When bill passage deadlines approach, Speakers of the Illinois House since W. Robert Blair have figured out how not to call bills in numeric order.

Which bills are called and when they are allowed to be voted upon is totally up to the Speaker now.

State Rep. Jeff Keicher’s bill to conform Illinois law on drivers licenses to that of every other state in the country was not allowed a vote.

Even though it was the idea of the Democratic Party Secretary of State.

Was it because Keicher is a Republican?

Here is what Keicher wrote:

“…the ratio of bills being taken up in the House is still frustratingly one-sided.

“Of the 324 bills that passed the House last week, only 33, a mere 10.2%, were filed by Republican members while all the rest were Democrat bills.

“And I’m disappointed, despite having more than three dozen bipartisan co-sponsors, my legislation to end the ageist requirement for senior drivers to retake the driving test when they renew their license (HB 4431), regardless of driving record or ability, was not called for a vote and we couldn’t get an answer from the Speaker’s office on why it wasn’t called.”

House Sponsors

Rep. Jeff Keicher – Lawrence “Larry” Walsh, Jr. – Christopher “C.D.” Davidsmeyer – Joyce Mason – Dave Vella, Suzanne M. Ness, Barbara Hernandez, Dan Caulkins, Dan Ugaste, Mark L. Walker, Wayne A Rosenthal, Anthony DeLuca, Lance Yednock, Michael J. Kelly, William E Hauter, Dan Swanson, Amy Elik, Jennifer Sanalitro, Bradley Fritts, Ryan Spain, Joe C. Sosnowski, Jason Bunting, Tony M. McCombie, Patrick Windhorst, Matt Hanson, Tom Weber, Brandun Schweizer, Norine K. Hammond, Nicole La Ha, Michael J. Coffey, Jr., Brad Stephens, Patrick Sheehan, David Friess, Dave Severin, Charles Meier, Michelle Mussman, Laura Faver Dias, Harry Benton, Marcus C. Evans, Jr., Gregg Johnson, Norma Hernandez, Janet Yang Rohr, Fred Crespo, Debbie Meyers-Martin, Stephanie A. Kifowit and Amy L. Grant