY/R_VkiflNzvI/AAAAAAAACJU/SHZeICFSFh8/s400/Franks+and+Tryon+on+stage+talking+to+each+other+3-19-8.jpg
Mike’s retirement gift to the little liar?
Here is HB 6418 as passed (enrolled version):
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09900HB6418enr&GA=99&SessionId=88&DocTypeId=HB&LegID=96958&DocNum=6418&GAID=13&Session=
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Notice the underlined text for additions and stricken text for deletions.
A needed collective bargaining agreement reform is changes to proposed and new agreements should be presented to taxpayers in the same fashion, using underlined text for additions and stricken text for deletions.
Maybe newly elected Republican State Representatives Steve Reick & Allen Skillicorn can propose that.
Agree with Mark that would be a positive step relative to collective bargaining agreements but I support total elimination of organized labor in the public sector.
Why do you think Franks was able to squeeze over one million dollars from unions?
Last report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that union representation in the private sector is 6.7 % while in the public sector it is 35.2 %.
Why is that?
Nationally, workers in protective service occupations and in education, training, and library occupations had the highest unionization rates (36.3 percent and 35.5 percent, respectively).
Guess where Illinois ranks in compensation for public sector employees in those jobs?
People representing the unions sit on BOTH sides of the Public Sector negotiation tables and arbitrators almost always rule in favor of the union!
Taxpayers (not represented by any union) have NO SAY in the negotiations and as Mark has pointed out frequently, they are not even given the details of the negotiations!!