Peoria Standard

The Illinois House recently voted to allow a rule change that would permit lawmakers to vote on legislation remotely which gave House Democrats enough votes to amend the budget bill.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker had requested the amendment to the budget following a drafting error in the budget bill that previously passed on May 31, The Southern Illinoisan reported. Republicans condemned Democrats for overlooking key errors in the 3,000-page operating budget bill that was introduced at the eleventh hour and passed with less than an hour of review.

"The Democrats' budget was so catastrophically flawed that they had to unilaterally change the House Rules to fix it," Illinois State Rep. Ryan Spain wrote in a June 17 Facebook post.

Republican lawmakers have argued that the resolution for remote voting could be misused because it didn't establish any guidelines for allowing remote participation.

“This isn't a slippery slope. We're sliding down by allowing remote legislating,” Illinois State Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) said on the House floor, according to The Southern Illinoisan. “I understand, maybe, for some extenuating circumstances, but without any guidelines as to why people participate remotely, I think this is an extraordinarily bad idea.”

The resolution to allow remote voting is set to expire on the first day of the fall veto session in November 2021.