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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
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
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1 distributed substantially equally over the State.
2 (b) In 2006 and every two years thereafter, three
3 RepresentativesEach 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
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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 2005, 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.
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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
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1 Representatives in 2006 and thereafter.
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