In this issue:
- Standing for Second Amendment rights
- Update on redistricting suit
- House begins floor consideration of bills which passed committee
- Illinois headlines
Standing for Second Amendment rights
Illinois has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, topped off by the gun ban which was passed in the closing days of the January 2023 lame duck session. I am sponsoring legislation to repeal some of Illinois’ restrictive gun laws and restore Second Amendment rights to law-abiding Illinoisans.
House Bill 1040 would repeal the 2023 gun ban in its entirety. The gun ban is being challenged in court, and we expect a final decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, but we don’t know how far off in the future that might be. Rather than wait for cases to wind their way through the process we can, and should, act now to restore the Constitutional rights that were taken away when this law was rushed through the legislature. Unfortunately, House Bill 1040 remains in the House Rules committee and has not yet been allowed to have a public hearing or a vote.
House Bill 1067 is a very long bill with a very simple purpose: it “voids the FOID” by repealing Illinois’ Firearm Owners Identification Card Act and its many mentions in statute. Illinois is a rarity among the 50 states in requiring a FOID card in order to legally possess a firearm. There have been a lot of questions over the years about the Constitutionality of such a requirement in the first place. This is another instance where we could wait years for a court to decide, or we could act in the legislature to repeal the law in question. This bill too, however, has been sitting in the House Rules committee without the chance for a hearing or a vote.
I will continue to work for the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Illinoisans.
Update on redistricting suit
In 2021 Democrats passed a highly-gerrymandered legislative district map which Governor Pritzker signed in spite of his pledge not to do so. The map maximized Democrat seats in the General Assembly, creating a Democrat supermajority in the House even though a majority of voters in the next year’s state House elections voted for Republicans.
Republicans have introduced bills and Constitutional amendments to create a fairer redistricting process in Illinois, but they have been blockaded year after year. This year, with legislative reform efforts continually blocked, Republicans have turned to the courts, filing a suit with the Illinois Supreme Court asking for the current partisan map to be thrown out and a new, fairer map created. Leaders in the lawsuit held a press conference to give an update on where things stand.
The state is relying on a legal technicality to defend the law, arguing that the suit, which was filed in January, was unreasonably delayed and therefore is no longer subject to the relief it seeks. The timeline for the suit remains uncertain.
Find out more at redoremap.com.
House begins floor consideration of bills which passed committee
Above I told you about two of the bills I am sponsoring which, unfortunately, were denied the chance to have a committee hearing and get to the House floor. There were many others.
Last Friday was the deadline for bills to be passed by House committees and sent to the House floor. In total, there were 648 House bills which made it through committee, out of 4028 which were filed. Of the 648 which will be considered on the floor, only 64, or 10%, are sponsored by Republicans.
The vast majority of the Republican-sponsored bills which did not advance did not fail to get a majority vote in committee. They did not advance because they were never given the chance – the bills were never called up for a hearing or a vote. This included some very good bills I am sponsoring for highway safety, local control on energy projects and to end Illinois’ sanctuary state policy. The process by which business is conducted in the House of Representatives is badly broken and in need of reform.
Our current bill backlog
When a vendor provides the state with goods and services, they submit the bill to the Illinois Comptroller for payment. The Comptroller processes the paperwork and pays the bill when funds are available in the state’s checking account. Currently the total amount of unpaid bills is $1,686,902,507. This figure changes daily. Last year at this time the state had $1.1 billion in bills awaiting payment. This only includes bills submitted to the Comptroller for payment, not unfunded debts like the state’s pension liability, which is well over $100 billion.
Illinois headlines
House Republicans argue Democrats missed opportunity to pass significant ethics reforms
Federal DOJ launches probe into Illinois’ treatment of people with disabilities
Short time remaining to apply for Volunteer Fire Assistance Program grant
IL GOP legislator says being cut off shows Dems’ stranglehold on debate