CHANGE Illinois Issues

Illinois Senate Democrats Announce Redistricting Bill

Illinois Senate Democrats have proposed a change in the way Illinois determines district boundaries for Illinois legislative districts. Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 121 would give the General Assembly the ability to enact district boundaries through legislation sent to the Governor by a simple majority of each chamber and give the Governor the power to sign or veto the bill as he has with all other legislation. Or each chamber could pass a map for its own districts by a three-fifths majority of the chamber. Failure in the General Assembly would move the responsibility to a 10-member bipartisan commission for each chamber. If a commission were not able to agree on maps, two Supreme Court judges -- one from each party -- would select a "Special Master" to produce a map.

There are many more details, and you can read the text of the proposal here.

SRJCA 121 and other redistricting proposals will be presented to the Senate Redistricting Committee at 4 p.m. Monday, April 12, in Room 212 of the State Capitol in Springfield.

Thanks to our friends at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, you'll find an easy-to-follow primer on the proposal here.

Visit the newsroom for a list of current articles written about the new bill. WWTW, on Wednesday's "Chicago Tonight" program, hosted a panel discussion on the issue. To watch the discussion, visit their website.