State of Illinois
92nd General Assembly
Legislation

   [ Search ]   [ PDF text ]   [ Legislation ]   
[ Home ]   [ Back ]   [ Bottom ]



92_HC0004

 
                                               LRB9202482JMpr

 1                       HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
 2                      CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

 3        RESOLVED,  BY  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES   OF   THE
 4    NINETY-SECOND  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
 9    1, 2, and 3 of Article IV of  the  Illinois  Constitution  as
10    follows:

11                             ARTICLE IV
12                           THE LEGISLATURE

13         (ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 1)
14    SECTION 1. LEGISLATURE - POWER AND STRUCTURE
15        The  legislative  power  is  vested in a General Assembly
16    consisting of  a  Senate  and  a  House  of  Representatives,
17    elected  by the electors from 59 Legislative Districts and 39
18    118 Representative Districts.
19    (Source: Amendment adopted at general  election  November  4,
20    1980.)

21         (ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 2)
22    SECTION 2. LEGISLATIVE COMPOSITION
23        (a)  One  Senator  shall be elected from each Legislative
24    District. Immediately following each decennial redistricting,
25    the General Assembly by  law  shall  divide  the  Legislative
26    Districts  as equally as possible into three groups. Senators
27    from one group shall be elected for terms of four years, four
28    years and two years; Senators  from  the  second  group,  for
29    terms  of  four years, two years and four years; and Senators
30    from the third group, for terms of two years, four years  and
31    four  years. The Legislative Districts in each group shall be
 
                            -2-                LRB9202482JMpr
 1    distributed substantially equally over the State.
 2        (b)  In  2004  and  every  two  years  thereafter,  three
 3    Representatives Each Legislative District  shall  be  divided
 4    into  two  Representative  Districts.  In  1982 and every two
 5    years thereafter one Representative  shall  be  elected  from
 6    each  Representative  District  for  a  term of two years. No
 7    political party shall limit  its  nominations  to  less  than
 8    three  candidates  for  Representatives in any Representative
 9    District.  In elections for Representatives, including  those
10    for  nomination,  each  elector  may cast three votes for one
11    candidate or distribute them equally among no more than three
12    candidates.   The  candidates  highest  in  votes  shall   be
13    declared elected.
14        (c)  To  be  eligible to serve as a member of the General
15    Assembly, a person must be a United States citizen, at  least
16    21 years old, and for the two years preceding his election or
17    appointment  a  resident  of  the  district  which  he  is to
18    represent. In the general election following a redistricting,
19    a candidate for the General Assembly may be elected from  any
20    district  which  contains  a part of the district in which he
21    resided at the time of the redistricting and reelected  if  a
22    resident  of  the  new  district  he represents for 18 months
23    prior to reelection.
24        (d)  Within thirty days after a vacancy occurs, it  shall
25    be  filled  by appointment as provided by law. If the vacancy
26    is in a Senatorial office with more than twenty-eight  months
27    remaining  in  the  term,  the  appointed Senator shall serve
28    until the next general election,  at  which  time  a  Senator
29    shall  be  elected to serve for the remainder of the term. If
30    the vacancy is in a Representative office  or  in  any  other
31    Senatorial office, the appointment shall be for the remainder
32    of the term. An appointee to fill a vacancy shall be a member
33    of the same political party as the person he succeeds.
34        (e)  No  member  of  the  General  Assembly shall receive
 
                            -3-                LRB9202482JMpr
 1    compensation as a public officer or employee from  any  other
 2    governmental entity for time during which he is in attendance
 3    as a member of the General Assembly.
 4        No  member  of  the  General Assembly during the term for
 5    which he was elected or appointed shall  be  appointed  to  a
 6    public   office   which   shall  have  been  created  or  the
 7    compensation for which  shall  have  been  increased  by  the
 8    General Assembly during that term.
 9    (Source:  Amendment  adopted  at general election November 4,
10    1980.)

11         (ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 3)
12    SECTION 3. LEGISLATIVE REDISTRICTING
13        (a)  Legislative Districts shall be  compact,  contiguous
14    and   substantially   equal   in  population.  Representative
15    Districts shall be  compact,  contiguous,  and  substantially
16    equal in population.
17        (b)  In   2003,   the   General  Assembly  by  law  shall
18    redistrict  the  Representative  Districts  using  the   2000
19    Federal  decennial census.  Thereafter, in the year following
20    each Federal decennial census year, the General  Assembly  by
21    law  shall  redistrict  the  Legislative  Districts  and  the
22    Representative Districts.
23        If  no redistricting plan becomes effective by June 30 of
24    that year, a Legislative Redistricting  Commission  shall  be
25    constituted  not  later  than  July  10. The Commission shall
26    consist of eight members, no more than four of whom shall  be
27    members of the same political party.
28        The   Speaker   and  Minority  Leader  of  the  House  of
29    Representatives shall each  appoint  to  the  Commission  one
30    Representative  and  one  person  who  is not a member of the
31    General Assembly. The President and Minority  Leader  of  the
32    Senate  shall  each appoint to the Commission one Senator and
33    one person who is not a member of the General Assembly.
 
                            -4-                LRB9202482JMpr
 1        The members shall be certified to the Secretary of  State
 2    by  the  appointing  authorities. A vacancy on the Commission
 3    shall be filled within five days by the authority  that  made
 4    the  original appointment. A Chairman and Vice Chairman shall
 5    be chosen by a majority of all members of the Commission.
 6        Not later than August 10, the Commission shall file  with
 7    the  Secretary  of  State a redistricting plan approved by at
 8    least five members.
 9        If the Commission fails to file an approved redistricting
10    plan, the  Supreme  Court  shall  submit  the  names  of  two
11    persons, not of the same political party, to the Secretary of
12    State not later than September 1.
13        Not  later  than  September  5,  the  Secretary  of State
14    publicly shall draw by random selection the name  of  one  of
15    the  two  persons  to  serve  as  the  ninth  member  of  the
16    Commission.
17        Not  later than October 5, the Commission shall file with
18    the Secretary of State a redistricting plan  approved  by  at
19    least five members.
20        An  approved  redistricting plan filed with the Secretary
21    of State shall be presumed valid, shall have  the  force  and
22    effect  of  law  and  shall  be  published  promptly  by  the
23    Secretary of State.
24        The  Supreme  Court  shall  have  original  and exclusive
25    jurisdiction over actions concerning redistricting the  House
26    and  Senate,  which  shall  be  initiated  in the name of the
27    People of the State by the Attorney General.
28    (Source: Amendment adopted at general  election  November  4,
29    1980.)

30                              SCHEDULE
31        This  Constitutional  Amendment  takes  effect upon being
32    declared adopted in accordance with Section 7 of the Illinois
33    Constitutional Amendment Act and applies to the  election  of
 
                            -5-                LRB9202482JMpr
 1    Representatives in 2004 and thereafter.

[ Top ]