A press release from State Rep. Steve Andersson:
Andersson Joins Colleagues in Call for Term Limits
Today, the freshman House Republican members held a press conference in the Capitol to discuss term limits in the General Assembly.
While the past few weeks have involved difficult partisan debates, there seemed no better time for a decisive call for term limits in Springfield.
Freshman State Rep. Steve Andersson took the podium at this press conference of first-term Republicans.
Representative Steve Andersson (R-Geneva), spoke at this morning’s conference to express the need for term limits in the General Assembly.
As a freshman legislator, one of Andersson’s first bills filed concerned term limits.
Andersson is the Chief Sponsor of HJRCA 28, which would limit the time a legislator can serve to a maximum of 12 years, or a combination of offices for more than 16 years.
In addition, the bill restricts a person to no more than 2 terms within the Office of the Governor and no more than 3 terms within the same Executive Branch office.
However, this bill was sent to the Rules Committee the day after it was filed in March and has been bottled up there ever since.
Andersson believes term limits are necessary to promote the very essence of legislating; to broaden the pool of those who want to serve and limit the power of those on the inside. It is this process that would create better government for Illinois.
“The people want bi-partisan government, not a one party rule. The only way to make this change is through real reform, and the time is now.
“We are in a gridlock, and finding balance and dialogue on legislation has become increasingly more difficult. We cannot stand to lose effectiveness in our government, and I have great faith that we can make change.”
In addition to Andersson’s legislation, House Republicans have filed two other amendments aimed at imposing term limits in Illinois: HJRCA1 filed by Representative Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove), and HJRCA 10 filed by Representative Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford).
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The General Assembly is nearing its conclusion, which, this year, will certainly be full of sound and fury.
It is the time of year during which ordinary members–especially freshmen–have a lot of spare time.
All but the top leaders in the Illinois House and Senate, plus the Governor, are waiting for recommendations on which they will be strongly encouraged to hold their noses and support.
The deadline for putting Constitutional Amendments on the ballot is late next spring.
The chance of term limits getting on the ballot are not good enough that I would place a bet if the odds were a thousand to one.
February 25, 2015 – Read in Full a First Time
February 25, 2015 – Referred to Rules Committee, where it remains to this day.
History of HJRCA 28 in the 99the General Assembly.
House Sponsors —- District Office – Counties in District
Steven Andersson — Geneva ———- Kane, McHenry
Mark Batinick —– Plainfield —— Will, Kendall
Thomas Bennett —- Watseka ——— entirety of Ford and Iroquois Counties, and partially within
Woodford, Livingston and Vermilion Counties.
Randy Frese ——- Quincy ———- entirety of Adams, Hancock and Henderson Counties, and partially
within Warren County
Sheri Jesiel —- Gurnee ———- Lake
Margo McDermed —- Frankfort ——- Will, Cook
Reginald Phillips – Charleston —— entirety of Clark, Coles, Crawford and Cumberland Counties, and
partially within Edgar and Lawrence Counties
Michael Tryon — Crystal Lake —- McHenry, Kane
Grant Wehrli —— Naperville —— DuPage, Will
Keith Wheeler —– North Aurora —- Kane, Kendall
Christine Winger — Bloomingdale —- DuPage, Cook
That’s 11 of 118, or 9%, of State Representatives sponsoring the bill, all Republicans.
Batanick replaced Tom Cross who lost the Treasurer contest in the November 4, 2014 General Election to Democrat Michael Frerichs by about 9,225 votes out of 3,527,197 total votes in one of the closest races for a state officer in Illinois history.
http://www.ilga.gov > Bills & Resolutions > House – Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendments > HJRCA0028 – CON AMEND-TERM LIMITS
http://www.elections.il.gov/ElectionResults.aspx?ID=43
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=28&GAID=13&DocTypeID=HJRCA&LegId=89250&SessionID=88&GA=99
Term limits would get Madigan out of office.
Common sense dictates that Madigan will not let it happen.
I have an issue with the logic of the bill, even though I would like to see Madigan gone.
Term limits will not necessarily limit of the power of those “on the inside”.
A lot of insiders are not representatives and are not directly voted in or out of office.
Count in all the administrators and state bureaucrats, as well as billionaires who buy and sell politicians on a daily basis.
Generous time limit, could be lowered a tad.
It would be nice if term limits could be put on the lobbyist also.