SPRINGFIELD – House Republican lawmakers presented their legislative proposals today to once again bring forward an opportunity for ethics reform in the Illinois statehouse. The proposals are an attempt to restore public faith in government and root out commonplace corruption under the dome. State Representatives Patrick Windhorst (Metropolis), Dave Severin (Benton), and David Friess (Red Bud) discussed the unfortunate record of public corruption guilty verdicts impacting the Illinois General Assembly, including the former Speaker of the Illinois House Michael Madigan.
State Representative Dave Severin says much more must be done to restore public trust.
“Rep. Windhorst and I were both here when Mike Madigan was still in control of this place,” said Severin. “A lot has changed since then. We had COVID, we’ve had arrests of politicians, we’ve had indictments, guilty pleas, and even guilty verdicts. Some things haven’t changed, we have the same House Rules, the same handpicked politicians running the place, and the same miserable results. I am proud of the work that my fellow Southern Illinois House Republicans have done to try to clean up this mess.”
State Representative Patrick Windhorst, a former prosecutor, and a current member of the House Judiciary Criminal Law, Restorative Justice, and Ethics and Elections Committees is sponsoring a number of ethics reform bills including HB 2413, which would prohibit legislators and Constitutional officers from lobbying at the local level. For Rep. Windhorst, it is a common sense first step forward.
“While Democrat politicians were arrested, indicted, charged, convicted, and incarcerated, we waited for action,” said Windhorst. “We have been disappointed time after time. While House Republicans continue to wait for Illinois Democrats to take the issue of public corruption seriously, we’ve been busy filing and sponsoring comprehensive legislative ethics reforms to stamp out corruption. Our legislative efforts aim to turn our state from a corrupt embarrassment into something our citizens can be proud of.”
State Representative David Friess discussed the long list of indictments as reason enough that ethics reform cannot wait.
“Today is our final day to pass house bills out of committee…and how many of our ethics reform bills have made it out of committee to even be considered on the House floor? Zero. With indictment after indictment, not a single ethics reform proposal we’ve introduced will even be debated in the chamber this spring. It’s shameful,” said Friess.
The House Republican members further noted just how long the people of Illinois have been subjected to public corruption laying out their objective when it comes to reform: No more legislators as lobbyists, close the revolving door, and end the use of campaign money to pay for public corruption defense.
The ethics reform legislation House Republicans are backing includes the following:
- HB 1382 – Puts ‘teeth’ into the Legislative Inspector General’s office to issue subpoenas without first seeking approval from the people they may be investigating.
- HB 1384 – Addresses local government lobbying reform.
- HB 1385 – Closes the loophole in the current revolving door policy that allows a legislator to be a member one day and the next day be a lobbyist.
- HB 3115 – 3-year revolving door lobbying ban for members of the General Assembly.
- HB 3121 – Implements representation case and recusal reform.
- HB 1554 – Bans public officials from using campaign funds for their own legal defense.
- HB 2813 – Requires a 72-Hour budget review before a vote on the budget.
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