State Representative Dan Swanson voted NO on House Rules proposed by Speaker Madigan on Tuesday.
“As a former school board member, I know that the way that business is conducted in the Illinois House is not only more restrictive than any other state, but is also not how we teach our students that our democracy works,” said Swanson.
Under House Rules, the all-powerful House Rules Committee has the ability to sideline any proposal not supported by Speaker Madigan and his legislative majority. Public Posting requirements are lax or non-existent and there are no limits on the amount of terms a legislative leader may serve.
“We should be able to tell our schoolchildren with a straight face that bills are proposed by legislators on behalf of their constituents and those bills are then debated and voted on for their merits or against for their demerits. What happens in the Illinois House is not that,” continued Swanson. “What we see instead is Speaker Madigan and his stalwart supporters exercising total control over not only the debate, but which issues are debated.”
In a counter-proposal supported by Rep. Swanson, public review and notification would be required for legislative business and all bills would be assigned to a committee for consideration. As one might have come to expect in Illinois, this counter-proposal was assigned the House Rules Committee, where it died and was not debated by the Illinois House.
The Madigan-supported House Rules passed with no Republican votes 63-53. One Democrat joined with Republicans in voting NO on the House Rules.