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1 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
2 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
3 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
4 NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
5 SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that there shall be submitted to
6 the electors of the State for adoption or rejection at the
7 general election next occurring at least 6 months after the
8 adoption of this resolution a proposition to amend Sections 2
9 and 5 of Article IV of the Illinois Constitution:
10 ARTICLE IV
11 THE LEGISLATURE
12 (ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 2)
13 SECTION 2. LEGISLATIVE COMPOSITION
14 (a) One Senator shall be elected from each Legislative
15 District. Senators elected in 2006 shall serve six-year
16 terms. Senators elected in 2008 shall serve four-year terms.
17 Immediately following each decennial redistricting, the
18 General Assembly by law shall divide the Legislative
19 Districts as equally as possible into two three groups.
20 During each ten-year period, beginning with the general
21 election in 2012, Senators from one group shall first be
22 elected for terms of six years and then for terms of four
23 years four years, four years and two years; Senators from the
24 second group, for terms of four years, two years and four
25 years; and Senators from the other third group shall first be
26 elected, for terms of two years, four years and then for
27 terms of six four years. The Legislative Districts in each
28 group shall be distributed substantially equally over the
29 State.
30 (b) Each Legislative District shall be divided into two
31 Representative Districts. In 1982 and every two years
32 thereafter One Representative shall be elected from each
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1 Representative District for a term of two years.
2 Representatives elected in 2006 shall first serve terms of
3 four years and then terms of two years. Representatives
4 elected in 2008 shall serve terms of four years. During each
5 ten-year period, beginning with the general election in 2012,
6 Representatives shall first be elected for terms of four
7 years, then for terms of two years, and then for terms of
8 four years.
9 (c) To be eligible to serve as a member of the General
10 Assembly, a person must be a United States citizen, at least
11 21 years old, and for the two years preceding his election or
12 appointment a resident of the district which he is to
13 represent. In the general election following a redistricting,
14 a candidate for the General Assembly may be elected from any
15 district which contains a part of the district in which he
16 resided at the time of the redistricting and reelected if a
17 resident of the new district he represents for 18 months
18 prior to reelection.
19 (d) Within thirty days after a vacancy occurs, it shall
20 be filled by appointment as provided by law. If the vacancy
21 is in a Senatorial or Representative office with more than
22 twenty-eight months remaining in the term, the appointed
23 Senator or Representative shall serve until the next general
24 election, at which time a Senator or Representative shall be
25 elected to serve for the remainder of the term. If the
26 vacancy is in any other Senatorial or a Representative office
27 or in any other Senatorial office, the appointment shall be
28 for the remainder of the term. An appointee to fill a vacancy
29 shall be a member of the same political party as the person
30 he succeeds.
31 (e) No member of the General Assembly shall receive
32 compensation as a public officer or employee from any other
33 governmental entity for time during which he is in attendance
34 as a member of the General Assembly.
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1 No member of the General Assembly during the term for
2 which he was elected or appointed shall be appointed to a
3 public office which shall have been created or the
4 compensation for which shall have been increased by the
5 General Assembly during that term.
6 (Source: Amendment adopted at general election November 4,
7 1980.)
8 (ILCON Art. IV, Sec. 5)
9 SECTION 5. SESSIONS
10 (a) The General Assembly shall convene each year on the
11 second Wednesday of January. The General Assembly shall be a
12 continuous body for a period beginning and ending at noon on
13 the second Wednesday of January of consecutive odd-numbered
14 years. during the term for which members of the House of
15 Representatives are elected.
16 (b) The Governor may convene the General Assembly or the
17 Senate alone in special session by a proclamation stating the
18 purpose of the session; and only business encompassed by such
19 purpose, together with any impeachments or confirmation of
20 appointments shall be transacted. Special sessions of the
21 General Assembly may also be convened by joint proclamation
22 of the presiding officers of both houses, issued as provided
23 by law.
24 (c) Sessions of each house of the General Assembly and
25 meetings of committees, joint committees and legislative
26 commissions shall be open to the public. Sessions and
27 committee meetings of a house may be closed to the public if
28 two-thirds of the members elected to that house determine
29 that the public interest so requires; and meetings of joint
30 committees and legislative commissions may be so closed if
31 two-thirds of the members elected to each house so determine.
32 (Source: Illinois Constitution.)
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1 SCHEDULE
2 This Constitutional Amendment takes effect upon being
3 declared adopted in accordance with Section 7 of the Illinois
4 Constitutional Amendment Act and applies to the election of
5 members of the General Assembly in 2006 and thereafter. It
6 does not affect the terms of members elected in 2002 or 2004.