Southern Illinois News

House Bill 642, which passed the Illinois House of Representatives in a 115-0 vote, seeks to put term limits on state-level politicians by limiting the time any one person can serve in a leadership role in the Illinois General Assembly to 10 years.

State Rep. Paul Jacobs (R-Carbondale) hailed the passage of the bill in a post to his official Facebook page.

“The IL House passed HB 642 today,” he said in his April 22 post. “This bill term limits all legislative leaders to 10 years. This is a good reform that had bipartisan support.”

Former Illinois Speaker of the House Mike Madigan, set the record as the longest-serving speaker of any state legislative body in U.S. history, with 36 years in that position, according to coverage by Illinois Policy. Madigan resigned as a representative after 50 years on Feb. 18 after failing to be re-elected as speaker,

“I leave office at peace with my decision and proud of the many contributions I’ve made to the state of Illinois, and I do so knowing I’ve made a difference,” Madigan said in his resignation letter.

Madigan had faced mounting pressure even from within his own Democratic Party related to his implication in a federal investigation into the alleged Commonwealth Edison bribery scheme. His time in power was not without other controversies either. Madigan has not been charged and admitted no wrongdoing. 

“Hundreds of politicians share blame for drowning the state’s government in billions of dollars of debt and unfunded pension liabilities,” Dave McKinney wrote in a Reuter’s special report. “But House Speaker Michael Madigan — a dominant political force for three decades — has been the constant in key decisions that created the mess.”

HB 642 would not prevent anyone from completing another 50-year stint in office, as Madigan did, but it would prevent them lawmakers from serving more than 10 consecutive years as speaker of the House, president of the Senate, or minority leader of either the House or the Senate, according to the bill summary. 

The clock on those limits would not start until January 2023. Notably, even Madigan didn’t serve all his years as speaker consecutively, and served those terms over a span of 38 years, according to Illinois Policy.