Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! We were seeing some green this week at the Capitol as we welcomed the Illinois 4-H Youth Leadership Team to the Capitol. I am a strong supporter of our 4-H programs and was glad to see our future leaders under the dome!
Legislative Update:
This week, the Illinois House met Tuesday through Thursday in Springfield. After weeks of committee hearings, this week we began voting on bills before the entire House and there were 40 bills that passed the House and now move to the Senate. Many of these bills passed with near unanimous support. One of the bills I am co-sponsoring, House Bill 1032 that strengthens protections for residents in CILAs passed unanimously and now moves to the Senate. As I continue the work to protect our residents with developmental disabilities, I am glad that some of our measures are moving forward and I am going to keep fighting for safer facilities, protections for residents, and a better system overall.
As always, if there are issues that are important to you, bills that would negatively impact you, or bills you would like me to sign on to as a co-sponsor, please let me know.
You can find a list of the current bills I have introduced here.
We Must Keep Fighting for Ethics Reform in Illinois
As we mark the one year anniversary since former Speaker Mike Madigan was indicted, and as we see the beginning of the federal trial alleging that executives of ComEd worked together to bribe Mike Madigan, we are reminded of how important it is that Illinois passes stronger ethics laws.
For years, I have co-sponsored legislation to strengthen ethics laws in Illinois. As House Republicans we have proposed bills to strengthen the watchdog of the legislature, the Legislative Inspector General. We have also proposed good government reforms like leadership term limits and stronger revolving door provisions that keep legislators from leaving the House or Senate and immediately becoming lobbyists.
One of my proposals is included in our anti-corruption and transparency package of legislation. This bill would require transparency and keep legislators from switching bill numbers at the last minute. This practice has become commonplace in the legislature to make it more difficult to track controversial bills. You can read more about my transparency proposal here: https://charliemeier.net/2022/01/26/meier-files-legislation-to-bring-more-transparency-to-controversial-bills-moving-in-the-legislature/
For more information on our proposals, you can read about it here: https://www.wandtv.com/community/house-gop-members-renew-calls-for-ethics-reform-in-springfield/article_02b032fa-bed1-11ed-bcfd-9b564477db24.html
Or, you can visit our website with more detailed proposals here:
This Week on the Farm:
It’s time to get the equipment out and make sure it is in working order on the farm. As a reminder, we are beginning to see tractors on the road. Please be careful as you drive around farmers and slow down as you approach them.
The Week Ahead:
- Next week, the Illinois House is scheduled for legislative session Tuesday, March 21st through Friday, March 24th.
- Friday is scheduled to be the deadline to pass House bills to the Senate. This means there will likely be hundreds of votes next week, so please reach out if there are any bills you are particularly supportive of or opposed to.
- I try to make it to as many local events as I can. If you have an event coming up in your community that you’d like for me to attend, please let my office in Highland know: 618-651-0405.
Stay Up To Date:
Was this update informative or helpful? Please share this newsletter with your friends and family. If someone forwarded this e-mail to you, please sign up for my newsletter or send me a message by clicking here: http://www.ilhousegop.org/contactmeier. With this weekly newsletter, I aim to give you a quick update on what is happening at the State Capitol, the top issues in our area, and how you can get involved.