Springfield…State Representative Tony McCombie (IL-71st) voted against the house rules offered by the majority caucus.
“Today we had an opportunity to give the people of Illinois a voice. The majority passed rules that will not bring the demands for balance or transparency to the process. Rules, in fact, that give total power to the Speaker of the House,” said Rep. McCombie. “Under these rules elected officials from both sides of the aisle will see their bills buried, along with their constituents’ concerns.”
In order to maintain near-complete, singular control over the legislative process, the Speaker requires democrat members to vote to adopt his proposed set of House Rules, the rules that govern how the House of Representatives operates for the next two years.
Representative McCombie filed House Resolution 64; this legislation would require legislation that has five co-sponsors from each side of the aisle an up or down committee vote.
Every two years, Speaker Madigan requires two critical votes from Democrat members; first, their vote to re-elect him Speaker of the House, which happened on January 9th.
House Republicans offered their own alternative House Rules resolution for the 101st General Assembly:
1. Require Committee Vote for Bipartisan Bills & Resolutions Pending in Committee – Require that when a bill or resolution in committee has at least five co-sponsors from the majority caucus and at least five co-sponsors from the minority caucus, the Committee Chairperson must provide an opportunity to the bill sponsor to present the bill for consideration and a committee vote.
2. Create Waiting Period for Floor Amendments – Create a longer public review period before consideration of floor amendments and concurrence motions by prohibiting consideration until the calendar day after notice is posted for a hearing or the calendar day after the measure is reported directly to the House from the Rules Committee.
3. Create Waiting Period After Committee Testimony – Require that the initial testimony and discussion of bills in committee must occur before a vote of the committee on the reporting motion; such committee vote may not occur on the same calendar day that testimony was heard.
4. Require House Vote for Bills & Resolutions Supported by Bipartisan Supermajority – Provide that a motion signed by 71 members guarantees a vote of the House on a bill or resolution. At least five members affiliated with the majority party and five members affiliated with the minority party must be included among the 71 or more signatories.
5. Extend Time for the House to Consider Motions to Discharge Standing/Special Committee – Provide that for six session days after the committee reporting deadline the House may still consider motions to discharge from standing or special committees. Currently, bills remaining in committee on date of the reporting deadline are immediately re-referred to the Rules Committee, which means that the motion to discharge from standing committee, which requires 60 votes for adoption, is no longer an option.