Deputy House Republican Leader Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) likens HR 72, the resolution to adopt House Rules for the 102nd Illinois General Assembly, to dishonest car commercials.
“What do we hear in car commercials? We hear ‘this new model year has been completely redesigned, rethought, rebuilt, reengineered, reimagined from the ground up’ then they show you the car and it looks exactly like it did last year, and exactly what it did a year before that, and the year before that,” Demmer said.
He also argued that the rules, which were described as a product of grassroots efforts, are “99.5 percent the same rules” that the House has been following for the last four decades.
Demmer also referred to the Illinois Constitution which states that “a bill shall be read by title on three different days in each house.” He also referred to the constitution that requires “committees of each house, joint committees of the two houses and legislative commissions shall give reasonable public notice of meetings, including a statement of subjects to be considered.”
The House Rules that should be created should support and defend said constitutional rights, he said.
Stressing that Illinoisans should always be considered and protected under the Constitution, he said that “the Constitution doesn’t have any special provisions that say ‘when convenient,’ it doesn’t have a special clarification that says ‘these rules shall be in place so long as it doesn’t make it more difficult for a majority party to enact legislation.'”
Demmer strongly stated that the new rules are a circumvention of constitutional rights.
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