Illinois House lining up remote legislating as part of rules

(The Center Square) – The 102nd session of the Illinois General Assembly is starting to take shape, and members of the Illinois House are eying the ability to do business remotely.

The Illinois Senate allowed for remote voting when they met last May amid concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic. The chamber approved rules when the new legislature was sworn in on Jan. 13. It posted new committees Friday.

The House has committees announced, but the rules, which dictate how the chamber is governed, have not yet been revealed or approved.

In one of his first actions after taking over after state Rep. Michael Madigan from his historic tenure as Speaker of the House, new House Speaker Chris Welch, D-Hillside, announced a host of committees Thursday, including six new committees that he said will focus on “ethics, housing, immigration and restorative justice.”

“Illinois is facing a number of major challenges at once,” Welch said. “From ensuring a robust economic recovery to undoing systemic racism, delivering on gender equity and women’s issues, and getting our fiscal house in order; we need committee leadership who know how to facilitate collaboration, bring forward bold ideas, get bills through committee, onto the House floor, and to the Governor’s desk for signature. I am confident this group of committee chairpersons will deliver for Illinois residents.”

Madigan, D-Chicago, was not selected as a chair for any of the announced committees.

Of the committees announced is the State Government Administration Committee. That’s the panel that oversees the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

State Rep. Mike Murphy, R-Springfield, hopes to maintain his minority seat on the panel. He’s been demanding to have Pritzker administration officials explain the unemployment mess.

“We find out the other day they have 962,000 cases of fraud that’s been filed through their department, however they weren’t able to give us a number, a dollar amount,” Murphy said.

Murphy asked why no one has been arrested for the fraud.

State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, said the state’s unemployment office has been doing all they can to handle the continued flood of unemployment filings and the Attorney General continues to investigate the fraud.

“Having them come to committee and say the exact same thing is a waste of resources and I would rather them be focusing on the situation at hand,” Kifowit said.

For months Kifowit had declined calls for hearings about IDES and the unemployment problems, in part saying COVID-19 concerns and a lack of allowing remote participation were the reasons.

The House is back on Feb. 10 where they’re expected to approve rules allowing them to participate in legislative functions like hearings and votes remotely.

Rules could be changed to allow remote participation for hearings and votes in the House.

House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, said he’s pleased Welch is hearing GOP suggestions of the new rules.

“One of the things that we both brought up is that we must change the rules to allow for virtual committee hearings and actions by the legislature,” Durkin said.

While Durkin said remote legislating should be allowed, he said lawmakers need to get back to work.

State Rep. Mike Zalewski, D-Riverside, agreed.

“We as a legislature have I think a duty to physically be present as much as we possibly can,” Zalewski said. “I think the public demands it of us. I think constitutionally we’re demanded to be physically present as much as we can.”

Welch’s office said the “House Rules for the 102nd General Assembly … will authorize remote work and legislating for committees.”

It’s unclear what other changes there could be to the House Rules. Republicans have criticized the rules cultivated over the decades by Madigan as being unfair to minority party members and their constituents.

When the House returns, Welch’s office said: “A system of rotating members between the chamber and their offices will be implemented to maintain social distancing.”

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