97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2011 and 2012
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
SC0049

 

Introduced 2/8/2012, by Sen. Thomas Johnson

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 2
ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 5

    Proposes to amend the Legislature Article of the Illinois Constitution. Provides that, beginning in 2022, in each ten-year period, Senators shall be divided into two groups. Provides that Senators in the first group shall first be elected for terms of 6 years and then for terms of 4 years. Provides that Senators in the other group shall first be elected for terms of 4 years and then for terms of 6 years. Provides that, beginning in 2022, Representatives shall first be elected for terms of 4 years, then for terms of 2 years, and then for terms of 4 years. Provides that the General Assembly shall be a continuous body for a period beginning and ending at noon on the second Wednesday of January of consecutive odd-numbered years. Specifies that Representatives elected in 2012 shall serve two-year terms and that Representatives elected in 2014 and 2018 shall serve four-year terms. Specifies that Senators elected in 2014 shall serve two-year terms and that Senators elected in 2016 shall serve six-year terms. Effective upon being declared adopted. Applies to the election of General Assembly members in 2014 and thereafter; does not affect the terms of members elected before 2014.


LRB097 19456 JDS 64709 e

 

SC0049LRB097 19456 JDS 64709 e

1
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
2
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

 
3    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL
4ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
5CONCURRING HEREIN, that there shall be submitted to the
6electors of the State for adoption or rejection at the general
7election next occurring at least 6 months after the adoption of
8this resolution a proposition to amend Sections 2 and 5 of
9Article IV of the Illinois Constitution as follows:
 
10
ARTICLE IV
11
THE LEGISLATURE

12    (ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 2)
13SECTION 2. LEGISLATIVE COMPOSITION
14    (a) One Senator shall be elected from each Legislative
15District. Senators elected in 2014 shall serve two-year terms.
16Senators elected in 2016 shall serve six-year terms.
17Immediately following each decennial redistricting, the
18General Assembly by law shall divide the Legislative Districts
19as equally as possible into two three groups. During each
20ten-year period, beginning with the general election in 2022,
21Senators from one group shall first be elected for terms of six
22years and then for terms of four years four years, four years
23and two years; Senators from the second group, for terms of
24four years, two years and four years; and Senators from the

 

 

SC0049- 2 -LRB097 19456 JDS 64709 e

1other third group shall first be elected , for terms of two
2years, four years and then for terms of six four years. The
3Legislative Districts in each group shall be distributed
4substantially equally over the State.
5    (b) Each Legislative District shall be divided into two
6Representative Districts. In 1982 and every two years
7thereafter One Representative shall be elected from each
8Representative District for a term of two years.
9Representatives elected in 2012 shall serve two-year terms.
10Representatives elected in 2014 shall serve four-year terms.
11Representatives elected in 2018 shall serve 4 year terms.
12During each ten-year period, beginning with the general
13election in 2022, Representatives shall first be elected for
14terms of four years, then for terms of two years, and then for
15terms of four years.
16    (c) To be eligible to serve as a member of the General
17Assembly, a person must be a United States citizen, at least 21
18years old, and for the two years preceding his election or
19appointment a resident of the district which he is to
20represent. In the general election following a redistricting, a
21candidate for the General Assembly may be elected from any
22district which contains a part of the district in which he
23resided at the time of the redistricting and reelected if a
24resident of the new district he represents for 18 months prior
25to reelection.
26    (d) Within thirty days after a vacancy occurs, it shall be

 

 

SC0049- 3 -LRB097 19456 JDS 64709 e

1filled by appointment as provided by law. If the vacancy is in
2a Senatorial office with more than twenty-eight months
3remaining in the term, the appointed Senator shall serve until
4the next general election, at which time a Senator shall be
5elected to serve for the remainder of the term. If the vacancy
6is in a Representative office or in any other Senatorial
7office, the appointment shall be for the remainder of the term.
8An appointee to fill a vacancy shall be a member of the same
9political party as the person he succeeds.
10    (e) No member of the General Assembly shall receive
11compensation as a public officer or employee from any other
12governmental entity for time during which he is in attendance
13as a member of the General Assembly.
14    No member of the General Assembly during the term for which
15he was elected or appointed shall be appointed to a public
16office which shall have been created or the compensation for
17which shall have been increased by the General Assembly during
18that term.
19(Source: Amendment adopted at general election November 4,
201980.)
 
21    (ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 5)
22SECTION 5. SESSIONS
23    (a) The General Assembly shall convene each year on the
24second Wednesday of January. The General Assembly shall be a
25continuous body for a period beginning and ending at noon on

 

 

SC0049- 4 -LRB097 19456 JDS 64709 e

1the second Wednesday of January of consecutive odd-numbered
2years. during the term for which members of the House of
3Representatives are elected.
4    (b) The Governor may convene the General Assembly or the
5Senate alone in special session by a proclamation stating the
6purpose of the session; and only business encompassed by such
7purpose, together with any impeachments or confirmation of
8appointments shall be transacted. Special sessions of the
9General Assembly may also be convened by joint proclamation of
10the presiding officers of both houses, issued as provided by
11law.
12    (c) Sessions of each house of the General Assembly and
13meetings of committees, joint committees and legislative
14commissions shall be open to the public. Sessions and committee
15meetings of a house may be closed to the public if two-thirds
16of the members elected to that house determine that the public
17interest so requires; and meetings of joint committees and
18legislative commissions may be so closed if two-thirds of the
19members elected to each house so determine.
20(Source: Illinois Constitution.)
 
21
SCHEDULE
22    This Constitutional Amendment takes effect upon being
23declared adopted in accordance with Section 7 of the Illinois
24Constitutional Amendment Act and applies to the election of
25members of the General Assembly in 2014 and thereafter. It does

 

 

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1not affect the terms of members elected before 2014.