Peoria Standard

Illinois state Rep. Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) wants ethics reform to be at the forefront of legislators' minds during the next session in Springfield.

"There is no more pressing issue than ethics reform," Spain said during a House Republican press conference prior to the conclusion of the veto session earlier this month. "Both short- and long-term recommendations to restore trust are badly needed. The legislature should not be sent home until we’ve made meaningful strides to improve ethics in Illinois and restore confidence in our state's government."

Spain was joined by several GOP state representatives at the press conference to speak on several key pieces of legislation that were recently introduced that would help with ethics reform. In all, Republican lawmakers filed at least nine ethics-reform bills over the last four weeks with none of them being granted a full legislative hearing.

Instead, the Democratic supermajority passed House Joint Resolution 93 to establish a 16-member Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform, which critics charge heavily skews in favor of Democrats and will not even release its findings until after primary season has ended. Senate Bill 1639, which is being vilified for failing to seek any substantive change and fails entirely to address the problem of a sitting General Assembly member being able to lobby a local government, was also approved during the veto session.