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1 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
2 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
3 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
4 NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
5 SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that there shall be submitted to
6 the electors of the State for adoption or rejection at the
7 general election next occurring at least 6 months after the
8 adoption of this resolution a proposition to amend Sections 2
9 and 5 of Article IV of the Illinois Constitution as follows:
10 ARTICLE IV
11 THE LEGISLATURE
12 (ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 2)
13 SECTION 2. LEGISLATIVE COMPOSITION
14 (a) One Senator shall be elected from each Legislative
15 District. Senators elected in 2006 shall serve terms of six
16 years. Senators elected in 2008 shall serve terms of four
17 years. Senators elected in 2010 shall serve terms of two
18 years. Immediately following each decennial redistricting,
19 the General Assembly by law shall divide the Legislative
20 Districts as equally as possible into two three groups.
21 During each ten-year period, beginning with the general
22 election in 2012, Senators from one group shall first be
23 elected for terms of six years and then for terms of four
24 years, four years and two years; Senators from the second
25 group, for terms of four years, two years and four years; and
26 Senators from the other third group shall first be elected,
27 for terms of two years, four years and then for terms of six
28 four years. The Legislative Districts in each group shall be
29 distributed substantially equally over the State.
30 (b) Each Legislative District shall be divided into two
31 Representative Districts. In 1982 and every two years
32 thereafter One Representative shall be elected from each
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1 Representative District for a term of two years.
2 Representatives elected in 2006 shall serve terms of four
3 years. Representatives elected in 2010 shall serve terms of
4 two years. During each ten-year period, beginning with the
5 general election in 2012, Representatives shall first be
6 elected for terms of four years, then for terms of two years,
7 and then for terms of four years.
8 (c) To be eligible to serve as a member of the General
9 Assembly, a person must be a United States citizen, at least
10 21 years old, and for the two years preceding his election or
11 appointment a resident of the district which he is to
12 represent. In the general election following a
13 redistricting, a candidate for the General Assembly may be
14 elected from any district which contains a part of the
15 district in which he resided at the time of the redistricting
16 and reelected if a resident of the new district he represents
17 for 18 months prior to reelection.
18 (d) Within thirty days after a vacancy occurs, it shall
19 be filled by appointment as provided by law. If the vacancy
20 is in a Senatorial or Representative office with more than
21 twenty-eight months remaining in the term, the appointed
22 Senator or Representative shall serve until the next general
23 election, at which time a Senator or Representative shall be
24 elected to serve for the remainder of the term. If the
25 vacancy is in any other Senatorial or a Representative office
26 or in any other Senatorial office, the appointment shall be
27 for the remainder of the term. An appointee to fill a
28 vacancy shall be a member of the same political party as the
29 person he succeeds.
30 (e) No member of the General Assembly shall receive
31 compensation as a public officer or employee from any other
32 governmental entity for time during which he is in attendance
33 as a member of the General Assembly.
34 No member of the General Assembly during the term for
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1 which he was elected or appointed shall be appointed to a
2 public office which shall have been created or the
3 compensation for which shall have been increased by the
4 General Assembly during that term.
5 (Source: Amendment adopted at general election November 4,
6 1980.)
7 (ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 5)
8 SECTION 5. SESSIONS
9 (a) The General Assembly shall convene each year on the
10 second Wednesday of January. The General Assembly shall be a
11 continuous body for a period beginning and ending at noon on
12 the second Wednesday of January of consecutive odd-numbered
13 years. during the term for which members of the House of
14 Representatives are elected.
15 (b) The Governor may convene the General Assembly or the
16 Senate alone in special session by a proclamation stating the
17 purpose of the session; and only business encompassed by such
18 purpose, together with any impeachments or confirmation of
19 appointments shall be transacted. Special sessions of the
20 General Assembly may also be convened by joint proclamation
21 of the presiding officers of both houses, issued as provided
22 by law.
23 (c) Sessions of each house of the General Assembly and
24 meetings of committees, joint committees and legislative
25 commissions shall be open to the public. Sessions and
26 committee meetings of a house may be closed to the public if
27 two-thirds of the members elected to that house determine
28 that the public interest so requires; and meetings of joint
29 committees and legislative commissions may be so closed if
30 two-thirds of the members elected to each house so determine.
31 (Source: Illinois Constitution.)
32 SCHEDULE
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1 This Constitutional Amendment takes effect upon being
2 declared adopted in accordance with Section 7 of the Illinois
3 Constitutional Amendment Act and applies to the election of
4 members of the General Assembly in 2006 and thereafter. It
5 does not affect the terms of members elected before 2006.