SPRINGFIELD – State Representative Dave Severin (R-Benton) returned to the Illinois House floor for the first time since March 2020 on Wednesday. Lawmakers returned after a year that saw great tumult and change in Illinois government.
Lawmakers were back in the State Capitol to vote on the proposed House Rules that will govern the parliamentary procedures of the chamber for the 102nd General Assembly.
Severin says he had high hopes for bipartisanship as long-time Speaker Mike Madigan was replaced in the 102nd General Assembly.
“For the first time since 1983, there’s a new Democratic Speaker of the House. I was so hopeful that Speaker Welch would be an agent of real change, that he would reject the old practices of massive bills passing in just a matter of hours,” Severin said. “Unfortunately, bills that will be hundreds of pages long, spending billions of dollars, will continue to be dropped on the laps of lawmakers at the last minute. The people of Illinois deserve much greater transparency than what they’re getting under these ‘new’ House Rules.”
HR 72 passed the House on a straight party-line vote. All Republicans voted no.
