HC0036 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB101 15305 SMS 64484 e

101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
HC0036

Introduced 11/12/2019, by Rep. Jim Durkin - Terri Bryant - Dave Severin - Grant Wehrli - Thomas Morrison, et al.

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 2

Proposes to amend the Legislature Article of the Illinois Constitution. Provides that upon a vacancy in the General Assembly a special election shall occur no earlier than 45 days but no more than 90 days after the vacancy. Provides that if the vacancy occurs within 120 days before a general election or general primary election, the vacancy shall be filled by that election. Requires the candidates to fill the vacancy to be members of the same political party as the person who vacated the seat. Effective upon being declared adopted.

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the State for adoption or rejection at the general election next occurring at least 6 months after the adoption of this resolution a proposition to amend Article IV of the Illinois Constitution by changing Section 2 as follows:

ARTICLE IV

THE LEGISLATURE

(ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 2)

SECTION 2. LEGISLATIVE COMPOSITION

(a) One Senator shall be elected from each Legislative District. Immediately following each decennial redistricting, the General Assembly by law shall divide the Legislative Districts as equally as possible into three groups. Senators from one group shall be elected for terms of four years, four years and two years; Senators from the second group, for terms of four years, two years and four years; and Senators from the third group, for terms of two years, four years and four years. The Legislative Districts in each group shall be distributed substantially equally over the State.

(b) Each Legislative District shall be divided into two Representative Districts. In 1982 and every two years thereafter one Representative shall be elected from each Representative District for a term of two years.

(c) To be eligible to serve as a member of the General Assembly, a person must be a United States citizen, at least 21 years old, and for the two years preceding his election or appointment a resident of the district which he is to represent. In the general election following a redistricting, a candidate for the General Assembly may be elected from any district which contains a part of the district in which he resided at the time of the redistricting and reelected if a resident of the new district he represents for 18 months prior to reelection.

(d) When a vacancy occurs, it shall be filled by a special election held no earlier than 45 days but no more than 90 days after the vacancy. However, if the vacancy occurs within 120 days before a general election or general primary election, the vacancy shall be filled by that general election or general primary election. The candidates to fill the vacancy shall be members of the same political party as the person that vacated the seat. Within thirty days after a vacancy occurs, it shall be filled by appointment as provided by law. If the vacancy is in a Senatorial office with more than twenty-eight months remaining in the term, the appointed Senator shall serve until the next general election, at which time a Senator shall be elected to serve for the remainder of the term. If the vacancy is in a Representative office or in any other Senatorial office, the appointment shall be for the remainder of the term. An appointee to fill a vacancy shall be a member of the same political party as the person he succeeds.

(e) No member of the General Assembly shall receive compensation as a public officer or employee from any other governmental entity for time during which he is in attendance as a member of the General Assembly.

No member of the General Assembly during the term for which he was elected or appointed shall be appointed to a public office which shall have been created or the compensation for which shall have been increased by the General Assembly during that term.

(Source: Amendment adopted at general election November 4, 1980.)

SCHEDULE

This Constitutional Amendment takes effect upon being declared adopted in accordance with Section 7 of the Illinois Constitutional Amendment Act.