Illinois Senate Republican Caucus Introduces Ethics Reform Legislation

Members of the Illinois Senate Republican Caucus have introduced a package of bills seeking to root out government corruption among members of the General Assembly.

While Illinois already has anti-corruption laws in place, Senate Republicans say many of those are rendered toothless because the appropriate authorities aren't given adequate ability to investigate wrongdoing. To address the issue, three measures are being proposed:

--Senate Bill 4012: Allows the Attorney General to impanel a statewide grand jury to investigate, indict and prosecute bribery and misconduct by members of the General Assembly

--Senate Bill 4013: Provides states attorneys with wiretap authority

--Senate Bill 4014: Grants the Legislative Inspector General the ability to investigate members of the General Assembly without first receiving approval of the Legislative Ethics Commission, and changes the composition of the Legislative Ethics Commission to make them all members of the general public rather than legislators

Local St. Sen. Dale Righter of Mattoon said, "Within the last year, four legislators have recently been indicted, and another one is under investigation, yet there have been zero anti-corruption bills signed into law. It makes us wonder what exactly it will take for Democrats to get serious on this issue."