McLean County Times

Friday, April 23, was the final day for House bills to be voted on and sent to the Senate, and state Rep. Tom Bennett (R-Watseka) reflected on a productive session for his own bills, nine of which cleared the House and moved to the Senate for consideration. 

In a video update from the Illinois House GOP last week, Bennett listed several topics that he focused on in his legislation this session, including term limits for lawmakers. 

"I was also proud to vote for a long overdue bill to put term limits in place for the Speaker of the House and other caucus leaders," Bennett said.

Bennett isn't the only legislator happy to see term limits imposed in the wake of the bribery scandal and subsequent resignation of longtime House Speaker Michael Madigan, whose 36-year tenure in the speaker seat earned him the title of longest-running House Speaker in American history. 

House Bill 642 flew through the House with almost unanimous yea votes and one abstention; the bill imposes a ten-year term limit on various legislative leaders including the House speaker. 

Other applicable positions include the Senate president and the House and Senate minority leaders. 

Under Madigan's leadership, Illinois accumulated over $130 billion in pension debt and dropped from a perfect credit rating to the lowest credit rating in the nation, according to Illinois Policy. 

The policy organization said that, while limiting the legislative leaders' terms is a step in the right direction to address the Prairie State's corruption and ethics problems, there is a lot more work to be done. 

Illinois still sees the most corruption convictions per capita among the most populous states, averaging one conviction per week.

Illinois Policy suggested Springfield also "empower the legislative inspector general, improve financial disclosures for lawmakers, end lawmaker lobbying and stop the revolving door."