A group of Illinois legislators joined a Zoom call at about 11 a.m. on Thursday, August 13th to hold a press conference detailed a proposed plan to reform in ethics policy in the state government in the wake of allegations against Speaker and Democratic Party leader Mike Madigan.
The nine-point platform, which they believe will be popular across both parties in both chambers of the legislature, seeks to accomplish several goals, such as limiting the power of lobbyists and increasing transparency and accountability.
- Prohibit legislator lobbyists
- Stop the legislator-lobbyist revolving door
- Better define who is a "paid lobbyist" in the law
- Fuller disclosure of the outside income of legislators
- Establish an official censure process in both the House and the Senate
- Strengthen and give more independence to the office of the Legislator Inspector General
- End the exemption to the Human Rights Act for general assembly employees
- Establish term limits for legislative leaders
- Establish a process for temporary removal of leaders and committee chairs who are charged or indicted
Legislators hope these these nine proposals will be part of a final report that will be voted on in the next veto session.
