Illinois House Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) recently spoke out in favor of several pieces of legislation regarding ethics that Republicans have introduced in the wake of several corruption investigations involving state Democrats.
"Every day, the people of Illinois are waking up and seeing additional issues that are ethical challenges and problems," Demmer said. "We need to take advantage of the opportunity to reform our laws so there are fewer of these in the future and the people of Illinois can have better confidence [in their legislators]."
The GOP-sponsored ethics reform measures being introduced include House Bill 3954, House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 36, House Resolution 588, House Bill 3947 and House Bill 3955. They involve strengthening current requirements around statements of economic interest, requiring special elections to fill General Assembly vacancies, allowing bills that have five co-sponsors from both sides to get a vote in committees, prohibit legislators and immediate family from lobbying for units of local government, and creating a mandatory and publicly available register for situations that arise.
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