The state will have no ethics reform for now. The Illinois House failed to pass Governor J.B. Pritzker’s amendatory veto in the 11th hour last night. Pritzker characterized the veto as a technical change involving language with the office of the Inspector General.
During short debate last night, Representative Kelly Burke, chief sponsor of the original bill pulled the bill from the record. To pass the bill, the House needed a 2/3 majority. Burke resubmitted the bill to be voted on after several House Democrats had left the session, but it failed to pass with a 59-35 vote along party lines. State Representative C.D. Davidsmeyer called the bill watered down and says it doesn’t go far enough to end corruption in the state: “If you ever want real ethics reform, we have to do it. We can’t just wait for the next group to come along and do the right thing. We have to be those people to do the right thing, and now is the time…or we can just continue to wait for more indictments and more things to slip by and let people to keep abusing this position. We need to pass real ethics reform, not watered down nonsense.”
Despite the lack of passage last night, the bill is a renewable motion and can be voted on again at a later time.