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Spotcheck

Newsletter of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform
June 4 , 2003

Ethics Bill Passes

On Saturday - the last day of the spring legislative session - members of the Illinois Senate "debated" ethics reform legislation for the first time this year.

Earlier in the week, the Illinois House had voted 106 to 0 in favor of SB 703, a comprehensive package of reforms that included inspectors general to investigate and ethics commissions to enforce the new restrictions. Despite the overwhelming support in the House, leadership of the Senate would not even allow its members to vote on SB 703.

Instead, the Senate drafted a new piece of legislation using much of the same language as SB 703 but omitting the enforcement mechanism. A few hours before adjournment, that weakened language was attached to HB 3412 and passed by the Senate. The House accepted the new language and sent HB 3412 to the Governor's desk.

For more information on the ethics bill, including a chart that breaks down the differences in the SB 703 and HB 3412, click here: ilcampaign.org/ethics.

ICPR is a member of the Illinois Ethics Project. For more information on this coalition, click here: ilcleangovernment.org.