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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:

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 six-year
16    terms. Senators elected in 2008 shall serve four-year  terms.
17    Immediately   following  each  decennial  redistricting,  the
18    General  Assembly  by  law  shall  divide   the   Legislative
19    Districts  as  equally  as  possible  into  two three groups.
20    During each  ten-year  period,  beginning  with  the  general
21    election  in  2012,  Senators  from  one group shall first be
22    elected for terms of six years and then  for  terms  of  four
23    years four years, four years and two years; Senators from the
24    second  group,  for  terms  of four years, two years and four
25    years; and Senators from the other third group shall first be
26    elected, for terms of two years,  four  years  and  then  for
27    terms  of  six  four years. The Legislative Districts in each
28    group shall be distributed  substantially  equally  over  the
29    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 first  serve  terms  of
 3    four  years  and  then  terms  of  two years. Representatives
 4    elected in 2008 shall serve terms of four years.  During each
 5    ten-year period, beginning with the general election in 2012,
 6    Representatives shall first be  elected  for  terms  of  four
 7    years,  then  for  terms  of two years, and then for terms of
 8    four years.
 9        (c)  To be eligible to serve as a member of  the  General
10    Assembly,  a person must be a United States citizen, at least
11    21 years old, and for the two years preceding his election or
12    appointment a  resident  of  the  district  which  he  is  to
13    represent. In the general election following a redistricting,
14    a  candidate for the General Assembly may be elected from any
15    district which contains a part of the district  in  which  he
16    resided  at  the time of the redistricting and reelected if a
17    resident of the new district  he  represents  for  18  months
18    prior to reelection.
19        (d)  Within  thirty days after a vacancy occurs, it shall
20    be filled by appointment as provided by law. If  the  vacancy
21    is  in  a  Senatorial or Representative office with more than
22    twenty-eight months remaining  in  the  term,  the  appointed
23    Senator  or Representative shall serve until the next general
24    election, at which time a Senator or Representative shall  be
25    elected  to  serve  for  the  remainder  of  the term. If the
26    vacancy is in any other Senatorial or a Representative office
27    or in any other Senatorial office, the appointment  shall  be
28    for the remainder of the term. An appointee to fill a vacancy
29    shall  be  a member of the same political party as the person
30    he succeeds.
31        (e)  No member of  the  General  Assembly  shall  receive
32    compensation  as  a public officer or employee from any other
33    governmental entity for time during which he is in attendance
34    as a member of the General Assembly.
 
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 1        No member of the General Assembly  during  the  term  for
 2    which  he  was  elected  or appointed shall be appointed to a
 3    public  office  which  shall  have  been   created   or   the
 4    compensation  for  which  shall  have  been  increased by the
 5    General Assembly during that term.
 6    (Source: Amendment adopted at general  election  November  4,
 7    1980.)

 8         (ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 5)
 9    SECTION 5. SESSIONS
10        (a)  The  General Assembly shall convene each year on the
11    second Wednesday of January.  The General Assembly shall be a
12    continuous body for a period beginning and ending at noon  on
13    the  second  Wednesday of January of consecutive odd-numbered
14    years. during the term for which  members  of  the  House  of
15    Representatives are elected.
16        (b)  The Governor may convene the General Assembly or the
17    Senate alone in special session by a proclamation stating the
18    purpose of the session; and only business encompassed by such
19    purpose,  together  with  any impeachments or confirmation of
20    appointments shall be transacted.  Special  sessions  of  the
21    General  Assembly  may also be convened by joint proclamation
22    of the presiding officers of both houses, issued as  provided
23    by law.
24        (c)  Sessions  of  each house of the General Assembly and
25    meetings of  committees,  joint  committees  and  legislative
26    commissions  shall  be  open  to  the  public.  Sessions  and
27    committee  meetings of a house may be closed to the public if
28    two-thirds of the members elected  to  that  house  determine
29    that  the  public interest so requires; and meetings of joint
30    committees and legislative commissions may be  so  closed  if
31    two-thirds of the members elected to each house so determine.
32    (Source: Illinois Constitution.)
 
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 1                              SCHEDULE
 2        This  Constitutional  Amendment  takes  effect upon being
 3    declared adopted in accordance with Section 7 of the Illinois
 4    Constitutional Amendment Act and applies to the  election  of
 5    members  of  the General Assembly in 2006 and thereafter.  It
 6    does not affect the terms of members elected in 2002 or 2004.