(The Center Square) – Several Republican state legislators say they will be irreparably harmed if a court doesn’t stop the state from enacting the recently approved Illinois state budget.
They filed a lawsuit in Sangamon County Circuit Court laying out how the final language of the 3,300 page budget bill was filed with just 30 hours before the legislature was set to adjourn. The legislators argue they needed between 70 to 119 hours. State Sen. Andrew Chesney explains the Three Readings Rule is being abused by Democratic leadership.
“And the Democrats have a long tradition of short circuiting that process,” Chesney, R-Freeport, told The Center Square. “And brokering these deals behind closed doors and then presenting the final package of these bills with no time to mount opposition, no time to ask all the questions and no time to truly debate these issues.”
The lawsuit was brought by Chesney, state Reps. Chris Miller, R-Oakland, Blaine Wilhour, R-Beecher City, Adam Niemerg, R-Diterich, Jed Davis, R-Yorkville, David Friess, R-Red Bud, and Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville.
“The Defendants have engaged in repeated abuses of the Three Readings Rule of the Illinois Constitution … in certifying numerous bills which includes but is not limited to” the state’s gun ban, the SAFE-T Act which ended cash bail statewide, and several fiscal year budgets, the lawsuit said.
Republicans say “The Defendants have engaged in continuous and repeated conduct in violation of the Illinois Constitution … and are doing so for the intent and purpose of limiting the input of the citizens of the State of Illinois and preventing them from participating in the legislative process through their duly elected representatives of the House and Senate.”
The lawsuit says legislators only had 29 to 30 hours to review the budget bill last weekend. To thoroughly review the 1.7 million word bill, the Republicans say it could take between 70 to 119 hours of reading.
Similar complaints were listed about the revenue bill and the budget implementation bill, both which came out just hours before the legislature was set to adjourn.
“The majority party of the General Assembly uses said shell bills and the gut and replace method of bill presentation to prevent the citizens of Illinois from actively participating in the legislative process through their duly elected representatives in the Illinois House and the Illinois Senate,” the lawsuit said.
Chesney said taxpayers are losing when Democrats, last minute, gut and replace shell bills with dense legislation.
“And they do this consistently at the end of every legislative session, over and over and over again. And the taxpayers lose each and every time,” he said. “So thousands and thousands of pages in and no opportunity to mount opposition, ask the appropriate questions, solicit feedback from your constituents.”
Joining other Republicans in suing House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, and Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, Chesney said they want the courts to act.
“We’re asking the courts to put guardrails around the three reading rules,” Chesney said.
The Republicans are asking the court to declare the budget package was passed unconstitutionally. They also are petitioning for a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction and permanent injunction.
Messages seeking comment in response to the lawsuit were not immediately returned by Harmon or by Welch’s offices.
The next fiscal year begins July 1.
