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1
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, Recent ethics scandals have uncovered the flow of
3 special interest money into the hands of elected officials and
4 have included the arrest of current and former lawmakers on
5 charges of racketeering and mail fraud; and
 
6     WHEREAS, American voters think our political system is
7 broken due to excessive influence of campaign contributors; 70%
8 of Americans believe that the political system cannot respond
9 to the country's real needs because of the influence of special
10 interests over our lawmakers; and
 
11     WHEREAS, Americans are increasingly unwilling to
12 participate in the political process because they believe large
13 campaign contributions are the only way to influence our
14 political leaders; and
 
15     WHEREAS, Candidates for elective office in Illinois are
16 forced to raise large sums of money in order to run effective
17 campaigns; time spent raising contributions could more
18 effectively be spent on serving constituents; and
 
19     WHEREAS, Improving the restructuring of Illinois campaign
20 finance laws will open opportunities for more citizen
21 involvement and foster more dialogue among elected officials

 

 

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1 and their challengers on various political issues; it will
2 enable voters to have more trust in the process and their
3 representatives; and
 
4     WHEREAS, The State of Illinois must take action to restore
5 public confidence by adopting stricter ethics rules; Illinois
6 must eliminate campaign finance excesses by enacting
7 comprehensive campaign finance laws that establish public
8 financing of State campaigns and establish campaign
9 contribution limits; therefore, be it
 
10     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
11 NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
12 SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that there is created a Campaign
13 Finance Reform Task Force consisting of 4 Representatives,
14 appointed 2 each by the Speaker and Minority Leader of the
15 House of Representatives, and 4 Senators, appointed 2 each by
16 the President and Minority Leader of the Senate; and be it
17 further
 
18     RESOLVED, That the Campaign Finance Reform Task Force also
19 may include 2 members of the general public appointed by the
20 Governor who represent campaign finance reform organizations,
21 and the chairperson of the Task Force may be designated by the
22 Governor from among its members; and be it further
 

 

 

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1     RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall study the newly enacted
2 campaign reform laws in other states, as well as the issues and
3 problems associated with excessive moneys that are being raised
4 and spent by candidates for elective office in the State of
5 Illinois, and shall report its findings and recommendations to
6 the General Assembly on or before December 31, 2007.