Illinois Republicans have created a bill to counter a Democratic ethics bill that the GOP feels is a weak attempt at addressing the state's need for ethics reform.
Senate Bill 4 was introduced by Democrats, and Republicans responded with Senate Bill 1350, legislation that state Sen. John Curran (R-Lemont) referred to as "transformative, meaningful ethics reform."
"We stand here today to demand more and demand better of the general assembly," Curran said during a May 17 Senate Republican Caucus news conference. "While we appreciate and agree with many of the provisions SB4 put forth by, there are several measures in SB4 we do not agree with."
SB1350 would strengthen and expand on the measures under SB4 which doesn't dive deeply enough into ethics reform, according to Curran. He said SB1350 would allow the state to "clean up its own mess without having to wait for the federal authorities to come in and do it."
"There are many positive changes proposed in our bill," Curran said.
The Republican bill would allow statewide grand juries for public corruption, a type of hearing that is currently only permitted for cases related to drugs, firearms and child sexual abuse material.
"We must unleash the resources of the attorney general's office in combating public corruption," the senator said.
Wiretapping would be allowed in public corruption investigations under the bill, too, and it would allow the inspector general to issue subpoenas without the approval of the legislative ethics commission.
"The public is on our side," Curran said. "The public does not understand why investigation cannot commence without the approval of legislators. It doesn't make sense to the public."
Under SB1350, legislators are banned from lobbying and have a one-year lobbying prohibition after they depart from the legislature.
Curran called on his colleagues to support the effort to restore the public's trust in them.
"To sum up, our bill has everything SB4 includes, but it goes several steps further in restoring the integrity and the trust in state government," he said.
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