Illinois statehouse Republicans looking to give voters greater power with proposed amendments

(The Center Square) — Illinois statehouse Republicans in the super minority in the General Assembly are looking to get supermajority support for constitutional amendments they say empower voters.

Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie, R-Hawthorn Woods, said one measure makes voter lead initiatives amending the state constitution easier. Another would allow voters to petition for a referendum to repeal laws.

“We think it’s vitally important for us to be able to make sure that the voters feel like they are empowered once again in a state where we’ve had routine corruption, so many issues where the people feel powerless and so many people frankly are leaving the state in droves,” McConchie said. “We think that is very important for us to be able to put power back into the hands of voters so that at the end of the day all of us work for them instead of the voters feel like they work for the legislators.”

Another proposed constitutional amendment part of the GOP’s “Voter Empowerment” package allows for all elected officials, even the Auditor General, Speaker of the House and Senate President to be recalled by voters.

“Most importantly I look at this as preventative medicine,” said state Rep. Mark Batinick, R-Plainfield. “If somebody knows that there’s the ability to be recalled, I think they’re going to act a little bit better and maybe do the right thing on their own.”

Having recalls wouldn’t come with additional taxpayer cost as any effort would be added to the next election for impacted jurisdictions, Batinick said. And, if a recall is successful, there’s already a process for filling vacancies.

The Republican lawmakers, who are in the super minority of both legislative chambers, anticipated some criticism of the proposals.

“Critics will say that it will do too much and change too many things, but I say its biggest flaw is that didn’t happen sooner,” Durkin said.

Constitutional amendments proposed by the legislature must pass both chambers with three-fifths support before being put in front of voters for the next statewide election where it also requires three-fifths for approval.

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